Webinar to launch new Household Affordability Index

The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group invites you to join us in a webinar to launch the new Household Affordability Index with food price data from Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Springbok and Pietermaritzburg. This event precedes World Food Day on the 16th.

ABOUT THE NEW HOUSEHOLD AFFORDABILITY INDEX

After two years of collecting data with partners in Pietermaritzburg, the deepened household affordability and food crisis exacerbated by covid-19 compelled the expansion of HAI data collection to other South African cities. Between April - August data was collected in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Springbok and Pietermaritzburg.

The Index tracks the prices of 44 items regularly purchased by low-income households. Food prices are tracked directly by women data collectors off the shelves of 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries which target the low-income customers in Soweto, Alexandra, Tembisa and Hillbrow (Joburg), Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Philippi, Delft, Dunoon (Cape Town), KwaMashu, Umlazi, Durban CBD, Mtubatuba (Durban), Springbok (in the Northern Cape) and Pietermaritzburg CBD.

This data is critical to enabling policymakers to track how low income families are responding to a deepening financial and economic crisis, coping with rising costs in the context of job losses, rising household debt and deepening food and poverty crises.

PROGRAM

Mervyn Abrahams: Introduction and background to the new Household Affordability Index

Julie Smith & 3 data collectors: Research methodology and data collection process

Julie Smith & Mervyn Abrahams: Findings of the latest HAI and potential advocacy uses

Questions & Discussion