On Wednesday, May 14 at 3:00 PM, as part of Codeway Expo 2025 at the Fiera di Roma, AVSI hosted an event titled "Italy’s role on the way to Cop30: Best practices in cooperation: scalability, risks, and opportunities".
The upcoming COP30 – the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – represents a valuable opportunity for Italy to make a meaningful contribution by sharing its experiences and best practices in the field of sustainable development.
Civil society organizations, the private sector, and public institutions came together in a multi-stakeholder dialogue designed to foster collaboration among all actors working toward the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Italy's role on the way to COP30: the event program
Keynote speech
Stefano Gatti, Director, General Directorate for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1st panel - Best practices to explore | 30 minutes
- Energy efficiency and education: Fabrizio Pellicelli, Regional Manager for Latin America, AVSI
- Clean cooking: Feisal Hussain, Senior Director Innovative Finance, Clean Cooking Alliance (video-message)
- Urban regeneration: Giulia Maci, Senior Urban Specialist and Euro-Mediterranean Region Lead, Cities Alliance
- Reforestation: Herman Hakuzimana, Climate Change Program Manager, Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) (online)
Moderator: Maria Laura Conte, Communication and Advocacy Director, AVSI
2nd panel - Engaging with the private sector | 30 minutes
- Barbara Terenghi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Edison
- Emanuele Banfi, Carbon Offset Portfolio Manager, ENI
- Veronica Rossi, Sustainability Director, Lavazza Group (online)
- Emanuela Colombo, Rector's Delegate for Scientific Diplomacy, Politecnico of Milan (online)
- Luca Foresti, Founder, First Principles; former CEO, Sant'Agostino Group (online)
Moderator: Alessandro Galimberti, Climate Change, Energy and Environment Unit Coordinator, AVSI
3rd panel – In dialogue with institutions | 30 minutes
- Stefania Lenoci, Resident Representative for Italy, World Bank Group
- Biagio Di Terlizzi, Deputy Director, CIHEAM Bari
- Máximo Viñas, Head of the Department for Protected Areas Planning, Vice Ministry of Protected Areas and Biodiversity, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic (online)
- Alessandro Guerri, Director, General Directorate for European and International Affairs and Sustainable Finance, Italian Ministry of Environment
Moderator: Giampaolo Silvestri, Secretary General, AVSI
A photo exhibition by AVSI and Matteo Bastianelli at Codeway Expo 2025
Throughout the duration of the Development Cooperation Expo (from Wednesday, May 14 to Friday, May 16), visitors had the opportunity to visit a photo exhibition curated by Matteo Bastianelli, winner of the 2025 Sony World Photography Award - one of the world’s most prestigious ones.
The photo series “Rebirth. Wounds and Hopes in Mozambique” tells the stories of women and men striving to rebuild their lives in the face of overlapping crises: extreme poverty, Islamist terrorism, and the devastating impacts of climate change. Through a powerful visual narrative, the exhibition offers a fresh, human-centred perspective on Mozambique - far from the stereotypes that too often define portrayals of Africa.
Portraits and everyday scenes from AVSI's projects reveal how the work of civil society organizations, supported by public development aid, can drive meaningful, systemic change, paving the way for a more just and sustainable future for all.
Events with the Italian regions
AVSI Secretary General, Giampaolo Silvestri, also took part in a seminar hosted by the Lombardy Region to share concrete experiences of collaboration developed with institutional, social, and economic partners, and to present the progress made in strengthening the Region’s development cooperation initiatives.
Titled “Innovating with the Territory – The ‘Lombardy Model’ Between Multi-Stakeholder Participation and Decentralized Development Cooperation,” the seminar took place on Wednesday, May 14 at 11:30 AM (CEST) at the Regional Pavilion.
His contribution was scheduled within the panel “Different Actors, Common Goals: Working Together for Sustainable Cooperation – Private Sector, Non-Profit, and Public Administration,” where the participants shared insights into the dialogue initiated by the Lombardy Region with the network of Lombard CSOs and private sector actors, highlighting their key role in international cooperation.
On Thursday, May 15 at 15:00 (CEST) AVSI Italian government Focal Point Pierpaolo Bravin talked about our experience in the West Bank during an event titled “Together for Palestine” and hosted by the Emilia-Romagna Region in the same pavilion, in an effort to keep the extremely difficult situation in the area under the spotlight before a significant audience, focusing in particular on the results achieved in the recent projects funded by the Region.
