Priorities for development aid: what do French people think should come first?
French respondents were asked to choose the top three priorities for French aid. The most popular investment (42%) was in economic development for poor countries, including employment. This mirrors the findings from our qualitative focus groups, where participants often express views on the need for aid to be a short-term tool for long-term independence for the poorest countries.
The second priority is about tackling humanitarian crises, which reflects a general confusion between poverty reduction and addressing “urgent” development needs in a crisis situation.
The third priority is to help resolve hunger or malnutrition, as a question of basic survival, or a precondition to the success or necessity of any other investment. This echoes the portrayal used by civil society in France in campaigns on hunger and malnutrition.
In fourth place comes education: still a priority (and proof again of the idea of investing now to help long-term development of poorer countries) but seen as less urgent than humanitarian, life-saving investments.
This data comes from our survey conducted by the YouGov Institute and piloted by the research team at University College London and the University of Birmingham as part of the project Aid Attitudes Tracker which measures the evolution of opinions and behaviors on issues of international solidarity in four countries.
