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:
*