19 April -Tackling Extreme Inequality at Its Epicentre – a Policy Agenda for Eastern and Southern Africa
Following the 2024 Commitment to Reducing Inequality report, DFI has partnered with the African Council of Churches and a group of Scandinavian civil society organisations (Norwegian Church Aid, ACT Church of Sweden, and Felm), to produce a report analysing the extreme levels of inequality in Eastern and Southern Africa and defining a policy agenda to cut it dramatically.
Eastern and Southern Africa is a global epicentre of extreme inequality, with two-thirds of its countries having very high income inequality, and even higher wealth inequality. Extreme inequality is increasing poverty and hunger, corroding politics, destroying citizen trust in governments, and sparking political unrest, fuelling division, and slowing growth.
The report finds that most of the governments in Eastern and Southern Africa are rowing backwards on policies to reduce inequality, so it will rise even higher in future. Since 2022, 80% of governments have cut spending on key anti-inequality social programmes; 50% have made their tax systems less progressive; and 90% have failed to apply minimum labour rights (especially for women) and allowed minimum wages to fall way behind high inflation. In addition, the region is now being hit by its worst ever debt crisis, austerity and aid cuts. Based on these findings, the report defines an urgent policy agenda for governments to accelerate their efforts to fight inequality, and for the international community to help them through comprehensive debt relief, an end to austerity and more concessional financing.
