Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli - CISP

International Committee for the Development of Peoples, is a Non-governmental organization established in Rome in 1983, to engage against the impact of poverty and denied rights worldwide. Eradicating poverty, creating the conditions which are necessary for development, building paths for reconstruction, and providing support in emergency situations are CISP’s core objectives.
CISP has been active in over 30 countries worldwide: in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The Head Office is located in Rome, with regional offices throughout Italy and in its countries of operation.

CISP’s activities around the world

CISP’s emergency and humanitarian aid activities focus on the protection of refugees, returnees and displaced people, on the provision of health and education services, and on the implementation of disaster preparedness plans.

CISP’s development projects aim to fight poverty and include activities for: the promotion of rural development and food security; the provision of rural and urban health care, GBV prevention, education and training; the support to peace initiatives, promotion and protection of cultural heritage natural resources management and environmental protection; the assistance to commercial enterprises and micro-credit, In Italy and Europe, CISP's work focuses mainly on awareness campaigns, training and information programmes, fight against social exclusion and racism, educational campaigns on development, intercultural education programmes and promotion of international solidarity.
See CISP Annual Report
To know more, visit CISP HQ Website.

CISP 2018 Declaration of Intent, called “Rights, Change, Sustainability”, integrally embraces the strategic indications of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and each one of its objectives and targets.

The previous 2008 Declaration “For Rights and Against Poverty”, defined priority operational scopes, linking the fight against poverty with the assertion of denied rights. The key messages contained in that Declaration still inspire the work of CISP. Nevertheless, this new version has been created with the understanding that, since 2008, the international context has radically changed.

In 2008 we were at the mid-term stage of the Agenda of the Millennium Development Goals. In September 2015, the international community approved the Agenda of the Sustainable Development Objectives.

In the light of this global change we observe the increase, world-wide and within each country, of inequality and social exclusion as social, political, and economic emergencies.
See CISP Declaration of Intents
See CISP Policies and Commitments.

Six keywords

The meaning of our Declaration of Intent

01

Accountability

CISP has always believed that it is imperative to account for results achieved through its actions, submitting its projects to strict assessments and publishing the related reports. At the same time, we have formulated concrete auditing instruments inspired by the parameters established by the main international agencies and collected in a Management System made up of three parts: the Administrative Manual, the Code of Behavior, and the Verification System.

02

Professional Development

We consider professional development and continued capacity building essential prerequisites to implement effective humanitarian and development actions, and we invest in training activities designed for our collaborators, our managers at the Headquarters in Rome, our colleagues and partners in countries where we operate.

03

Partnership

All CISP’s projects are implemented through consortia, reflecting a general approach: to reinforce alliances against poverty and in favor of the affirmation of rights everywhere. CISP works closely in partnership with local and international bodies on every project being implemented.

04

Ownership

The main characters of development projects are local subjects representing the community, institutional, associational, academic, and entrepreneurial fabric. In the praxis of CISP, when a project is identified, it is critically examined to determine its relevance, and alignment with the demands and needs of local subjects. Projects must have the capacity for local ownership, working in conjunction with the aspirations and strategies of local players.

05

Innovation and good practices

This is not just a simple slogan, but a binding choice. For CISP to identify and formulate a humanitarian or developmental project, there must be an analysis of the existing good practices, of the successes and failures recorded in the same sector and geographic area, and of the possible technical and social innovations to be introduced to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the action.

06

Resilience

Strengthening resilience means strengthening local communities’ capacity to recover, adjust, and adapt in the face of humanitarian emergencies. It also entails fostering transformation processes in situations where the periodical occurrence of such emergencies is due to the fragility and unsustainability of productive, social, and institutional systems.