SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms: a strong foundation for all of the SDGs.

Under the SIFA Each woman, man and child would receive a supplementary income, starting with the equivalent of US$500, to be spent exclusively on sustainable goods and services. This would increase by 5-7% per year.

To someone living on the equivalent of US$ 400 per year, $500 for each family member every year is a relative fortune that can be spent on the basic physical necessities of life. For instance, family members can buy a solar cooker, chickens, build a vegetable garden, and/or learn all about permaculture. Children can buy shoes and school supplies.

Half of each person’s income may be spent on community development. A village can build a school, buy a water pump, create electricity using solar, wind or water power or install safe waste disposal. These community services will significantly increase time at the disposal of all family members, their personal development and health. After a few years, concerns with physical poverty will be able to be combined with an interest in personal development. For those whose basic physical needs are being taken care of, their income can be spent on starting a cottage industry and on individual personal fulfillment.

To someone to whom US 500 is mere pocket money, the extra income can be spent exclusively on immaterial personal development, such as personal growth, education, learning a new skill, starting a new hobby or cultural development—ways of overcoming spiritual poverty.

Companies seeing a global market opening up for sustainable goods and services are likely to focus their advertising on sustainability, thus placing this in the center of people’s concerns. With the combined focus of the SIFA Plan on personal development and the involvement of the commercial sector in the new global market based on sustainability, a strong foundation for a sustainable supplementary economy will become a reality.