Giorgio Ceragioli, Giovanni Giovannini (a journalist who was later president of La Stampa and ANSA) and the other founders of Movimento sviluppo e pace aimed to promote cooperation among people for a sustainable self-development in the poorest countries of the world, focused on the real needs of the concerned populations.
The new NGO was different from similar associations of the time because it was independent from religious beliefs and political memberships,[4] and in spite of the Cold War climate was able to brig together Catholic and Marxist volunteers.
[6] [7] MSP nowadays supports projects mainly based on local human resources at any hierarchy level, and only in a few cases employs abroad Italian staff on long-duration basis.
The members of the NGO mainly visit the partner organizations in order to offer them advice and counsel about new projects and monitoring the ongoing ones.
One of the most important actions of this kind has been, in cooperation with ASSEFA Italia, the support given in India to the Association for Sarva Seva Farms, connected to the Gandhian movement of Sarvodaya.