Relatore: Dott. Mario De Prospo
Discussant: Prof. Amalia Ribi Forclaz, Graduate Institute, Geneva
Titolo: “From Rural Welfare to Rural Institutions. FAO’s efforts in promoting the wellbeing of peasants in underdeveloped world (1945-70)”
Brief description of the seminar (in English):
This seminar examines FAO's work in the rural welfare sector from the establishment of the organization till the end of the 'UN first development decade' of the 1960s. The presentation will share the partial results of an ongoing research project based on FAO's and other UN agencies published reports, archival records, memoirs, and personal papers of experts and diplomats. The analysis follows the UN Food and Agricultural Organization's changes, focusing on how the organization's program focused on improving rural societies' living conditions in underdeveloped countries. The research work is aiming in understanding how the organization has contributed to 'framing the issue' during these decades and, following the evolution of the FAO efforts in this field, how this interacted with: the overall UN framework in international development aid, the North-South divide, the role and weight of different perspectives, dimensions, and scope of development theories and practices.