Dramatic headlines tell their own story. Nationalism surging. Aid budgets cut. Wars and epidemics raging. Multilateral institutions questioned. The narrative of a world retreating inward has become so familiar that it can feel like a settled truth.

But what if different data tells a different story?

Several surveys published this year, albeit of small sample sizes, they add up to many - point to something we cannot afford to ignore, something I often see and hear firsthand in conversations with partners and communities in my travels across the region: the world wants to cooperate.

A May 2026 Ipsos/Global Nation survey of more than 22,000 people across 31 countries, including several in our region, found that after years of decline, support for international cooperation rose in 2026 across every generation, income group, and education level. Four in ten people now say they want their taxes directed toward global problems. Nearly two-thirds support giving international institutions real enforcement powers on issues like the environment.

Meanwhile, an AFD survey of 70,000 citizens across G7 countries found that around two in three feel genuinely concerned about the difficulties faced by people in developing countries. Sixty-four percent believe that development abroad has a direct impact on their own lives. A 2025 Rockefeller Foundation–Focaldata survey of more than 36,000 people in 34 countries reached a similar conclusion: 55 percent said their country should cooperate on global challenges even if doing so requires some compromise on national interests. When cooperation is shown to actually solve problems, that support rises to 75 percent. Pew Research Center, meanwhile, found a median of 61 percent of adults across 25 countries hold a favourable view of the United Nations.

This is not the dominant public discourse, nor do these responses match the trends in ODA allocations; OECD estimates, for instance, forecast a further 6% ODA decrease next year, on top of the 23% decrease this year. Is it a disconnect or two different streams of thought, voice and aspirations?

Public attitudes reflected in surveys do not always map neatly onto political choices or policy decisions. Still, they can offer a valuable signal of where societal expectations are moving and of the space that may exist for renewal of engagement and cooperation.

Jobs and economic security, the cost of energy, the accelerating impacts of climate change, the opportunities and uncertainties of artificial intelligence – these are shared concerns. People recognize that we are deeply connected, and that the risks we face are shaped far beyond our own communities and countries.

Recent global shocks have brought this reality to everyone’s doorstep. The escalation in the Middle East, and its ripple effects on fuel and food prices, were felt by millions of households across Asia and the Pacific. When disruption in one region quickly translates into higher costs elsewhere, cooperation stops being an abstract principle and becomes a matter of practical necessity and tactical security. The benefits extend beyond altruism, for in shared risks and responses comes collective security, with cooperation around land and maritime boundaries, water and energy security, peoples’ movements and the movement of money.

At UNDP, we in our role as an end-to-end development partner, we know the value of investing in the high value asset of cooperation. Our experience has evinced how a world that cooperates smartly and compassionately improves lives, including one’s own, irrespective of means or circumstance.

So how do we cut through the negative noise and amplify the best of positive global cooperation? Here are three proven strategies.