Abstract
Governments in high income countries allocate funding for Official Development Assistance (ODA), and population-based surveys tend to show support for the concept of affluent nations assisting the development of poorer regions. A public opinion survey was conducted in Hong Kong to: (1) assess public support for foreign aid for social development and Hong Kong's current Disaster Relief Fund (DRF); and (2) assess how much respondents thought should be contributed to foreign aid for social development and/or DRF. Interviewers conducted a random telephone survey of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong citizens aged 18 or above during 2017. Of the 1004 individuals surveyed, 55% (552) agreed that a portion of the government budget should be allocated to the DRF and 37% (372) disagreed. The mean and the median amount of the government budget suggested to be allocated were 5.1% and 2.4% respectively. However only 16% (164) supported the government giving foreign aid for social development, with 79% (793) not supporting, and 5% (47) undecided. The suggested portions of government budget that should be allocated for this purpose were 1.5% (mean) and 0.0% (median). The degree of support for DRF and foreign aid for social development was associated with both age (DRF P < 0.0005; foreign aid for social development P < 0.0005) and education (DRF P = 0.010; foreign aid for social development: P < 0.0005). There was little support for foreign aid for social development amongst the Hong Kong public, in contrast to similar surveys in other countries, but this could be related to the lack of a local tradition of providing ODA to foreign countries. Most respondents supported the current DRF and would like to see a greater proportion of government budget allocated.
Highlights
The Development Aid Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines Official Development Assistance (ODA) as “[f]lows of official financing administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as the main objective, and which are concessional in character with a grant element
Detailed responses to the questions on attitudes towards Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) and ODA are shown in Figs 1 and 2, with the possible answers including agree with aid but don’t know the percentage, disagree with aid, don’t know, and for those who specified the percentage, the actual percentage they thought should go to aid
We found that, compared to the general population, our survey respondents were substantially and significantly more likely to be in the older age groups, slightly, but significantly, more likely to be female, and moderately and significantly more likely to have a tertiary education
Summary
The Development Aid Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines Official Development Assistance (ODA) as “[f]lows of official financing administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as the main objective, and which are concessional in character with a grant element. ODA may be bilateral (between donor and receipt countries) or multilateral when it is channelled through international organisations such as the United Nations and its organisations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, etc. According to OECD, the total amount of ODA from DAC member countries has increased from $36 billion in 1960 to $144 billion in 2017 [1], and non-DAC countries, such as Qatar and China, have emerged as providers of development finance [2]. In 1970 the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 2626, that included the goal that each “economically advanced country will progressively increase its official development assistance to the developing countries and will exert its best efforts to reach a minimum net amount of 0.7 per cent of its gross national product at market prices by the middle of the Decade.” The 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals reaffirmed the call for developed economies to contribute at least 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) as ODA (Goal 17.2)
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