Aid cuts reducing public support for overseas help, study finds

"News of aid cuts leads to less public support for countries helping others through international development help, a new survey has found. Across the Western World, countries including the US, UK, France and Germany have slashed their aid budgets over the past year. Programmes across the Global South have suffered devastating impacts as a result, including global health and climate resilience work."

"Questions mentioning government aid cuts were met with respondents being less likely to describe aid as essential, less likely to frame it as a moral duty and less emotionally engaged overall. Some 95 per cent of respondents felt that the government should provide help to those who need it abroad - but that figure dropped to 92 per cent when people were exposed to information about aid cuts."

A survey by nonprofit network GlobalGiving found that exposure to information about aid budget cuts significantly decreases public support for international development. The study, based on interviews with 2,000 participants in the UK and Germany, revealed that when respondents learned about government aid reductions, they became less likely to view aid as essential, less likely to frame it as a moral duty, and showed decreased emotional engagement. Support for government aid dropped from 95 percent to 92 percent when participants were informed of cuts, while belief in aid's necessity to prevent suffering fell from 91 percent to 85 percent. Western countries including the US, UK, France, and Germany have slashed aid budgets over the past year, causing devastating impacts on programs across the Global South, including global health and climate resilience initiatives.

Read at www.independent.co.uk