CESVI’s Annual Report 2025 introductive letter
By Ilaria Dallatana and Stefano Piziali
We live in a time marked by protracted conflicts, increasingly complex humanitarian crises, and growing divisions at the global level. In this context, international cooperation is an essential tool for building effective responses with long-term impact. The foundations for addressing present challenges lie precisely in the ability to work together and to bring together skills and resources – institutions, partners, local communities and citizens.
CESVI has been doing this for over forty years, providing concrete assistance and promoting sustainable development where it is most needed. This Annual Report reflects the essence of our daily commitment, which translates into real interventions, measurable results, and, above all, tangible changes in people’s lives. Over the past year, thanks to dozens of active projects across several continents, we have directly reached one and a half million beneficiaries, demonstrating the organisation’s ability to turn the resources it raises into effective action on the ground.
All this is also made possible by the vital contributions of individual donors, who are an essential part of our community. In 2025, over thirty-five thousand supporters chose to support CESVI through regular or one-off donations, making a concrete contribution to the implementation of projects and the timeliness of our emergency responses. Their support, together with that of those who choose to make a lasting contribution through major donations, bequests or ongoing support for the Houses of Smile in Italy and around the world, is a sign of trust and responsibility that every day strengthens our ability to act.
CESVI is an organisation with a dual mandate – humanitarian and development – operating primarily in the following sectors: the protection of children and vulnerable communities, with particular attention to refugees and displaced people; access to water and sanitation; and waste management. It also contributes to improving living conditions through sustainable agricultural development, especially in contexts heavily exposed to the effects of climate change. In every geographical area, our approach places people at the centre and aims to strengthen local capacities, supporting communities in defining and pursuing their own path forward.
Over the past year, CESVI has been present in some of the world’s most complex crises: Ukraine, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine – in Gaza and the West Bank – Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Haiti and Venezuela. In these countries, we have provided humanitarian assistance, protection and support for recovery, adapting our interventions to continously evolving needs. In Ukraine, for example, where the conflict has now been ongoing for more than four years, we chose to remain beyond the initial emergency phase, maintaining a presence in high-risk districts in the east of the country and supporting communities in their everyday efforts to survive. We have simultaneously worked to maintain public attention on this conflict, to avoid its normalisation in the public consciousness.
Elsewhere, we continue to carry forward development programmes, which represent a core component of our mission. In Zimbabwe, we support rural communities in strengthening food security and climate resilience through innovative agricultural initiatives that improve household self-sufficiency. In Colombia, we have promoted social and economic inclusion through projects that include women’s empowerment and the prevention of violence among their key areas of focus. In Albania, we support local development models such as sustainable tourism. In Kenya and Uganda, we are launching major programmes in agroforestry and circular economy.
The data, projects and testimonies gathered in this report tell the story of an organisation that can evolve, respond to emergencies and, at the same time, invest in the long-term period. They also speak to a conviction that continues to guide everything we do: wherever help is needed, in Italy and around the world, CESVI is present.
Ilaria Dallatana, President of CESVI
Stefano Piziali, General Manager of CESVI
Photo by Gianfranco Ferraro