Finland Times

Support for increasing development cooperation and appropriations have gone up as more Finns have started considering development cooperation is important.

According to a survey carried out by Taloustutkimus Oy, a total of eighty per cent of Finns hold a positive view of development cooperation, said a press release on Wednesday.

Thirty-one per cent of the population now considers that development  cooperation is very important. The corresponding figure a year ago was 28 per cent. Similarly, the share considering development cooperation to be of minor importance or taking an indifferent view has fallen.

The wish to help is seen in Finns’ attitudes despite the economic downturn. The share in favour of increasing appropriations for development cooperation is ten percentage points higher than that in favour of reducing it, and 62 per cent would keep appropriations at their present level.

 The share of those in favour of an increase has risen by five percentage points since last year.

The survey also highlights Finns’ need for information as many do not know the positive changes associated with development.

For instance, 68 per cent of Finns believe that poverty has increased although in reality, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by half since 1990, said the survey.

However, doubts concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of development cooperation have gradually increased in recent years.

“I am happy about Finns’ firm support for development cooperation. The survey shows, however, that we must communicate what types of good results are achieved through development cooperation better than we have before,” said the Minister for International Development, Heidi Hautala.

The minister, for example,  pointed out that in Ethiopia more than 5,000 wells have been

built thanks to Finland’s development cooperation over the last five years. Now more than 1.2 million Ethiopians have access to clean drinking and household water. A Finnish taxpayer has paid, on an average, EUR 0.36  per year for this Ethiopian programme.

Overall, this year  EUR 1,118 million is reserved in the State budget for public development cooperation. 

For the survey, Taloustutkimus Oy interviewed a thousand Finns over the age of 15 years in May. The survey was commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.