Oxfam, one of the UK’s biggest charities, plans to harness the power of the smartphone to bring donors closer to its work. The global poverty reduction charity is launching an app, My Oxfam, that it says will make donating easy and rewarding. The app will also bring supporters closer to the charity’s projects, offer a new level of transparency around its work, and aims to help regain donors’ trust.

The annual ranking by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada's aid contributions dropped to 0.24 per cent of GDP in 2014, down from 0.27 per cent the previous year.

ActionAid, Oxfam and World Vision voice concern at ‘unprecedented’ cuts that divert focus from disaster preparedness programs

International development is dying; people just don't buy it anymore. The West has been engaged in the project for more than six decades now, but the number of poor people in the world is growing, not shrinking, and inequality between rich and poor continues to widen instead of narrow. 

A letter to over 100 international aid agencies from South Sudan's NGO Forum detailed the "increasing trend of harassment and interference targeting NGOs" that is "marked by increased hostility and threats from officials".

India plans to provide Guatemala with US$200,000 in aid to help ameliorate the effects of drought. India is also considering the possibility of investing in the Central American nation.

In the biggest savings measure in this year's budget, the Australian Government is cutting the country's foreign aid spending by $7.6 billion over the next five years.  The Abbott Government says Australia's aid budget will be spent where it can make the most difference.  There has been an increase to aid to Papua New Guinea in return for hosting the Manus Island immigration processing centre.

Yesterday saw the announcement that foreign aid has defied economic and political gravity and reached a record high of $135bn in 2013. The news came as I headed off for a fascinating discussion on reforming the aid system at the ODI.