Conferences

This conference held from 24-25 August 2011 provided a platform for policy-makers, academia and development practitioners to engage with one another so as to better understand and interrogate the dynamics of poverty and inequality in South Africa.

Event Documents:

1) Being Poor Matters!
Recent evidence on poverty and inequality in South Africa.

2) Conference programme
Final programme for the Being Poor Matters! conference

3) Video presentations from the Being Poor Matters! conference
Selected presentations from the conference are on YouTube and are available here

4) Being Poor Matters!: Mail & Guardian supplement: September 2011
This supplement provides an overview of a the conference, 'Being Poor Matters' held by the PSPPD which served as a platform for policy-makers, academics and development practitioners to interrogate the dynamics of poverty and inequality and explore why we are faced with such high levels of both - and what we can do about it.

The conference aimed to draw lessons from national and international practice, research evidence, and policy implementation for economic transformation. It was hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), in partnership with the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), Isandla Institute, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and the Programme to Support Pro-poor Policy Development (PSPPD), and took place in Gauteng, South Africa on 20, 21, 22 September 2010.

Event Documents:

1) Summary report: Overcoming inequality and structural poverty in South Africa
This executive summary captures golden threads’ distilled from inputs by presenters and participants in the rich discussions that unfolded during the conference proceedings. The report groups together content issues from the conference relating to the vision and values underpinning South Africa’s development trajectory, the dynamics of poverty and inequality, and the policy response, and then looks at cross-cutting issues relating to the nature of the state, services needed, and empowering citizens. In line with conference deliberations, this summary highlights on the one hand actions or interventions that can be pursued now as part of a more coherent and effective response to poverty and inequality, and on the other hand issues that require further exploration, a stronger evidence-base and careful consideration