RECOVERY FROM COVID-19 IN SOUTH AFRICA: A socio-economic analysis of pathways towards inclusive and sustainable growth

As South Africa emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the path towards a sustainable and inclusive recovery is paved with hope – albeit a journey marked by challenges. This volume charts the issues and challenges facing the country as it initiates this path and gears up efforts towards achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This debut edition is concerned with questions such as how to finance the SDGs and a just transition in the decade of action; deliver on minimum core obligations to ensure that budgetary allocations support a more just and inclusive recovery; bridge gender gaps; make progress towards a more capable and developmental state; build a Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) for a more inclusive society, and implement a Basic Income Grant (BIG) that is fiscally sustainable. In addition, the volume asks these

questions: How best can we support small business development and entrepreneurship? Do we have policy space for an industrial strategy? What strategy will be most effective in the South African context? How will developments in South Africa affect its neighbouring countries and the African region at large?

These issues and questions are at the core of South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, and are responded to across the publication’s 13 chapters – most of which are authored by United Nations staff based in South Africa who are working on the ground. This volume provides the technical staff with an opportunity to voice and express (in a more articulate and analytical manner) their perspectives based on their day-to-day experiences. Their views and those of the external co-authors, expressed in their respective chapters, are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the UN agencies and programmes to which they are affiliated.

This volume is, therefore, a new experiment that is nothing short of innovative. It brings the work, learnings and views of the UN in South Africa to a new level. We hope it offers the development community in South Africa and beyond new insights into key developmental challenges that are not only critical to South Africa but also common to other developing countries around the world.