About us
Developments
Developments is a free magazine - published four times a year - and website which tells the stories of people and organisations who are working to end poverty.
Our aim is to make the often complex issues of development clear, accessible and compelling. While the goal of development, the eradication of poverty, is not contentious, the path often is – and Developments aims to stimulate debate around the best way to create a fairer world for all people.
Developments has both an online and an offline presence. Subscribe and every three months you’ll receive a copy of the stunningly designed and sharply written magazine. Developments online offers you the chance to join the debate by commenting on stories from the printed edition and features new editorial unique to this website.
Under Articles on the navigation bar at the top of the page you’ll find a list of stories that have appeared in Developments in the most recent four editions.
If you want something from further back, click on Archive.
What is development?
When we talk about international development we mean the efforts, by developed and developing countries, to bring people out of poverty in order to reduce their reliance on overseas aid.
Many different things can contribute to development which reduces poverty, such as settling conflicts, increasing trade, securing more and better aid, and improving health and education.
Why is the UK Government involved in development?
More than a billion people, one in five of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty. This means they live on less than 55p a day. Ten million children die before their fifth birthday, most of them from preventable diseases. More than 113 million children do not go to school.
In a world of growing wealth, such levels of human suffering and wasted potential are not only morally wrong, they are also against our own interests. We are becoming much closer to people in faraway countries. We trade more and more with people around the world.
Many of the problems which affect us, war and conflict, international crime, refugees, the trade in illegal drugs and the spread of diseases like HIV and AIDS, are caused or made worse by poverty in developing countries.
Getting rid of poverty will make for a better world for everybody.