Public Opinion Polling and the Millennium Development Goals

Monitoring changes in public awareness and attitudes in rich countries towards aid and other international development policy issues is extremely difficult: due to lack of systematic polling or monitoring, there is no reliable, comparable data across DAC member countries. This paper suggests a way to address this problem: a common questionnaire for all DAC countries to use in their national surveys, centred on the Millennium Development Goals. It sums up the process that led to the setting up of this questionnaire, provides a short analysis of the main methodological issues and brings together three versions, respectively for face-to-face, phone or mail processing. These should allow information and communication professionals, as well as policy makers, to improve the comparability of public opinion surveys in OECD DAC member countries on development and the MDGs, especially if —as proposed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development — parts of the questionnaire are included in the next Eurobarometer survey on development across EU member countries (possibly in 2005)

Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through on-line media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focussed on process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come

Sensibiliser l'opinion publique sur le développement : La communication, l'éducation et l'évaluation en jeu

Les objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD), la nécessaire efficacité des programmes d’aide et l’interdépendance mondiale ont contribué à développer la demande et le sentiment de l’urgence d’une meilleure sensibilisation et formation du public à ces promesses et à leurs enjeux, dans les pays de l’OCDE. Les donneurs et les acteurs de terrain peuvent tirer un meilleur parti des évaluations et de leurs enseignements, pour améliorer l’efficacité et les résultats de la communication, de la sensibilisation et de la formation du public aux questions du développement global. Il leur faut en premier lieu comprendre la procédure d’une évaluation et la respecter scrupuleusement. Ensuite appréhender le caractère politique d’une évaluation et apprendre à le traiter. Et enfin à comprendre les limites de l’évaluation. Les membres du CAD, en accord avec leurs partenaires, doivent travailler ensemble à renforcer l’évaluation des campagnes de conscientisation et de formation du public en concevant un espace (un site internet par exemple) pour partager les résultats, leur expérience et les perspectives de l’évaluation ; pour mettre en commun les ressources affectées à la recherche scientifique sur les effets à long terme des initiatives qui se multiplient pour conscientiser l’opinion ; pour construire une solide base de connaissances sur ce qui marche et qui ne marche pas en la matière ; et, finalement, pour travailler en commun à l’adoption d’un minimum de normes communes pour les évaluations de la communication et de la sensibilisation et la formation du public aux questions du développement global.

Les OMD, le contribuable et l'efficacité de l'aide

Avec les OMD et des ambitions renouvelées en matière d’efficacité, les bailleurs ont l’occasion d’expliquer au public ce qu’ils font pour l’aide au développement. A défaut, ils courent le risque de voir le scepticisme croissant des contribuables entamer leur soutien.

MDGs, Taxpayers and Aid Effectiveness

MDGs and new aid-effectiveness targets are an opprtunity for donors to explain what they do before growing scepticism erodes taxpayer support for aid.

Public Opinion Research, Global Education and Development Co-operation Reform: In Search of a Virtuous Circle

Summary of trends on public opinion and international development co-operation in OECD DAC member countries: i) Public support in OECD DAC member countries for helping poor countries has remained consistently high for almost two decades: there is no aid fatigue; ii) Donations from the public to development and emergency NGOs have been increasing, mostly in reaction to emergencies and natural disasters in developing countries; iii) Concern among the public about aid effectiveness exists alongside continued high support for aid; iv) The relationship between public support and ODA volumes is complex, but a positive correlation exists at the national level between satisfaction with ODA volume, and reaching or bypassing the UN target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income; v) People’s understanding of poverty and development issues remains very shallow. Public awareness about ODA and development co-operation policies is also low; vi) Awareness does increase significantly as a result ... Ce document propose une synthèse des tendances de l’opinion publique et de la coopération internationale au développement dans les pays membres du CAD de l’OCDE: i) dans ces pays, le soutien du public en faveur de l’aide aux pays pauvres s’est maintenu, pratiquement sans interruption depuis près de 20 ans, à un niveau élevé: il n’y a pas de « lassitude » de l’aide ; ii) les dons du public aux ONG humanitaires et de développement sont en augmentation, surtout pour répondre aux situations d’urgence et aux catastrophes naturelles dans les pays en développement; iii) la société civile est parfois sceptique quant à l’efficacité de l’aide, mais cela n’entame pas son soutien, qui continue d’être important; iv) les relations entre le soutien de la société civile et les volumes d’APD sont complexes mais il existe une corrélation positive dans les pays entre la satisfaction éprouvée à l’égard du volume d’APD et l’atteinte, ou le dépassement, de l’objectif de 0,7 pour cent du revenu ...

Public Opinion Polling and the Millennium Development Goals

Monitoring changes in public awareness and attitudes in rich countries towards aid and other international development policy issues is extremely difficult: due to lack of systematic polling or monitoring, there is no reliable, comparable data across DAC member countries. This paper suggests a way to address this problem: a common questionnaire for all DAC countries to use in their national surveys, centred on the Millennium Development Goals. It sums up the process that led to the setting up of this questionnaire, provides a short analysis of the main methodological issues and brings together three versions, respectively for face-to-face, phone or mail processing. These should allow information and communication professionals, as well as policy makers, to improve the comparability of public opinion surveys in OECD DAC member countries on development and the MDGs, especially if — as proposed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development — parts of the ... Il est particulièrement difficile de suivre avec précision l’évolution de l’opinion publique dans les pays riches au sujet de l’aide internationale et des autres politiques de développement : en l’absence d’enquêtes systématiques, il n’y a tout simplement aucune base de données fiables et comparables pour l’ensemble des pays membres du Comité d’Aide au Développement (CAD) de l’OCDE. Ce document propose une solution : un questionnaire commun destiné à tous les pays du CAD, prêt à l’emploi dans leurs enquêtes nationales, et centré sur les Objectifs de développement du millénaire (ODM). Il en synthétise le processus d’élaboration, analyse brièvement les principaux problèmes méthodologiques et rassemble en annexe les trois versions finales (face à face, par téléphone ou par courrier). Ce questionnaire devrait permettre aux professionnels de l’information et de la communication, ainsi qu’aux décideurs politiques, d’améliorer la comparabilité des enquêtes d’opinion dans les pays membres ...

Drug use and early job insecurity

This chapter explores the association between drug use, early job insecurity and periods of high youth unemployment using quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative analysis shows how young people’s behaviour and attitudes towards drugs have changed as youth unemployment rates have increased over the past decade. The qualitative analysis, drawing on data referring to a lengthier period, explores how drug use and early job insecurity have affected young people’s life courses and labour market transitions. Our contribution provides insights that can inform policy towards young people at risk of social exclusion as a result of their involvement with drugs. Conceptually, we focus on the significance of critical moments understood at both the societal and individual levels, looking at how the environment and the role of ‘significant others’ in the lives of these vulnerable young people affect their trajectories in positive and negative ways

Drug use and early job insecurity

This chapter explores the association between drug use, early job insecurity and periods of high youth unemployment using quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative analysis shows how young people’s behaviour and attitudes towards drugs have changed as youth unemployment rates have increased over the past decade. The qualitative analysis, drawing on data referring to a lengthier period, explores how drug use and early job insecurity have affected young people’s life courses and labour market transitions. Our contribution provides insights that can inform policy towards young people at risk of social exclusion as a result of their involvement with drugs. Conceptually, we focus on the significance of critical moments understood at both the societal and individual levels, looking at how the environment and the role of ‘significant others’ in the lives of these vulnerable young people affect their trajectories in positive and negative ways