This is an ambitious document, in that it seeks to place a theoretical approach to understanding the issues involving the
conceptualisation, definition and measurement of poverty in an accessible manner, as well as to reflect more technical concerns regarding the nature and quality of data that exists which any poverty measure would have to draw on in a manner that does not alienate “lay people”. We have also tried to provide a description of historical attempts to measure poverty in South Africa to ensure that current discussions do not take place in an a contextual manner.

With the endorsement by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which is constitutionally obliged to report annually on the defence and advancement of the rights in the Constitution, SPII has developed a methodology based on a combination of policy and budget analysis and statistical indicators to monitor and evaluate the progressive realisation of rights.

This paper calls for the roll out of a pilot of BIG in South Africa by government in partnership with other social partners as a demonstration of their commitment to finding empirically- driven, rather than ideologically – driven, policy options.

How the Pandemic Impacts South Africa’s responses and obligations to the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

This paper adds to the growing resource of research reports about the financing of a BIG in South Africa that have proliferated since the start the of pandemicinduced recession in 2020.