Changing the debate on aid

With initial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, di:ga supported a collaboration between the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) to explore how strategic deployment of the UK’s development budget could maximise positive impact for those in need overseas, while also serving the national interest, and helping to define Britain’s place in the world.

In July 2015, RUSI and ODI co-hosted a breakfast briefing on the place of aid in the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The speakers were the Right Hon. Andrew Mitchell, MP and Lieutenant General Sir Rob Fry and the event was attended by over eighty people from a range of government departments, NGOs, the armed forces, the private sector, and academia. In December 2015, RUSI and ODI co-hosted another event on the conflict in Yemen, which was also fully subscribed.