Nicoli Nattrass’s research while affiliated with University of Cape Town and other places

This chapter describes the context, origin and development of the world’s first Basic Income pilot project: Otjivero, Namibia. We show that the Basic Income Grant immediately impacted poverty and, most importantly, reduced child malnutrition, as well as fostering small-scale local economic activity. Unfortunately, despite such promising evidence from the Pilot Study, no national Basic Income has been introduced in Namibia. We identify two reasons for this failure. First, critiques of the Basic Income tapped into stereotypes about poor people supposedly being incapable of using a cash grant developmentally. Such paternalistic thinking still dominates the Namibian policy debate, with policymakers seemingly reluctant to engage with the research findings and the experience of the people of Otjivero themselves. Second, the political elite was reluctant to adopt a social policy programme that constituted a right, preferring to implement a food bank without any evidence that it would work or be developmental. Political leaders appeared eager to retain power through social policy interventions that allowed for political patronage. We report on a follow-up study ten years after the pilot project and on renewed political engagement by young Namibians who have revived the Basic Income Grant Coalition and are becoming a political force to be reckoned with.