Poverty is an industry that can be dismantled

Lebohang Liepollo Pheko

Lebohang Liepollo Pheko offers a nuanced critique of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), acknowledging their strengths while exposing shortcomings. She commends the SDGs' inclusivity of diverse groups and focus on gender equality and women's rights. However, Pheko argues that the SDGs are rooted in flawed development models prioritising economic growth over addressing structural inequalities. She advocates redefining poverty to emphasise power, autonomy, and dignity. Pheko calls for reparative economics, holding the Global North accountable for historical exploitation, and reimagining global governance. Her vision includes addressing poverty and inequality through alternative frameworks such as well-being and solidarity economies, challenging conventional approaches to global development.

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Lebohang Liepollo Pheko is a leading scholar, policy expert and global movement builder in Afrika-centred international trade, regionalism, feminist economics and development theory. She has contributed to framing policy alternatives centering African countries in post-COVID economic recovery. Pheko is a member of the Walter and Patricia Rodney Commission on Reparations, ambassador of the Wellbeing Economic Alliance, Senior Research Fellow at Trade Collective, and National Planning Commissioner. Her work has taken her across 47 countries to date.