Nov 2022: The good, the bad and the last

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November 2022 → Subscribe to Monthly Updates

The good, the bad and the last

It’s the time of the year

It’s the time when you have to talk to your boss, and if you are lucky you get away with a salary increase. Feel free to update your monthly contributions to Social Income directly in your dashboard. Or make a tax-exempt, one-time contribution in addition. Or ask a loved one to start a Social Income subscription in lieu of a gift to you. Or if you follow us and are not yet a contributor, let’s change this.

Darkest place in cyberspace

Ransomware and cybercrime are on the rise, and 50% of all NGOs are reported to have been targeted. This could happen to Social Income too, but let's not wait to find out and take precautions in the meantime. We partnered up with CyberPeace Institute in Geneva, which will do a security assessment and vulnerability scan of our digital tools.

Brighter aspects of cyberspace

We’ve partnered with R17 Ventures, a digital agency specializing in performance marketing based in Zurich and Cape Town. They are now running our Google Ads account pro bono, which is reloaded with USD 10,000 every month thanks to a generous gift by Google. On top of that, R17 donates one Social Income worth USD 30 per month for each of their employees.

New borders were drawn

The World Bank has updated the methods it uses to measure poverty around the world. You are living in extreme poverty if you live on less than $2.15 per day (previously $1.90). This should be our wake-up call to do more as more people fall into extreme poverty, something the United Nation wants to eradicate by 2030. Social Income is small change with big implications.

Know what you don't know

Social Income is all about SDG 1 (no poverty) and SDG 10 (reduced inequality). This doesn’t mean that we get full marks taking the SDG quiz. What do you know about these goals and the state of the world? Test your knowledge about SDG 1 or SDG 10 and you might be surprised.

Trust the people

In case you missed what Antonio Guterres recently said in a BBC interview: Money should not subsidize goods, but rather be given to the people directly. This is music to our ears! Listen to Guterres’s own words on the importance of unconditional cash transfers; trusting people with money; the climate crisis; the double standards of the Global North; and much more.

Highway to climate hell

One of the positive results from COP27 was the agreement on the development of a fund for Loss and Damage. While details remain to be chiseled out, the idea is to provide financial assistance to poor nations affected by climate related disasters. This is a big step forward for Sierra Leone and climate justice.

Escaping poverty through drugs

I watched this BBC video once and had the intention of watching it again to write these few lines, but I could not. It’s just too heartbreaking. The short documentary is about the cheap drug Kush, used by Sierra Leoneans living in poverty, as a way to cope with everyday life. It is yet another example of a harmful byproduct of poverty. Watch it if you can.

You got this

Are you on the lookout for an internship and think direct cash transfers are an excellent approach to support those in need? The International Organization for Migration is looking for an intern to help out with exactly this. Deadline is Dec 3. Apply here.

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