Development cooperation as seen in the EU, US and China

Results and recommendations from a multi-country
study aimed at understanding and communicating
with key policy constituencies

Summary of Key Findings:

The Building Support for International Development research study focused on the following
themes:
• how and under what conditions are priority target groups for engagement with
development policy issues most likely to engage.
• what factors influence and motivate both engagement and policy decision-making by
members of these target groups.
• through which communication channels can members of these groups be accessed most
readily and with the greatest impact.
The research included a total of 128 in-depth interviews with influentials and government
decision-makers; surveys of 3,824 interested citizens, and focus group discussions with 160
interested citizens. Detailed information about the research methods are in Section VI starting on
page 44.
II.a General takeaways:
Development advocates have fertile ground in which to sow deeper engagement among citizens.
In all five donor countries studied, interested citizens made up a significant proportion of the
citizenry as a whole, indicating that development advocates have large groups of potentially
receptive people to target.
Gaps and inefficiencies in the delivery of development information provide ready avenues for
deepening engagement with all target groups.
Citizens are exposed to little development-related information; influentials and government
decision-makers, meanwhile, need help sifting through clutter and finding specialized information.
Both needs represent concrete engagement opportunities.
Strategies for engaging target groups should include both short-term and long-term approaches.
The research highlighted that, in general, people’s attitudes about development issues tend to be
formed through their own upbringing, personal beliefs and life experiences. Engagement needs to
feed through these formative elements, and be sustained over long periods.
The digital sphere provides a number of convenient conduits for connecting with and involving
various constituencies in the development discussion.
This report urges the creation of a common, “unbranded” digital space for gathering and sharing
information about international development policy issues.
Despite digital opportunities, members of different target groups have differing levels of trust in
and enthusiasm for the use of social media for gathering information.
Although the use of social media is becoming widespread among all three target groups in the
major donor countries, social media sources are not necessarily considered the most authoritative
for development policy information.