The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
The average per capita income of the world is US$10,000. So why are so many people so life threateningly poor? The superficial answer is that there isn't enough income distribution in the world. The top 25% of the human population gets over 90% of the share of global household income, while the bottom 25% gets just 0,78%. Why is income so unequally distributed and what can be done to address the problem?
For answers and deeper insights, as well as a glimpse into the scope of global poverty...
Robin Broad and John Cavanagh -
The statistics upon which most poverty elimination strategies are based are extremely misleading, and often steer experts toward the wrong solutions.
Now here is what sounds like a New York Times headline to celebrate: “Dire Poverty Falls Despite Global Slump, Report Finds.” That report would be a 6-page World Bank briefing note, the press release for which is titled: “New Estimates Reveal Drop in Extreme Poverty 2005-2010.” Echoes The Economist: “For the...
Rising unemployment in South Africa is spelling disaster for the country's black population, reports Al Jazeera, as it highlights the prevalence of unemployment amongst youth both with and without educational qualifications.
According to Al Jazeera, a recent study claims more than half of black youths do not have a job, a situation which the government refers to as a "ticking time bomb."
Nic Dawes, Editor in Chief of the Mail & Guardian newspaper speaking about how the media reports on the economy in South Africa. Dawes delivered this presentation at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office (FES).
Dawes started of by saying that the media is not very good at covering the economy. He conceded that there are indeed deficiencies in how the media treats issues that relate to the lives of the poor and the policies...
There is a strong link between biodiversity and poverty argues, economist, Pavan Sukhdev, head of the United Nations (UN) Green Economy Initiative.
The typical view taken is that it's a choice. You can have biodiversity or you can have poverty. You can have development or you can have nature, but not both.
This is false thinking, contends Sukhdev, as it is not the case that biodiversity is just the preserve of the rich.
Biodiversty is valuable to everyone, but is an absolute...
A report that highlights the desperation of poor Americans. According to this MSNBC report, last week 30,000 people turned up close to the city of Atlanta just to get an application form for public housing. People queued for hours in extremely hot weather, some passing out from heat exhaustion, simply for the opportunity to get onto the public housing waiting list.
Notwithstanding the humiliation of having to wait for hours to collect application forms from a clearly disorganized housing...
