David Cappo AO (born 2 November 1949) is an Australian

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

advocate and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest with particular interest in mental health care in developing countries. He is based in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. Cappo was previously the Social Inclusion Commissioner for the State of South Australia and later advised the Australian government on social policy and mental health reform. In 2007, he was appointed

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for service to social inclusion in South Australia. Cappo is currently co-founder and Chief Executive of YouBelong, a Ugandan-registered non-profit organisation working to strengthen fragile health systems and shift the focus of mental health care from institutional-based care to family and community-centred care.

Early life and career

Cappo was born in

and educated at St Joseph's Primary School at Kingswood and at Rostrevor College. While completing a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work at the South Australian Institute of Technology (now

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

), Cappo worked as a community welfare officer in the areas of child protection, family support and juvenile offending. Cappo was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1984, served as parish priest of Hectorville, South Australia, from 1996 to 2000 and became

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Adelaide, South Australia. Cathedral St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide is the seat of the Catholic A ...

in 2000. In 2003 he was made a Prelate of Honour by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, an appointment accompanied by the title of

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Government appointments

The then South Australian

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Mike Rann Michael David Rann (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and List of Australi ...

appointed Cappo Chair of South Australia's Social Inclusion Board in 2002 and Social Inclusion Commissioner in 2006. His policy achievements in that role included: * A reduction in rough sleeper homelessness in inner-city Adelaide by 50% * An increase in school retention rates from 67.2% in 1999 to 84.2% in 2010 * A major reform of the mental health system known as a stepped system of care * A blueprint for total reform of the disability system. Cappo also served as an independent advisor to the Executive Committee of State Cabinet and a member of the South Australian Economic Development Board. He worked with the Government in directing the implementation of the South Australian Strategic Plan, with particular emphasis on social targets and outcomes, and produced an innovative form of joined up government that brought Government departments together to provide a more effective delivery of social inclusion programs. This model received supportive comments from the World Health Organization (WHO) Social Determinants of Health Report 2008. Cappo was appointed Deputy Chair of the national Social Inclusion Board in 2008 by then Australian

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

. In 2010, Rudd's successor

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

appointed Cappo to a national role in mental health. In late 2011, Cappo stepped down from this position, and from his role with the Social Inclusion Board, after a political controversy sparked by allegations that he and Archbishop Philip Wilson failed to properly investigate allegations involving another South Australian priest in the 1960s. A subsequent investigation by a QC found there was no substance to the allegations.

Work in East Africa

In 2016, Cappo co-founded Uganda-based YouBelong with Dr. Byamah Brian Mutamba, a Ugandan senior psychiatrist. YouBelong Uganda works closely with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to support programs designed to bring about mental health reform in East Africa, and works to enhance the emotional wellbeing and mental health of school children in Jinja, Uganda, in partnership with the Jinja Educational Trust. YouBelong Uganda is funded through philanthropic donations and a research grant from the Wellcome Trust. In October 2023 Cappo presented the mental health innovations of YouBelong Uganda at the World Health Summit in Berlin as part of a session dedicated to Mental Health for All.

Academic appointments

From 2012 to 2018, Cappo was a senior research fellow in the School of Social and Policy Studies at

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

in South Australia. In 2024, he was appointed an Adjunct Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, Notre Dame University, Fremantle WA Campus (20), where he focusses on models of social justice and human rights in low income countries.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cappo, David Clergy from Adelaide Living people Officers of the Order of Australia 1949 births