A resort town in northern Italy is this week playing host to a summit of leaders from diverse fields to discuss how to leverage global philanthropy to address global development.

The two-week Bellagio Initiative Summit, which began today, has brought together people from philanthropy, development, government, business and academia in an attempt to develop an ‘action plan’ to tackle critical and persistent international development issues within the framework of philanthropists and the development sector working together.

World Bank managing director Caroline Anstey will be among the attendees, which will also include Resource Alliance chief executive Neelam Makhijani, economist Michael Green and other high-profile individuals engaged with philanthropy and development.

The attendees will be looking at the issue of development from the perspective of prioritising human well-being, as opposed to economic indicators often used as a measure. The summit organisers expect to end the two weeks with practical ideas on how to maximise the impact and effectiveness of development work and philanthropic engagement.

Professor Allister McGregor, representing the Institute of Development Studies at the summit, said: “The Bellagio Initiative Summit is an opportunity for people from different parts of the world, different backgrounds and different approaches to consider the current and future challenges to human well-being and come up with some concrete proposals.”