Background to the Summer School on Development
The Department of Economics of the University of Florence and Unidea – Unicredit Foundation (see below) will be hosting between 10 and 14 July an advanced Summer School on Development that will be replicated on an experimental basis over the next three years, with each year focussing on a different topic. The topic of the 2006 Summer School on Development will be "Food Security and Famine Prevention in Developing Countries" (see below). The activities of the School are guided by an Advisory Board comprising Professor Giovanni Andrea Cornia (University of Florence, convener), Professor Patrick Guillaumont (CERDI, University of Clermont Ferrand), Dr. Thandika Mkandawire (UNRISD, Geneva), Prof. Jean Philippe Platteau (University of Namur), and Prof. Frances Stewart (University of Oxford).

Unidea – UniCredit Foundation (http://www.unicreditfoundation.org) is an Italian development foundation established in March 2003 by the UNICREDIT Group. The Foundation supports projects in the field of rural development, education, public health, professional training, micro-credit, and social integration of marginal youth groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, European countries in transition and selected marginal areas of Italy. The Foundation also organizes high visibility conferences on social issues and development topics and sponsors development education events.

The Department of Economics of the University of Florence (http://www.dse.unifi.it/sviluppo) comprises several economists doing research on development issues. In addition, the Faculty of Economics offers a complete curriculum in development economics, including a three years B.A. in International Cooperation and Economic Development, an M.Sc. in Advanced Development Economics, and a Ph.D. program in the Politics and Economics of Developing Countries.

Organisation and financing of the school
The Summer School on Development focuses every year on a key development issue, thus offering an opportunity to gain exposure to state of the art training to a select group of some 20 young academics, PhD students or middle level practitioners from developing countries, transition economies and developed countries with specific experience and interest in the topics covered by the School.

The 2006 Summer School lasts five days. During the first four days there will be 12 sessions on topics of interests. Each session will comprise lectures, discussions and workshops led by leading academics and practitioners. On the fifth day an international conference on food security and famine prevention will be held in Rome. The conference will be attended by the participants to the school as well as by experts and decision-makers in this area. Both the Summer School and the Conference will be held in English.

The 2006 Summer School will be held in Civita Castellana a small ancient city located at about an hour from Rome between 10 and 14 July 2006 inclusive. No tuition fee is levied on the students selected, and the travel and lodging costs of the participants to the Summer School, as well as the other costs incurred for its organisation will be covered by UNIDEA.

Background to 2006 Summer School: Food Security and Famine Aversion in the Early 2000
During the last few years, the international community has placed growing attention on the objective of reducing hunger and malnutrition and preventing famines. Among the key initiatives in this area one should mention the report of the Millennium Development Project on "Halving Hunger: It Can Be Done". Yet, despite this growing attention, the hunger situation remains worrisome as limited improvements were recorded during the last fifteen years. In 2005, the FAO has indicated that the number of hungry people in the developing countries has declined marginally, from an estimated 824 million in 1990 to 815 million in 2002. If China is excluded, between 1990 and 2002 the number of hungry people rose from 630 to 673 million. The situation is particularly worrisome in Sub-Saharan Africa where the number of hungry people has increased by 20 percent since 1990. In addition, minimal declines were recorded from high levels of incidence of micronutrients deficiency (iron, zinc, vitamin A) that continues to cause major losses of life in children and women, impair school performance and lead to large losses of productivity and growth. In India, for instance, despite a large increase in food output, almost 60 percent of pre-school children still suffers from vitamin A deficiency. While widespread hunger and malnutrition persists in countries that recorded a stagnant growth during the last 15 years, limited gains were recorded also in countries that experienced an acceptable growth of GDP and food output. In these countries, poverty – especially rural poverty – and income inequality remain the root cause of hunger and malnutrition. Yet, there are also positive trends underway, as countries such as India recently introduced a nationwide employment guarantee scheme that can contribute in an important way to reduce transitory and chronic hunger.

Food security prospects are further complicated by the uncertain trends in world grain supply, demand and prices. While world staple food prices have been declining steadily since 1974, they have recently levelled off and could start moving upwards if energy prices continue rising, if the major exporting countries continue being affected by poor harvests and rising domestic demand (as recorded in the first half of this decade), and if world demand of grains rises due to rapid growth in large developing countries including China. How all these trends will interact is unclear but one cannot exclude the possibility that world grain prices may rise in the future, thus aggravating food security in grain importing countries. In these countries, food security can be improved by strengthening domestic and foreign investment in the field of agricultural research, irrigation, rural roads and education .

Finally, while during the last decade the international community has responded rapidly to famines taking place in countries unaffected by civil unrest, in 2004-2005 large scale famines or near-famines have occurred in the Sahel (Niger in particular), the Horn of Africa, Eastern Africa (Kenya in particular) and Southern Africa. Malawi, for instance, was hit by a major famine in 2001-2 and has experienced near famine conditions since November 2005. While in all these cases adverse natural conditions plaid a major role in causing the food crisis, the extent and depth of the famine were influenced also by changes in neighbouring countries, and inadequate national and international policy responses. Indeed, the 2004-5 Sahel crisis underscores the limitations of national and global humanitarian response system.

The 2006 Summer School will therefore focus on chronic hunger and famine situation, by reviewing the supply, demand and institutional factors responsible for this situation, as well as the policies and programs that can be introduced nationally and internationally to moderate or avert chronic hunger and sudden famines. In doing so, the program will try as much as possible to make reference to specific country conditions.

Applications to the 2006 Summer School
The 2006 Summer School is open to PhD students in Development Economics, Agricultural Economics, Development Studies, Public Economics, Public Administration and related fields and to post-doc students, young academics, researchers and practitioners with an interest in this topic. The typical student admitted to the School will be engaged in an academic job (teaching or research) or have been part for at least two years of national institutions or NGOs working in the field of food security and famine prevention. Of the 20 people selected, some may be chosen from outside academia (e.g., government, private sector, NGOs), if they have adequate academic qualifications and relevant experiences. All these are, basic guidelines, and all applications will be considered on their own merits.

Written applications, including a CV, official transcript of their degrees from BA onwards, and a letter of reference from someone familiar with their academic work, should be sent to:

UNIDEA-UNIFI 2006 Summer School
c/o UNIDEA – UniCredit Foundation
Via San Protaso 3, 20121 Milano - Italy.

For students whose main medium of instruction was not English, some proof of English proficiency is necessary. Results of standard English proficiency tests (e.g., TOEFL or IELTS) will be preferable, but other proof may be also accepted. Please note that we are cannot accept any faxed or electronic documents, with the exception of the letter of recommendation. An e-mail announcing the intention to send a written application should also be sent to summerschool2006@unicreditfoundation.org that can also provide further information to the applicants.

Applications should be accompanied by a covering letter, indicating the applicant's full contact details (including the e-mail address, which will be the main means of communication during the admissions process) and their fields of interest within development economics. Applications should be submitted by 30 April, 2006. The candidates will be notified of the outcome of their applications at the latest by 31 May,2006 and possibly earlier.

Tentative programme of the 2006 Summer School *:
Each of the first four days of the Summer School will include three sessions, one in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each session lasts two and a half hours. The sessions will include one and half hours of lecturing and one hour of discussion with a 15 min break in between. There will be also informal contacts between students and faculties during lunch and coffee breaks, and possibly some dinners.

The tentative program is as follows:

Day 0 (Sunday 9 July)

09.00-20.00
Arrival of participants and accommodation in the college

15.00-18.00
Registration of participants

20.00
Welcoming dinner

Day 1, (Monday 10 July) Global trends in food insecurity and famines

08.30-09.00
Introduction Scope and organisation of the Workshop

09.00-11.30
1st Session: Trends in national and individual food security, nutritional status and famine situation during the last ten years

13.00-15.30
2nd Session: Health and nutrition implication of food insecurity and related policies

16.00-18.30
3rd Session: Supply and demand determinants of hunger and food insecurity

Day 2 (Tuesday 11 July) Policies to end chronic hunger: supply oriented measures

09.00-11.30
4th Session: Food pricing, storage, food imports, food aid

13.30-16.00
5th Session Access to land, physical infrastructure, agronomic research, irrigation

16.30-18.00
6th Session Rural credit and crop insurance (with reference to Ethiopia)

Day 3(Wednesday 12 July) Policies to end chronic hunger: demand oriented measures

09.30-11.30
7th Session: Income support, food subsidies and nutritional programs

13.30-15.30
8th Session: Public works and employment schemes (with reference to India)

16.00-18.00
9th Session: Interventions in the field of health and education

Day 4, (Thursday 13 July) Famine causes, detection and response

09.30-11.30
10th Session: Models of famines, early warning systems and policy responses

13.30-15.30
11th Session: Demand side famine (with reference to the case of Niger 2004-5)

16.00-18.00
12th Session: Supply side famine (with reference to Malawi in 2001-2 and 2005)

Day 5, (Friday 14 July) International Conference (in Rome) on

10.00-12.00
First and second keynote speaker: Hunger and Public Action Public Discussion

14.30-16.30
Third and fourth keynote speakers: Policy Initiatives in this field Public Discussion

17.00-18.00
Concluding Roundtable:

*Please note that the timetable is still provisional. The scheduling of the sessions and their content may be subject to changes. There may be also some other activities planned

March 17, 2006.