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’, written by then Centre Deputy Director Matthew Morris, was posted on 1 September 2010. Matthew 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 in October 2011 and hasn’t looked back. The blog continues to publish a daily post, as well as features on recent/unfolding events and information on events, launches and recent publications.
Over the years, the blog has been edited by a small, dedicated team. Stephen Howes has overseen the Devpolicy Blog as Co-Editor since 2011, 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, and Holly Lawton to November 2019.
Ashlee Betteridge was involved in editing the blog in various periods since 2011, and oversaw its design and functionality between 2013-2021.
The blog has undergone extensive redesigns in 2013 and 2017 to better suit readers’ needs, and continual adjustments are made to keep improving the site.
+ 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 is included, and if any changes to the original post were made, these 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.
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 Bill & Melinda 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 and 2021.
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 direct to 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.
Since its establishment, the Development Policy Centre at the ANU has become the preeminent research centre for aid and for development in the Asia-Pacific region, and in its first five years of existence the Centre has done some outstanding work, and I congratulate all of those who have been around to help provide support and [are] active in the Centre.
Professor Brian Schmidt AC, Vice-Chancellor, ANU
[Y]ou keep us on our toes, you do very good work at the Centre.
Peter Varghese AO, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[T]he research, the publications, the regular blog produced by the Development Policy Centre have become must reads for anyone interested in the current state and emerging trends in international development.
Gordon Hein, Senior Vice-President of Programs, The Asia Foundation
I think the Development Policy Centre has really carved out the leading role in this country in terms of fostering and stimulating debate on development issues. For AusAID that is particularly important because, as you know, we are in the fortunate position of managing what is really unprecedented growth in the Australian aid program … It’s really critical to underpin that growth with a well informed public debate about what we are doing with the funds that are being provided to us …
Peter Baxter, former Director General, AusAID
The work the Development Policy Centre is doing is literally changing lives. I am enormously proud of the work that you have done to date and very much looking forward to the work you will do in the future.
Andrew Leigh, MP for Fraser
I commend you for the extraordinary list of things that you have done in your first year. It really is quite remarkable.
Simon McKeon, 2011 Australian of the Year and Chancellor, Monash University
By providing a forum for discussion of aid policy and development effectiveness, the Development Policy Centre has filled an critical gap in Australia. As both private giving to overseas development and Official Development Assistance increase, the Centre is helping to create informed debate about the impact this spending is having. The Centre is supporting a flow of ideas between government, the private sector and NGOs on development, particularly in PNG and the Pacific.
Julia Newton-Howes, CEO, CARE Australia
I think that the ANU’s Development Policy Centre is set to make a huge contribution to aid policy debates, both at home and abroad. I don’t just see it as an asset for big institutions such as AusAID, but a boon for everyone in the development field in the world.
Harold Mitchell AC, founder of the Harold Mitchell Foundation
I welcome the donation that Mr Mitchell is doing to institutions like Crawford because one of our biggest challenges is changing the mindset of our own development partners and the only way to do it is for people to actually reflect and think of what has happened before.
Emilia Pires, Finance Minister of Timor-Leste
The Centre is generating expertise, knowledge and new ideas on aid and development policy. The University is committed to enhancing public policy and the Centre is making an important contribution to achieving this objective.
Ian Young, former Vice-Chancellor, ANU
