Ethical action: Supporting governments to use tax revenues for social infrastructure and environmental initiatives that will help build a future for all

Governments, like individuals and communities, can invest to help create futures for people and the planet.

In the Canadian province of Québec community activism has helped mobilize a range of institutions to invest in the social economy that employs almost 170,000 people through hundreds of initiatives. The strength of these funds has ensured a working relationship with the provincial government that is on par with support given to the private for-profit sector, securing government funds and grants to establish a financial institution that offers long-term “patient capital” for enterprise development.

The city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, (population of 2.5 million), introduced a series of food programs to ensure people were not going hungry. Initiatives included allowing local farmers a spot in urban space from which to sell their produce and the development of People’s Restaurants that served up to twelve thousand people daily for the equivalent of around 50 cents a meal. The benefits are numerous and the cost is just over 1 cent a day per person, surely one of the wisest investments a government could make in its people and future.