Soomin Oh, Paolo Morini, Jennifer Hudson, and David Hudson
Abstract: Donor governments face the challenge of securing public support when providing aid, especially to countries ruled by unsavoury regimes or with high levels of corruption — countries that also face the most urgent development and humanitarian challenges. What shapes public opinion towards development assistance in such contexts and what might donors do to secure public support? Using novel data from two surveys — an experiment, and linked data from a panel — we test how giving German respondents the option to ‘rechannel’ aid through non-governmental organizations affects support for aid to Afghanistan. The data, collected in 2021, when the Taliban returned to power, show that while most Germans support giving aid to developing countries in general, most do not support giving aid to Afghanistan specifically. Experimental data show that providing the option to re-channel aid away from the government through NGOs increases support for aid to Afghanistan, especially for respondents with concerns for corruption.
Policy relevance: This paper provides evidence that public support for aid to countries governed by corrupt or repressive regimes can be significantly increased when donors offer alternative delivery channels, such as non-governmental organizations. These findings suggest that policymakers can preserve or rebuild public backing for aid in politically challenging contexts by effectively communicating how funds are routed and spent.
Key words: foreign aid, aid channels, public opinion, Afghanistan, Germany
Authors: Soomin Oh (*corresponding author) is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Development Department and Deputy Director of Development Engagement Lab (DEL). Her research is focused on understanding the logic of public goods provision in the developing world, with a particular focus on spatial inequality in the provision, and on public opinion around global poverty and development. s.oh@bham.ac.uk; Paolo Morini is a Research Fellow at the Policy Institute, King’s College London and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science, University College London. He is a co-investigator on the UK in the World Values Survey project, and is interested in public opinion and public engagement with issues such as global poverty and inequalities, climate change, and development. paolo.morini@kcl.ac.uk. Jennifer Hudson is Professor of Political Behaviour and Director of the Development Engagement Lab. Her research focusses on public opinion and engagement with sustainable development, foreign aid, climate change and global health. jennifer.hudson@ucl.ac.uk. David Hudson is Professor of Politics and Development at the University of Birmingham and co-Director of the Development Engagement Lab. His research focuses on the politics of development, including public engagement with global poverty and development, leadership, power, and coalitions in reform processes, and migration. d.e.hudson@bham.ac.uk
Acknowledgements: The authors declare no conflict of interest. None of the authors have any related manuscripts under consideration or in press elsewhere. Development Engagement Lab is a grantee of the Gates Foundation, Seattle; grant number OPP1199734. There has been no involvement by the Gates Foundation in the design of the study, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The manuscript has been approved by all the authors.
