More than half surveyed say funding should be cut - undermining UN
goal to halve world poverty
Mark Tran
Thursday September 9 2010
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/08/british-want-to-cut-aid
More than half of Britons think development aid is wasted and do not
support the coalition government's policy of ring-fencing assistance
for poor countries, a survey shows.
Aid to Developing Countries: Where does the UK Public Stand? [https://
docs.google.com/a/guardian.co.uk/fileview?
id=1m8Af-4srjuLVjm7rSBlixj382soRRcqqyhzr3XFS8NvejNI9DXJsyfcM6NKI&hl=en"
title="], published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in
Brighton, recommends development groups take a new approach to
communicating with the public about how and when aid works to address
perceptions that most aid is wasted.
The aid budget is protected from spending cuts because the government
is committed to meeting the UN target of spending 0.7% of national
income on aid by 2013, but the survey found that 63% of people think
aid to poor countries should be cut as the government seeks to reduce
the budget deficit, while 52% think most UK aid to developing
countries is ineffective.
"This survey suggests development charities and the government need to
take a fresh approach to engaging with the public about aid," said
Professor Lawrence Haddad of IDS. "We need to hear more from the
people whose lives have been changed by aid. We should do more to
understand what UK taxpayers need to hear to be convinced that aid
works. And we need to be honest about what works and what doesn't, so
we can learn for the future."
Haddad said the government's MyAid initiative [http://
www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/cameron-myaid-development"
title="] could be the sort of creative approach to build up public
support for development aid. Unveiled last year, a ?40m MyAid fund and
website would carry details of 10 ongoing projects funded by the
Department for International Development (DfID). People would be able
to vote for what they think are the most deserving causes and money
would be allocated in proportion to the votes.
"If done well it could stimulate debate, show what the public cares
about maybe give it greater ownership of the issue," Haddad said.
The IDS survey is the first time a long-term panel of the general
public will be used to explore attitudes towards development over time
in the UK. It echoes recent DfID surveys on fading support for foreign
aid. Only 35% of respondents thought the British government should do
more to help reduce poverty in February 2010, compared with 50% in
September 2007, according to the DfID.
There is some comfort for aid groups. The IDS survey reports that six
out 10 still think it is morally right for the UK to help developing
countries.
In 2008-09 DfID provided £5.5bn in aid. Its budget will increase to
£7.8bn for 2010-11. By 2013 the equivalent of 0.7% of the UK's gross
national income will be dedicated to development aid, from 0.36% in
2007-08, in keeping with the millennium development goals (MDGs), the
international targets agreed by the UN to halve world poverty by 2015.
The coalition came under fire last month after a leaked DfID document
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/29/protests-uk-security-
aid-policy" title="] showed that the new national security council,
which oversees all aspects of foreign policy, is requiring that
national security considerations are placed at the heart of aid
projects.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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