Collaborations to curb involuntary indebtedness among welfare grant recipients

This project involved a partnership between the London School of Economics (LSE), human rights NGO Black Sash, Stellenbosch University Law Clinic (SULC), and the National Finance Ombud Scheme South Africa (NFOSA - formerly the Office of the Credit Ombud). Building on previous research that produced a research report (2020) and later resulted in a handbook for paralegals (2023), we aimed to work towards tackling and curbing involuntary indebtedness, especially among welfare grant recipients. We did this (1) by offering training to community advisers and paralegals (2) using evaluative workshops to build knowledge collaboratively, and find out about practical solutions, some already existing on the ground, some informed by our training.