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Sustaining public recognition of the MDGs is a challenge
2003 is the baseline year for monitoring the Dutch campaign about the MDGs. The campaign peaked in 2005 and ended in 2006. The results in the chart below demonstrate a 20 per cent increase in recognition of the MDGs between 2003 and 2007. However, the level of recognition achieved in 2005 was not sustained through to 2006 and 2007. According to the NCDO – the Dutch semi-government Development Agency mandated to conduct the campaign – the decrease after September 2005 is explained by at least two factors:
1. The publicity around the UN Summit on 14-16 September 2005 is the reason for the strong rise in recognition of the MDGs between August and September 2005. This publicity was short-term.
2. A switch from face-to-face to online questionnaires after 2005 helps explain the decline in recognition in 2006/2007. Social survey experts claim that online respondents are less likely to encounter the "socially desirable politeness bias" which therefore gives a more negative (compared to earlier surveys) but probably more realistic result.
According to the Belgian MDG Campaign Manager, achieving recognition at 25-30% of the whole population is satisfactory because it is not realistic to target much higher awareness. They accept that certain groups in society are totally tuned out of current affairs issues in general and development issues in particular and, thus, do not try to target everyone.
Sources: Netherlands: Motivaction (2007) Barometer Internationale Samenwerking 2007, NCDO, Amsterdam; Motivaction (2006) Barometer Internationale Samenwerking 2006, NCDO, Amsterdam; NCDO (2005a) De Millenniumdoelen: Bekendheid bij en houding van het publiek in Nederland, Amsterdam ; NCDO (2005b) De Millenniumdoelen: Bekendheid bij en houding van het publiek in Nederland, Amsterdam ; NCDO (2004) onderzoek naar de bekendheid met en houding van het publiek in Nederland ten aanzien van de ‘Millennium-ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen’ van de Verenigde Naties, Amsterdam; NCDO (2003) Millennium Ontwikkelings-doelstellingen van de Verenigde Naties: Bekendheid en houding van het publiek in Nederland, Amsterdam;
Knowledge about the MDGs
Key messages:
> Across the selected countries, real awareness of the MDGs is lower than recognition of the MDGs (figure 2). Very few people both recognize the MDGs and know what’s behind them. Knowledge about the goals is a percentage of an already small percentage. Poverty reduction and child mortality are the issues that resonate most with people.
> In countries where a public campaign was sustained over a number of years a higher proportion of people who say they have heard about the MDGs are capable of naming the goal(s) that was focused on in the Campaign (e.g. Netherlands, Finland). In the case of the Netherlands over half of respondents who say they know about the goals can name one. In Finland only one-fifth (22%) of respondents who have heard about the MDGs say they don’t know a goal or give the wrong answer compared to 73% of Swedish.
> The goals mentioned most by respondents are poverty, the environment, HIV/AIDS, and education. As most of the campaigns have focused on the possibility of reducing ‘Poverty’, the selection of environment and HIV/AIDS is most likely due to increasing public debate about climate issues and celebrity driven publicity about HIV/AIDS.
In the Belgian baseline survey (2004), 84% of respondents had no idea what the goals were and 5% mentioned peace. A follow-up opinion poll will be conducted at the end of the current campaign in 2008. In the meantime the Belgian Ministry for Development Cooperation confirms that the MDGs were referred to by campaigning politicians, including the Prime Minister, during the 2007 elections. Awareness of the MDGs and a sense of Belgian solidarity with poor people around the world have grown significantly since 2005.
Next: Public opinion about the MDGs
Previous: Overview of public opinion and awareness about the MDGs
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