Julie Jarman, whilst working with Church Action on Poverty, created this simple overview of the principles of Sustainable Livelihoods for us. Recorded in February 2017 by associate Martin Wells, in the video Julie explains through the use of a real life scenario why it can be a rational and sensible choice to forego a low wage income and instead prioritise your ‘social goods’.
“Livelihoods are incredibly fragile, because we are all vulnerable to things that can happen to us. External shocks I call them. There are major ones like being divorced or bereaved… then there are ones that appear, on the surface, more minor, like your cooker breaks down. It can be a complete disaster if you don’t have much money, as you can’t afford to buy a new one and you can’t cook for your kids…”
Since leaving Church Action on Poverty to join the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Julie has been contributing to research on the impact of government policies, such as through welfare reforms, on the living standards of UK citizens. For example read “The cumulative impact on living standards of public spending changes”
Transcript by Otter.ai available here
