Stakeholder engagement : Economic Stimulus Programmes

The Covid-19 pandemic forced societies around the world to make difficult trade-offs between their public health responses, the economic impacts of the crisis and the social distress arising from this. In South Africa (SA), these combined crises exacerbated already high levels of unemployment, deepening poverty and heightening levels of hunger and food security. In April 2020, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a range of support measures to mitigate the impacts of the combined health, social and economic crises stemming from the pandemic. This included emergency social protection and employment stimulus measures. 

As part of the second phase of the EU-AFD Research Facility on Inequalities, AFD developed jointly with the Presidency of South Africa and in close coordination with the EU Delegation in South Africa, a research programme which aims to measure the stimulus effects of public investment in the PES and into the SRD. In order to analyse the externalities of the Covid-19 stimulus policy, local research centers conducted four research projects on:

1. The local economic development effects of income transfers (University of Johannesburg - CSDA and WIEGO).

2. Cash transfers and economic recovery (University of Cape Town - Development Policy Research Unit).

3. Measuring stimulus effects on the South African economy (Infusion Knowledge Hub).

4. Evaluation of local stimulus effects : jobs and grants programmes (University of Cape Town - Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit).

This stakeholder engagement, organized jointly with the EU, the University of Cape Town, the South African Presidency and AFD, will take place in Cape Town, South Africa on the 23rd and 24th of March. It will take place over two half days, with oral presentations followed by interactive discussions to share experiences and exchange peer-to-peer good practices.

Each half-day of the stakeholder engagement will be dedicated to the presentation of two of the mentioned research projects, followed by reactions and discussions on the work presented.

For in person participation, please RSVP to Susan Kamundia

For virtual participation, please register here

For more information, please find attached the concept note