Demolition of uninhabited shacks in Bloekombos, Kraaifontein, Cape Town, August 6, 2020. The land, which was to be developed as a community facility for neighbouring communities, has been illegally occupied by people who have been demarcating plots and building informal settlements.
Rodger Bosch/AFP
Despite millions of free homes built since 1994, spatial inequality in South Africa remains high. A study evaluating a programme to boost rentals in well-located areas found mixed results, however.
JobKeeper and the COVID Supplement to JobSeeker benefits will be gone in a week. The combined effect will be to halve some recipients’ incomes and the rent they can afford.
Indian women during a protest against the central government’s recent agricultural reforms, in Gurgaon, February 6, 2021.
Sajjad Hussain/AFP
Women and girls are forced to spend hours each day hauling water for their households. Beyond harming both physical and mental health, this takes time away from economic activities and caregiving.
More governments and aid organizations are giving poor people cash.
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Despite evidence that cash payments can help improve well-being, they have limitations as well, according to a development economist.
Ambulances waiting outside the emergency room at St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, where an outbreak of Shigellosis is affecting marginalized people.
(Ben Huang)
Poor indoor air on tribal lands can cause a range of respiratory illnesses, including viral infections. Here’s how people are fixing the problem while preserving traditional ways.
Scotland has recently experienced a dramatic increase in drug-related deaths among its poorest. Now new research has translated directly into policy change.
Adopting a universal basic income requires a fundamental restructuring of the existing social safety net in Canada, and would not necessarily conquer income inequality and poverty.
Two unemployed men tout for casual jobs on a street in Cape Town.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened unemployment and poverty, showing the need for the government to permanently expand income support to working-age adults.
President Joe Biden talked about healing the rifts and uniting America in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2021.
Michael S. Williamson/Washington Post
A new federal antipoverty program for both rural and urban areas is part of the solution, but the power of Big Ag, lack of internet and struggling towns need attention, too.
Following an inconclusive election in December 2020, Niger’s Independent National Electoral Commission is set for a runoff in February.
Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images
US cities began naming streets in Black neighborhoods for Martin Luther King Jr. after his 1968 assassination. Researchers studying these areas 50 years later found entrenched deprivation.
Growing poverty and unemployment have seen shacklands mushroom in post-apartheid South Africa.
Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images
The country still has a way to go in addressing the challenges of social inequity. But there has been some progress in every sphere of government.
Some of the practices of microfinance institutions have been shown to increase indebtedness as well as economic and social vulnerabilities.
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The creation of resources that are shared, accessible, and collectively owned and managed by communities has become a way for social entrepreneurs to contribute to community development.