A composite report of the proceedings of the 2019 Colloquium and the 2019 Research and Publications on expanding a Decent Standard of Living in South Africa.

This report presents the findings from a new survey on possession of the SPNs that allows the tracking of possession of the SPNs over time, and to monetarise the monthly amount of income associated with people who possess all of the SPNs, or in other words, a decent standard of living.

The aim of this ongoing project is to derive an understanding of what constitutes a broadly acceptable living level that should be used to reflect a basic living level. Central to this ambitious target is an awareness of the necessity of moving away from the minimalist ‘poverty lines’ that have been used in the design and evaluation of anti-poverty programmes. The use of such very basic levels to characterise the state of poverty is dangerous in an upper middle- income country such as South Africa which is already characterized by one of the highest levels of income inequality globally. This project is thus inherently rights-based, rather than being a technocratic exercise. It is about trying to understand by asking ordinary people what such a decent living level should be for all in a post- Apartheid democracy.

Critical reflection on the Socially Perceived Necessities (SPNs) in attaining a Decent Standard of Living (DSL): Launch of the 2021 Post COVID Report on what constitutes a decent standard of living in South Africa.

This Report documents the research findings, as well as the emerging issues that participants identified as being critical for the future work around a Decent Standard of Living (DSL) in South Africa.

This report seeks to consolidate existing knowledge of SPNs and the policy formation dynamics in South Africa in order to argue for government programmes that take into account the needs of its citizens including dignified livelihoods.