WhyDev

WhyDev is a registered Australian non-profit started by Brendan Rigby and Weh Yeoh in 2010, when they were Masters students at the University of NSW. At the time, there was a lack of student voices and critical discussion online about development theory and practice. While completing an internship with the Centre for Refugee Research on the borders of Myanmar/Burma, Brendan created the domain name – thewhyofdevelopment.com – and Weh published the first blog post. Thankfully, a good friend (thanks Mike Clay!) gave us our Facebook moment, when he suggested: “Why not just ‘WhyDev’?” Our mission is to provide professional, educational, and support services to individuals, communities, and organisations committed to global development. We want those committed to getting development right to have the tools, resources, and knowledge that will enable them to contribute to social change through positive and empowering actions. Our vision is a world in which those who are committed to global development have the support, resources, and resilience to work effectively and positively. We aim to do that by: - Providing professional, educational, and support services to aid and development practitioners such as peer coaching and online mentoring; - Providing students with internship, fellowship, and education opportunities; - Producing original content to facilitate open, transparent, and critical discussion on issues related to aid, development, and social change; - Partnering with other organisations that share our values, vision, and goals; - Embracing diversity of background and perspective.