FRIBIS Lecture Series – Can a basic income grant reduce violence? Evidence from Namibia, Kenya and Uganda

FRIBIS Lecture Series – in cooperation with the teams BIP & WEF_FABI

Young people in Africa want wage jobs and expect their governments to provide them. However, the youth bulge, combined with low rates of job creation in the private and public sectors, leaves vast numbers of young people unemployed and feeling aggrieved. One outcome of this is violence of various kinds. This chapter investigates the evidence for a basic income grant (BIG) to be paid to all adults as a way of mitigating this violence. There is extensive evidence of the outcomes of BIGs or equivalent in developing countries in general and in several African countries. In addition to its principal benefit of reducing household poverty, there is evidence that a BIG will increase personal and interpersonal peace and reduce various forms of violence.

Zoom Link: https://uni-freiburg.zoom.us/j/67974655698?pwd=Mk4rY3BaM3VkK2ptYmpVUVFXcU1PUT09

Geoff Harris is an economist by training who has taught and researched in peace studies for over 30 years. Since 2012, he has been a Professor in the International Centre of Nonviolence at Durban University of Technology in South Africa. His most recent edited book – The Elgar Companion to War, Conflict and Peacebuilding in Africa – was published in February, 2024. Contact: geoffreyh@dut.ac.za