The 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals call for all countries and all people to make a collective effort for sustainable development. Yet, public support for development co-operation cannot be taken for granted. Global citizenship education, public communication and awareness-raising are crucial to build public trust, support and engagement in development co-operation.
Global education, raising awareness and public support
Abstract
Citizens are a force for global sustainable development when they:
support and promote policies that are coherent with sustainable development
participate and engage positively in development co-operation efforts and funding.
consume sustainably and encourage global sustainability in the private sector.
Global education and awareness raising are key to strengthening citizen engagement and for building public support.
The 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for all countries and all people to make a collective effort for sustainable development.
Global citizenship education enables governments to raise public awareness of the links between domestic policies and developing countries, and to build support for development co-operation and action across society.
SDG Target 4.7 requires that by 2030, all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through global citizenship education.
A UNESCO Recommendation (1974), revised in 2023, encourages countries to adopt policies so that education contributes to global perspectives and co-operation.
To achieve these goals, global development must be effectively integrated into all types and across all levels of education
An enabling environment for citizen engagement, including policies that facilitate whole-of-society consultation and information access, is essential for building public trust. See also the OECD Report on Public Communication and OECD Recommendation on Open Government.
Note: Section III.3 of the OECD DAC Peer Review Analytical Framework sets out the expectations of the Development Assistance Committee on global education, awareness-raising and public support.
1. Policy and whole-of-government strategy. Comprehensive global education policies and public communication strategies are in place to strengthen learning, awareness and public support across society. All relevant ministries contribute, including those outside the education sector. All stakeholder groups are consulted and engaged on relevant policies.
Policies set out objectives and actions for all stakeholders, including education systems, civil society organisations and social sectors, local authorities, the private sector and the media. These consider existing challenges and opportunities related to awareness and attitudes in the country.
Governments, including Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Portugal, have global citizenship education strategies. Ireland’s strategy pursues a comprehensive approach and engages all relevant stakeholders. In Italy the Action Plan under the 2020 National Strategy for Global Citizenship was developed through a participatory process and integrated global citizenship education into the national school curriculum.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s reform paper Shaping the future together globally recognises the important role of communication in development co-operation and emphasises the need for a coherent development narrative.
The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ 2024 reform agenda, Development assistance for a new era, highlights the importance of strategic communication for promoting a positive image of Sweden’s development engagement and combatting misinformation.
Australia has strengthened development communications, public awareness and education, backed by dedicated resources, capacity, refreshed communication guidelines, and partnerships beyond development sector. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade developed the Global Education Resources for Classrooms to promote sustainable development and regional partnerships.
2. Public communication and transparency. Comprehensive and transparent information about development co-operation activities is publicly available, and outreach and communication are tailored to reach a large number of target groups.
Several DAC Members have dedicated websites to provide evidence and data visualisations on their international co-operation efforts. Examples include, Australia’s AusDevPortal, Belgium’s Openaid, Finland’s Open Eval and OpenAid, Sweden’s Openaid and the United Kingdom’s Development Tracker websites.
United Kingdom has significantly improved its score in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index, moving into the ‘very good’ category for the first time since the merger and reached the 10th place..
Austria has revised its development narrative, based on extensive public attitudes research, allowing it to engage with different stakeholders in different ways.
Belgium has revised its language to engage citizens for development, focusing more strongly on global public goods and win-win partnerships than on traditional charity. It also identifies target audiences and encourages all partners to implement innovative approaches to raising awareness. Be Global programme, lead by Enabel, promotes youth action and includes a social media podcast on international co-operation and youth engagement.
3. Funding and frameworks. Resources are made available to build stakeholder capacity, for umbrella organisations to mobilise their constituencies, and for teachers to be effective. Legal frameworks facilitate citizen action such as volunteering, activities of civil society organisations and private donations for sustainable development.
Ireland’s development education strategy has an explicit focus on capacity building of partners.
Germany has set up a dedicated agency to promote public engagement on development co-operation, including providing guidance and advice to all stakeholders, from citizen to cities, civil society organisations and companies.
Many DAC members provide favourable tax regimes for donations and civil society engagement.
4. Monitoring, reporting and assessing. Monitoring and evaluation measure progress on public knowledge, attitude and action, allowing policy makers to build evidence on the effectiveness of actions and adapt accordingly.
The EU regularly conducts Eurobarometer surveys assessing views on and support for development co-operation across its member states.
Ireland focuses on results through a detailed performance framework that includes outcomes on increased knowledge and behaviour change. This is monitored annually.
Germany’s DEval conducts an Opinion Monitor for Development Policy, tracking citizens’ attitudes, knowledge and commitment to sustainable development, with the objective to inform policy design and shape communications.
OECD DAC members share lessons on effective communication and awareness raising through the OECD Development Communication Network (DevCom).
Several EU countries share learning and participate in peer reviews of their development education through the Global Education Network Europe (GENE).
How do we know if DAC members are moving in the right direction?
Citizens' increased awareness and knowledge foster a supportive attitude to global sustainable development.
Individual citizens and organised stakeholders take action in support of global sustainable development.
Key actors engage substantively in political debates on sustainable development, welcoming progress, providing concrete proposals for improvement and contributing to accountability.
Global Education Network Europe, GENE [website].
OECD Development Communication Network (DevCom), OECD [website].
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), OECD Publishing, Paris.
Re-building trust in international development co-operation: The role of communications, OECD Publishing, Paris.
OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris.
OECD Recommendation on Open Government, [OECD/LEGAL/0438].
Engaging with the Public: Twelve Lessons from DAC Peer Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris.
DAC Evaluation Resource Centre (DEReC), OECD [website].
More Framework principles are available on Development Co-operation TIPs • Tools Insights Practices.
