An international panel with speakers from Kenya, Wales, and Canada will share their experiences with basic advocacy and pilot programs in their respective nations. Join us as we travel around the world to learn about the state of basic income activism and implementation in different countries, and how we can leverage these international perspectives to advance the movement globally.

Kenya: We hear from Caroline Teti, Director of Recipients Advocacy at GiveDirectly in Kenya, who discusses the impact of cash transfers on the lives of 20,000 Kenyans participating in the world’s largest basic income experiment.

Canada: Dr. Beth Martin and Kendal David, two researchers from Canadian universities, share new findings from the cancelled Ontario Basic Income Pilot, leveraging an integrated analysis of quantitative survey data and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews.

Wales: Finally, Jonathan Williams, founder of UBI Lab Wales, discussed how his organization’s lobbying efforts have advanced the basic income conversation in Wales in six months, making it one of the top policy ideas discussed in the nation.

Caroline Teti,  is a social scientist trained in Development Communications, Gender and Human Rights. She has 20 years experience working for non-profits in Africa in program design, implementation and advocacy. She currently works at GiveDirectly as the Global Director of Recipient Advocacy, based in Nairobi Kenya. She leads the implementation of the organization’s Enterprise Risk Management policy. Among the focus areas are gender mainstreaming in cash transfer programming, recipient protection, Fraud and safeguarding risk assessment, government relations advisory services. Carolline’s role cuts across all cash transfer programs including Refugee projects, Universal basic Income, cash for development, Humanitarian cash.. As a public speaker and advocate, she represents GiveDirectly in multiple forums and publications discussing diverse issues associated with unconditional cash and Risk mitigation. She has worked for non-profits in East Africa and Europe and for the government of Kenya in various capacities. Caroline’s portfolio currently covers 8 countries in Africa as well as US and Humanitarian programs. In prior roles she worked in gender and Human Rights, Parliamentary advocacy, HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health, NTDs, water and sanitation.

Beth Martin, M.S.W., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Her practice experience is in international social work and with immigrants and refugees in Canada. Her research is at the intersection of social work and critical policy studies and centres the experiences of policy users; a current project explores the experiences of participants in the Ontario Basic Income Pilot. She primarily teaches courses on social policy, research methods and migration to Canada.

Kendal David (Calgary, AB) is one of the co-founders and co-chairs of BICYN. She is a PhD student at Carleton University with social work experience in the disability sector, community development and organizing, and research. While completing her undergraduate social work practicum placements, she grew more interested in basic income activism as a response to inadequate social policy and flawed approaches to addressing income insecurity through charity and philanthropy.

Jonathan Williams is the co-founder of UBI Lab Wales and a lawyer for Watkins and Gunn. The Lab is a collaboration of individuals, organisations and policymakers working towards securing a Universal Basic Income pilot in Wales. In May 2021, following a successful campaign by the Lab, where they asked candidates for the Senedd election to pledge their support for a UBI pilot, the First Minister of Wales committed to running a trial. The trial will be the first in the UK. Jonathan has been passionate about UBI for near a decade. He has discussed the policy on BBC Wales Politics, BBC Radio Cymru, S4C News, Times Radio and The Globalist. He has featured in The Guardian on several occasions, and he has written for thejournal.ie, Evolve Politics and Hiraeth Blog.

From Nairobi to Swansea: International Perspectives on the Basic Income Movement