Would revising the ‘Make Poverty History’ slogan to ‘Make Poverty Slightly Less’ reduce public cynicism about development aid? At a recent London conference (28 November, 2008) on ‘Giving for Development’, held at Cass Business School, City University, it was argued that the current development narrative is too ambitious. Qualitative research presented at the conference showed many Britons believe the government’s development efforts are largely driven by celebrity activists like Bono and Bob Geldof. Thus, it was suggested that a more modest development narrative could assist in lowering public expectations about what the government is able to achieve with regards to poverty alleviation in Third World countries.

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