As part of co-ordinated and coherent development efforts, greater efforts and better collaboration in development information and education; in both OECD and developing countries; are necessary if the effort is to be understood by policy makers, the media and the public at large. Analysis demonstrates that there is no empirical evidence of any compassion fatigue.

In fact, data shows that public support for the international development effort has remained stable over the past 15 years in most DAC countries. However, people in most countries lack adequate knowledge about development co-operation and about the difference that aid can actually make in the lives of people in developing countries.

Most people find it difficult to arrive at a sophisticated judgement about the development efforts of their governments and NGOs. Public scepticism about the capacity of development policies to address the needs of the poor is a major reason that development assistance has a low political priority.

This, in turn, has contributed to policy makers' accepting or sometimes proposing the reduction of aid resources.In this context, both NGOs and official agencies need to work towards a better quality of knowledge about, and understanding of, development efforts. This requires a wide range of complementary activities, some of which are best undertaken by NGOs, and others by government agencies.