The DEval Opinion Monitor 2024

Against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda, which reached its halfway point in 2023, it is more crucial than ever to actively involve citizens in development cooperation (DC). Without widespread support among the general public, it will be impossible to meet the ambitious objectives spanning issues such as global food security, health care, environmental protection, gender equality, education and sustainable economic activity.

Likewise, civil society organisations are greatly dependent on the interest and support of citizens in the form of donations and voluntary engagement. In addition to guaranteeing the organisations’ capacity to take action thanks to this financial support and voluntary engagement, it is essential that the general public is familiar with these organisations and perceives the work they do, thus embedding an awareness of global interdependences in society as a whole and establishing behaviour patterns that are consistent with the 2030 Agenda.

However, the data and studies currently available regarding the population’s perspective on development policy, DC and global sustainable development are insufficient, especially in view of the fact that global political developments (such as international terrorism, global refugee movements, the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine) are increasingly bringing DC back to the centre of public interest. This results in the urgent need for information regarding the general public’s level of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in this topic area. The DEval series of “Opinion Monitor for Development Policy” studies has been meeting this need for information since 2018, providing development cooperation actors not only with feedback regarding the public opinion on the topic of DC and sustainable development, but also with knowledge to guide them in their strategic orientation, communication and education work.

The aim of the Opinion Monitor for Development Policy 2024 is to:

1. draw a detailed picture of the German population’s attitudes towards development policy and how they have evolved over time,
2. consider attitudes towards development policy in connection with general attitudes towards foreign policy and security policy,
3. investigate attitudes towards development policy and DC to a greater extent in the context of foreign/security policy crises and the war against Ukraine,
4. address people’s understanding/perception of and attitudes towards the guiding principle behind feminist development policy.

The report draws on various data sources representative of the population. These sources comprise survey data from the Aid Attitudes Tracker (AAT; 2012-2018) and its follow-on project Development Engagement Lab (DEL; starting in 2019) as well as surveys designed by DEval and conducted by the market research institute respondi. When it comes to investigating the impact of information on DC attitudes, the study team draws on survey experiments.

The study is accompanied by a reference group made up of representatives of government and civil society development cooperation actors. This is supplemented by internal and external peer reviewers with expertise in the areas of DC, attitude research and social-scientific research methods.