As we concentrate national initiatives on Covid-19 recovery, the systemic eradication of poverty must be the greatest priority, or reconstruction will not succeed. This lies at the heart of the Decent Standard of Living research, and other recent national poverty studies. In the Fifth Annual DSL Colloquium 2020, we ask: how will poverty shape our future in SA?

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 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.

These are the following objectives of this analysis :

• To assess the trends of key development indicators to gain a clear trajectory of
  progress and growth in South Africa.
• To provide a social justice perspective which puts people at the centre of development
  and ensures the progressive realisation of their socio-economic entitlements.
• To present a pre-COVID-19 baseline analysis. Thus highlighting how the impact of the
  pandemic on worsening inequality and public service delivery should drive the
  government to be more serious about aligning the post-Covid-19 recovery to the
  visions of global and national blueprints for inclusive development.