Poverty is a devastating problem, of global proportions. It is like an implaccable enemy with infinite weapons at its disposal: infant mortality, famine, disease, illiteracy, child labour… the list of hurdles facing people living in poverty is endless.

With this in mind, following in the footsteps of Saint John of God, on Friday 17 March this year the Saint John of God Fundraising Alliance, headed by UNICOI, “The Brothers of Saint John of God General Curia’s Missions and International Cooperation Office” convened the coordination meeting in the Auditorium of the Madonna del Buon Consiglio Hospital in Naples, which hosts A.F.Ma.L.

The meeting was attended by representatives and experts from various NGOs and Foundations of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God: Fundaçao São João de Deus – Lisbon (Portugal); Juan Ciudad ONGD - Madrid (Spain); A.F.Ma.L. ONG – Rome (Italy), in addition to representatives of the Local A.F.Ma.L Section of Tiber Island Hospital (Rome); and the Association pour l’Aide aux Jeunes Infermes et aux Personnes Handicapées – Paris (France),working in the field of international cooperation in the Global South.

After the welcome address by the Superior of the Buon Consiglio Hospital, Brother Alberto Angeletti and the President of A.F.Ma.L., Brother Pietro Cicinelli, the agena was introduced by Brother Moisés Martín Boscá, the head of UMICOI.

In the course of the meeting the participants reported on the humanitarian work they were supporting and the “requests for assistance” that the Alliance receives, and which are carefully selected to become “Intervention Projects” to be taken up subsequently by every organisation.

For this reason, a new web platform was presented for Project Cycle Management (with the help of the Fundaçao São João de Deus – Lisbon) which has been designed as a tool to gather the information needed to exploit the common indicators required for the common indicators set out in the FBF General Guidelines.

The platform will be a tool to:

- improve the quality and effectiveness of project design and management;

- incorporate the project phases to ensure that the arguments are examined systematically;

- oblige everyone to focus on the real needs of the beneficiaries.

The Project Cycle Management tool is the crucial for the beneficiaries, which is why project designers are virtually obliged to focus on the real needs of the beneficiaries of each project. Only in this way can projects be defined as feasible and sustainable.

The meeting was also the occasion for inaugurating a travelling exhibition “Africa by Ball-point” by the Spanish architect Javier Jiménez Sánchez-Dalp’s portraits of the different faces of Africa, all drawn by blue ball-pen.

At the end of the meeting, Brother Moisés Martín Boscá thanked everyone present and announced that the next meeting would be held on 22 September 2017.