The Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa was initiated by Carnegie Corporation of New York in April 1982 in order to analyze the nature, causes, and extent of poverty in Southern Africa and to stimulate public debate on ways of facilitating equitable development in the region.

Based in South Africa at the University of Cape Town, the Inquiry is directed by Dr. Francis Wilson, economist and head of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the School of Economics.

The Inquiry has three primary objectives:

• * To collect and collate up-to-date facts on poverty and the process of. impoverishment in Southern Africa;

• * To generate public debate on the causes, nature, and extent of poverty in Southern Africa;

• * To stimulate thinking and action about strategies against poverty in both the short and the long run.