Public backs global cooperation as trust in institutions falters

In a new poll of over 35,000 adults across the world, the Rockefeller Foundation found that there’s strong support for international cooperation despite cuts to development aid, but that faith in the institutions responsible for this cooperation is lagging. The poll showed an overwhelming belief that global cooperation is important for jobs, economic development, food and water security, global health, climate, and poverty and inequality. It spanned the United States, China, Germany, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Brazil, and 23 countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. Some 58% of respondents said that they trust the United Nations, 60% trust the World Health Organization, and 50% or less trust the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the International Criminal Court. “This new survey confirms that the public supports foreign aid — but only when they believe it’s effective,” Lee Crawfurd, senior research fellow at the Center for Global Development, told Devex. “The challenge is to show more clearly that aid does work.” But “working” largely depended on whether respondents saw that cooperation as serving national interests and producing tangible benefits. “The challenge is that a sizable group remains unconvinced of cooperation’s effectiveness,” the report says. Further data shows that overall, support hinges on whether people think that the cooperation will improve their own lives. One takeaway was that 66% of respondents feel that international cooperation is in their own interest. “While it will never solve every global problem, there is strong evidence that in the poorest countries, aid has saved millions of lives through vaccines and medicines, helped children into school, and fed families caught in conflict and disaster,” said Crawfurd. “What’s needed now are clearer, more compelling stories — backed by data — of the difference aid makes.” The Rockefeller Foundation framed the finding in a call to “replace the outdated mechanisms of the 21st century with demonstrably more effective, mutually beneficial systems that can earn and sustain public support.” In an interview with Devex, Eric Pelofsky, vice president and senior adviser at the Rockefeller Foundation, said that the foundation released the report now so that it’s in the minds of leadership going into the United Nations General Assembly next week. “We're launching it this week so that this is what people are reading as they go into those conversations,” Pelofsky said, adding that this 80-year mark is a moment for self-reflection and reform efforts. “If this report has any impact at all, it will reinforce those who advocate for change and to create some level of urgency to deliver impact.” The question now is how to prioritize change moving forward — and most importantly, where the money is going to come from. “When everything's important, nothing is important,” said Pelofksy. “The world is in a deeply triaged environment. You can’t cut 20% of [official development assistance] and 60% of global health spending and think that’s magically not going to have an impact on human beings. So everybody's going to make choices about what's important, and then we're going to find out what happens when you drop a ball on some things.” The hope, Pelofksy added, is that the poll will help development professionals find a “more powerful and compelling way to engage the world on these issues.”