ODI Global (formerly Overseas Development Institute) is a

global affairs Global studies (GS) or global affairs (GA) is the interdisciplinary study of global macro-processes. Predominant subjects are political science in the form of global politics, as well as economics, law, the sociology of law, ecology, environmental ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on

injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but ...

and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the planet." It does this through "research, convening and influencing, to lead new thinking and future agendas to deliver transformational change." Its chair is

Suma Chakrabarti Sir Sumantra "Suma" Chakrabarti (born 1959) is a British former civil servant who served as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) from July 2012 to July 2020. He was previously the highest ranking Indian in Br ...

History

In 1960 ODI began in small premises in Regent's Park of

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. At the time, ODI operated a library devoted to international development issues and also performed consultancy work and contracts with the

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

of the UK government. Since then, the organization has moved several times and is headquartered on Blackfriars Road. In 2007 the ODI was named 'Think Tank of the Year' by ''Public Affairs News'' magazine. It was named 'Think-tank to Watch' in the '' Prospect'' 'Think-tank of the Year' awards in 2005 and is considered in international policy circles to be one of the world's leading think tanks on development. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010, with guests including former ODI Fellow and UK Business Secretary,

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham (UK Parliament constituency), Twic ...

Organisation

ODI had more than 230 staff. The Chief Executive is

Sara Pantuliano Sara Pantuliano Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (born 1969) is the Italian-born British chief executive officer of the think tank ODI Global (think tank) (formerly Overseas Development Institute). She chairs a United Nations advisory group a ...

. Alex Thier was ODI Executive Director 2017 – 2019. From 2013 until 2016 it was directed by Kevin Watkins who took over from Alison Evans, formerly of the

Institute of Development Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

(IDS) at Sussex University. ODI does not engage in teaching. As of 2021, ODI conducts research and convening in the following global affairs areas: * Climate and Sustainability *Development and Public Finance * Digital Societies *Equity and Social Policy *

Gender Equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

and

Social Inclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

Global Risks Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

and Resilience *Humanitarian Policy *Economic Development *Politics and Governance

Event series and publications

ODI hosts regular event series with conferences and panels discussing a wide range of development issues. Speakers include ODI staff, visiting development policymakers, DFID officials and other prominent figures such as

Justin Yifu Lin Justin Yifu Lin ( zh, c=林毅夫, p=Lín Yìfū; born on October 15, 1952) is a Taiwanese-born Chinese economist and professor of economics at Peking University. He served as the World Bank Chief Economist, Chief Economist and Senior Vice Presid ...

, the former

World Bank Chief Economist The chief economist of the World Bank (full title: Senior Vice President for Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group) is the senior economist at the World Bank Group, tasked with providing intellectual leadership and direc ...

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 ...

, the 27th Prime Minister of Australia, and

David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member o ...

, chief executive officer of the

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...

. In 2020 ODI published 235 papers, research reports, briefings, case studies and analysis. ODI has two academic journals, ''

Development Policy Review ''Development Policy Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell 6 times a year on behalf of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The journal was established in 1966 and focuses on the links between research and p ...

'' and 'Disasters'.

Fellowship

ODI runs a fellowship scheme, which sends young postgraduate economists of all nationalities to work in the public sectors of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific on two-year contracts. Since 1963 ODI has sent over 1000 postgraduate economists to work in 40 mostly low-income countries. Participants were initially known as Overseas Development Institute Nuffield Fellows (ODINs) and later titled as ODI Fellows.

Funding

As a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, ODI's income relies on "grants and donations from foundations, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, governments, multilateral agencies and academia". Some of its largest funders include FCDO,

Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

, and

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

each committing £3 million in the year 2022-23.

Criticism

David Steven of Global Dashboard criticized the ODI in 2013 for not making the distinction between subsidy and having a lower

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

rate on fuel comparison to other goods.

Selected publications

* ''

Interrogating the evidence base on humanitarian localisation Localisation (or localization) is the practice, in humanitarian aid, to give more decision making power and funding to organizations and people that are based in countries affected by humanitarian emergencies. The tendency of humanitarian aid ag ...

'', 2021

References

External links

*
ODI Blog
* (publications fulltext) {{Authority control 1960 establishments in the United Kingdom Development studies Foreign policy and strategy think tanks based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the London Borough of Southwark Think tanks based in the United Kingdom Think tanks established in 1960