Two-Thirds Of Public Want To Increase Aid
So much for compassion fatigue. Even after a year of record giving to tsunami-related relief, according to a Brisbane survey, ‘two thirds of the public still want to increase our overseas aid to countries that are poor, have poor social services, poor health standards or who are suffering from a natural disaster or post-conflict trauma’.
Dave Andrews of Micah Challenge, who undertook the in-depth survey with the help of staff from the Department Of Social Sciences at UQ for the Make Poverty History campaign, says the results are ‘an exciting discovery’ for advocates of more poverty-focused overseas aid.
Mr Andrews says ‘we surveyed over 140 people in Browns Plans, Indooroopilly, Chermside and the CBD from the 8thto the 10th of December 2005. And the results, documented in Meet The Need, a report released on Monday for Anti–Poverty Week, are truly remarkable’.
- Not one single person said Australia shouldn’t give aid to poor countries.
- Almost 90% (89.7%) said it was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to give aid.
- Two thirds (66.9%) of the people were actually in favour of increasing our aid.
- And almost 80% of these (76.9%) were in favour of increasing the amount of aid to meet the goal proposed by UN of 0.5% or more of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- A majority of people (54%) would prefer aid to be distributed through Aussie NGOs.
- Where nongovernment agencies are not an option, then people would prefer that aid be distributed through governments rather than businesses. A majority say governments needn’t be democratic but should be stable (52.8%) and transparent (59.2%).
- While people recognise giving aid improves Australia’s international image (86.7%) and international relations (82.9%), the majority do not think that aid should be used as a high-profile public relations gimmick but as genuine low-profile poverty reduction.
- An overwhelming majority of people said aid should be directed towards countries that are poor (87.6%), have poor social services (91.5%) and poor health standards (89.8%) or suffering from natural disaster (94.7%) and post-conflict trauma (85.1%).
Mr Andrews says that ‘Micah Challenge – a movement of people from many different faith communities committed to work together to pursue global justice – will use this feedback from ordinary Aussies to lobby our government to increase aid to half of one per cent of our GDP and focus our aid on poverty alleviation, so we can halve absolute global poverty by 2015.’
Meet the Need – Public perception, knowledge and opinion of Australia’s foreign aid to devel-oping countries – A survey commissioned by the Micah Action Group (Queensland) and the United Nations Association of Australia (Queensland Branch) – was launched as a part of Anti-Poverty Week on Monday October the 16th at the fair-trade Vitality Store, Centro on James, on the corner of James and Doggett Streets, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
Thanks for those posts, Dave, they were good.
I know I am probably just catching up with thoughts others have already had, but is anyone else conscious of the need for fundamental societal change? For example, whilst it is right to protest against multinationals and call for change, whilst we have achieved much from our campaigning to ask supermarkets to stock fairtrade products in the UK, ultimately this is barely scratching the surface. No supermarket loses money stocking fairtrade products, in fact most of the inflated price is their profit rather than directly passed on the farmers and workers in the supply chain.
Fairtrade is better than ordinary trade, but it is not good enough. Ultimately, the system needs to be changed and we cannot expect the current system to do that level of change as it would have a dramatic effect on profitability and then wider socioeconomic effects on our lifestyles. Not exactly much of a vote winner.
We have to find ways to reimagine and reinvent the system. Personally, I see no problem with a system where some have financial profit, as long as a) that profit is not obscene and b) not created on the back of the poverty of others. We need some creative thinking about how we would do such a thing.
Similarly, I think many people understand and agree with the moral argument about increasing Aid. And in the short term, failure to do so is frankly blasphemous.
But surely all of us also have to search within and without to discover a system whereby people are not dependent on financial handouts. If that involves a direct financial (or otherwise) impact on our lives, then maybe that is the price we have to be prepared to give to create a more just and peaceful world.
Apologies for the waffle and subvertion of Dave’s excellent post. Any words of wisdom on my thinking appreciated.
yep.
and as you say by the end of that comment, fundamental societal change starts with fundamental personal change. changing systems is important, but we have to begin by “searching within and without”.
which is why we’re here, right?
To identify with the poor ‘in spirit’; to grieve over injustice in the world; to get angry, but never get aggressive; to seek to do justice, even to our enemies; to extend compassion to all those in need; to act with integrity, not for the publicity; to work for peace in the midst of violence; to suffer ourselves, rather than inflict suffering.