Who We Are
Established in September 2010, the Devpolicy Blog provides a platform for the best in aid and development analysis, research and policy comment, with global coverage and a focus on Australia, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea. As of July 2024, Devpolicy has published more than 4,300 posts from more than 1,500 contributors.
The Blog is run out of the Development Policy Centre housed in the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University.
The Devpolicy Blog editorial team is overseen by Robin Davies and includes Amita Monterola and Sadhana Sen. Contact the editors.
The views expressed in this forum are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, the Development Policy Centre, or the institutions to which the authors are attached. The Devpolicy Blog requires authors to disclose any relevant affiliations and conflicts of interest.
Comments on the Blog are moderated. Differing opinions are encouraged. Read our blog submission and commenting guidelines.
Click on the headings below to learn more about the Blog’s history, our cross-post and re-use policy, funding for Devpolicy, and what people are saying about us.
Submit a blog
The Devpolicy Blog provides a platform for the best in aid and development analysis, research and policy commentary, with global coverage and a strong focus on Australia and its immediate region. Established in 2010, the blog is run by the Development Policy Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University. The Devpolicy Blog editorial team currently comprises Robin Davies, Amita Monterola and Sadhana Sen.
Our readers are analysts, policymakers, academics, researchers, advocates, development practitioners, public servants, consultants and students. While their fields of interests converge, their knowledge, experience and perspectives vary. Our three main areas of focus are Australian aid, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea, and regional and global development.
Unsolicited blog posts are welcome. Acceptance of articles is based on quality and relevance. All points of view are welcome.
Posts should generally, with very few exceptions, be no longer than 1,000 words. They will almost always be attributed to named individuals — attributions to organisations or to “anonymous” will rarely be considered. They should provide sources/references via hyperlinks, not in footnotes. No more than three charts or tables should be included. And they should generally avoid headings and, as far as possible, lists. We prefer to receive exclusive submissions. You should tell us if your article has been or will be submitted to other publication platforms.
Detailed style guidance is set out in this Guide for Authors. It’s not that complicated. Above all, be consistent.
Articles should be submitted through our article submission form. If you experience any difficulties uploading documents, you can also email them to the blog editors. Submissions, unless time-sensitive, will generally be processed within two weeks of receipt.
First-time applicants will need to complete a contributor profile form (it’s quick and easy).
Authors are encouraged to supply a relevant photo that might be published as a banner image with their article. You must hold the rights to, or demonstrate that you have permission to use, any photo you submit.
All articles and photos accepted for publication will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Editors will only communicate with blog authors, not with intermediaries. Rare exceptions will be made in the case of “VIP” blogs.
Authors who have affiliations and particularly the potential for perceived conflicts of interest that readers should be aware of must complete the disclosure statement field in the submission form.
We will edit your post. We will send you a revised version if changes are major. If they are small, you will have to trust us. We will make as few changes as possible.
Some articles may be promoted to regional media outlets for republication. If you do not want us to promote your blog, you can indicate this in the submission form. Note that regional media are able to republish under a Creative Commons licence even if we don’t actively promote your article.
Comment on a blog
We welcome comments on blogs. Comments may be edited (without consultation) for grammar and punctuation. We will not publish personal attacks. We may remove part of your comment if we think that part constitutes a personal attack. Criticism of organisations as against individuals is welcome if it serves a good purpose. It should not be gratuitous, but well-founded, based either on experience or argument. We welcome robust debate, but avoid sweeping, unfounded attacks.
While we like to publish as many comments as possible, and do not subject them to the same level of quality control as blog posts, we may hold back comments which contain harsh criticism with no attempt at all to give that criticism a justified base.
Commenters who have affiliations that readers should be aware of, or conflicts of interest, must declare them. Commenters should identify themselves by their full names unless there are good reasons for not doing so. Accusations of illegal conduct are unlikely to be published.
Disclosure statements should include information on any relevant: sources of funding/support (financial or in-kind) for the work; employment/consultancy inputs or arrangements; professional or personal affiliations and holdings.
History
The Blog was born out of a desire to broaden and deepen the conversations on aid and development in the region – both the voices represented and the topics covered.
Devpolicy Blog’s first blog post, ‘Why Australia needs an aid plan’, was written by then Development Policy Centre Deputy Director Matthew Morris, was posted on 1 September 2010. Morris not only published this first blog, but came up with the idea of having a Blog, got it off the ground, and edited it until he left the Centre in 2011.
From just four blogs in that first month, Devpolicy moved to publishing a daily blog (on week-days) in October 2011. We haven’t looked back since, and continue to publish daily.
Over the years, the Blog has been edited by a small, dedicated team. Stephen Howes oversaw the Devpolicy Blog from 2011 to 2023, in collaboration with a number of co-editors. Jonathan Pryke edited the blog between 2011 and 2015, Camilla Burkot from 2015 to 2017, Sachini Muller from 2018 to May 2019, Rohan Fox from May to mid-June 2019, Holly Lawton to November 2019, Lydia Papandrea from November 2019 to July 2022, Karen Downing from June 2021 to July 2023, and Anne Moorhead from June 2021 to January 2024. Ashlee Betteridge was an editor for various periods since 2011, and oversaw its design and functionality between 2013-2021.
The Devpolicy Blog underwent extensive redesigns in 2013, 2017 and 2024 to better suit readers’ needs, and continual adjustments are made to keep improving the site. Suggestions and corrections are always welcome. Future Theory designed the Blog and Shak Technology provides maintenance and troubleshooting services.
Cross-post and re-use policy
All posts published on the Devpolicy Blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means that posts on this blog may be reposted provided that a) it is for non-commercial purposes; b) the original author of the work is credited; and c) the Devpolicy Blog is credited and a link back to the original post included, and d) changes to the original post, if any, are indicated.
The Creative Commons licence only applies to original material published by the Devpolicy Blog and does not necessarily apply to material cross-posted from another source with their permission. Where this is the case, this is noted in the byline at the end of the post. To request permission to republish these posts, please contact the original source.
Please contact us if you have any questions regarding cross-posting and re-use.
Funding for Devpol
The Centre’s work is supported through funding from various organisations.
Harold Mitchell AC announced a donation from the Harold Mitchell Foundation to the Development Policy Centre of $2.5 million over five years in November 2012, which has supported the centre’s core functions, enabled it to develop its research programs and outreach work, and to run initiatives such as the annual Mitchell Oration and Mitchell Humanitarian Award. The support of the Harold Mitchell Foundation has been crucial to the centre’s growth.
Funding from the Harold Mitchell Foundation has been matched by a mix of cash and in-kind funding from The Australian National University and Crawford School of Public Policy.
The Gates Foundation has provided support since 2014 for us to continue our research into Australian and New Zealand aid.
We receive funding from the Australian aid program in support of our work on PNG in partnership with the University of Papua New Guinea, and for research on state and societal responses to corruption in PNG in collaboration with the University of Birmingham’s Developmental Leadership Program.
We also receive funding from the Australian aid program through the Pacific Research Program for research relating to economic development in the Pacific, including work on labour mobility.
The ANU College of Asia and the Pacific contributed to the costs of running the blog in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
We acknowledge funding and support from The Asia Foundation, The Asian Development Bank, the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific in support of the various conferences we co-organise.
An anonymous donor provides funding to support our PNG and Pacific Greg Taylor Scholars.
We also gratefully accept donations from the public.
Contact Us
To join our blog and newsletter mailing lists, please Subscribe.
What people are saying about us
“I appreciate the longstanding contributions [Professor Stephen Howes] has made to Australia’s foreign aid policy through the Development Policy Centre, AusAID and the many other bodies on which he has served as chair or adviser. “
Senator Jess Collins
Second Reading of the Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill, August 2025“I welcome the release of the 2025 Australian Aid Transparency Audit by the ANU’s Development Policy Centre. This independent review is a vital accountability mechanism. It supports us to go further. And it provides an evidence-based perspective that helps sharpen our approach and identify gaps to close.”
The Hon Anne Aly MP
Minister for International Development, Small Business and Multicultural Affairs, August 2025“… the Development Policy Centre at the ANU, whose research about the Pacific is both rigorous with regard to evidence and methodology, and digestible for a general audience via their well-read blog.”
The Hon Andrew Giles MP
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, ANU Migration Update, 2023“Let me say thanks to the whole team who pulls together the Devpolicy blogs – they are a big resource for our sector and get regular reading/sharing in my circles.”
Matthew Maury
CEO Tearfund Australia, Chair Emergency Action Alliance, Deputy President of the ACFID Board, 2022“The invaluable Devpolicy Blog (from the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University) has gathered the figures…”
Graeme Dobell
The Strategist, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2022“The Development Policy Centre does an outstanding job bringing together researchers – and a wide range of stakeholders – from across Australia, the Pacific, Asia and beyond.”