UK Public Opinion on Aid and Development

Transcription

1 UK Public Opinion on Aid and Development Spencer Henson Date: 28 th November 2012

2 Background Long-held interest in public attitudes towards aid Polling data been major source of information Until 2010 great reliance on data collected for DFID Limited research on what drives public attitudes towards aid Recent interests in values and framing Don t really know and understand what the public think about aid..which is of greater important given evident gap between political consensus and public sentiment?

3 ODA as % GNI % Very concerned UK aid spending as proportion of GNI versus proportion of population very concerned about poverty in developing countries % 'Very concerned' ODA as % GNI Source: ONS ( ); TNS ( )

4 What do we know..? Significant proportion of the public support the principle of aid Most people know very little about what aid is and how much is spent.. but this does not stop them having well-developed views on aid! Wastage a key factor mediating support for aid spending Many people recognise a trade-off between aid spending and spending on poverty in the UK Benefits to the UK an underlying factor driving support for aid spending Evidence of a core sub-set of the population who are committed to aid Measures of actual support for aid spending provide a confusing picture..especially if interested in absolute proportions or numbers

5 Knowing nothing about aid does not stop people having elaborate views! I m sure much of the charity was well intentioned and even some of the government aid. The problem is it hasn t worked. Why? Much of the money has gone into the pockets of dictators, corrupt politicians and into buying arms. The remainder came straight back to the government giving it, in the form of contracts. It seems standard practice to give aid to a country only if they spend most of it on things they don t want, made by companies in the country giving the aid. The little that got through, possibly by mistake, was wasted on projects that seemed designed not to work. An example of this is the give the man a bag of flour and he ll eat for a day, give a man a bag of seed and he ll eat every day. Complete rubbish. Most of the places with real food poverty are subject to drought or floods. That s why they have no food. Give a man a bag of seed and watch it die in the field. The most staggering example of this wrong thinking is goats for Africa. Because of cattle grazing and drought there is no grass, so what do they do, buy them a goat and let it eat the trees and bushes. The trees and bushes then die and with nothing to hold it together the soil blows away. Result desert. (G4304)

6 Measuring public support for aid more questions than answers? What ask? Concern Principle of aid to developing countries Spending How ask? Broad spending plans Spending allocations to aid in percent Absolute amounts of spending Absolute amounts of spending per person Context: Aid spending in isolation Aid spending in context of broader government spending Information: Informed Uninformed

7 % very concerned Proportion of Population Very Concerned About level of poverty in poor countries, Source: ONS ( ); COI/TNS ( )

8 % The UK has a moral duty to help reduce poverty in developing countries Disagree Strongly Tend to Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Tend to Agree Agree Strongly Don't know

9 Agreement with UK government s commitment to increase spending on overseas aid to poor countries 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% September 2007 September 2008 February 2009 September 2009 February 2010 Strongly disagree Tend to disagree Neither agree nor disagree Tend to agree Strongly agree Source: COI/TNS ( )

10 % Views on UK government plans to spend 1.6 per cent of the national spending budget on international aid, March Too much Source: YouGov (2012) Too little About the right amount Don't know

11 % Views on UK government plans to spend 1.6 per cent of the national spending budget on international aid, September Much too low A little too low About right A little too high Much too high Source: ComRes (2012)

12 Support for changes in UK government spending on aid to developing countries, % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Don't know Increase a lot Increase a little No change Reduce a little Reduce a lot 10% 0% October 2012 January 2012 November 2010 June 2010 Source: UKPOM ( )

13 Conclusions Know comparatively little about public attitudes towards aid and development Difficult to get reliable estimates of the scale of support for aid spending Need to put more focus on understanding what drives support..especially if our ultimate aid is to engage with the public

14 % Most aid given by the UK to developing countries is wasted against support for cuts in aid spending Disagree Strongly Tend to Disagree Support cuts in aid spending Neither Agree nor Disagree Don't know Agree Strongly Tend to Agree Do not support cuts in aid spending

15 Role of policy feedbacks High Visibility Voluntary Donations Distant Proximate Aid Low Visibility