U.K. aid chief Andrew Mitchell has decided to stop the publication of the Department for International Development’s in-house magazine to help save money.
The September 2010 edition of Developments magazine is its 50th and final issue.
The move to cancel the publication of Developments is part of “a full-scale review” of all DfID programs across the world, according to Mitchell. It will save 400,000 pounds (USD615,000), which will be redirected to “projects that directly help the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of poverty,” he added.
In a letter to the magazine’s subscribers, Mitchell said: “Across government there is a drive to get more resources to the frontline, and this decision about Developments magazine is supported by a government-wide freeze on all non-essential marketing and advertising expenditure. With record levels of national debt, all departments need to be smarter about our communications spending, looking for free and online alternatives before high cost printed products – a move which is also better for the environment.”
