Poverty in southern Africa is characterised by chronic livelihoods insecurity, at once exacerbated by and exacerbating an HIV/AIDS pandemic, and extreme inequality. The resulting erosion of the livelihoods of the poor makes them extremely vulnerable to shocks from a variety of sources – climate, disasters, markets, etc. Rural women are typically at the bottom of the poverty trap and urban youth facing massive joblessness are an extremely vulnerable group. Inadequate fiscal resources to meet urgent development objectives and the region’s marginalised position in the global political economy further compound the grip of the poverty trap for southern Africa’s poor.

The Southern Africa Trust believes that an end to poverty is possible in southern Africa if there is improved institutional capacity, participatory and accountable systems of governance, appropriate public policies across the region to overcome chronic livelihoods insecurity in the context of an HIV/AIDS pandemic, and better international financial and trading systems.

The Southern Africa Trust’s vision is therefore that policies and strategies across the region work to end poverty.

The purpose of the Southern Africa Trust is to support processes to deepen and widen engagement in policy dialogue with a regional impact on poverty so that the poor have a better say in shaping policies to overcome poverty in southern Africa.