A new report explores how living income policy initiatives are built, what motivates the actors who shape them, and what living income practitioners can do to influence them.

Over the past two decades, independent supply chain initiatives have delivered real progress on living income for farming households globally. But the evidence is increasingly clear that on their own, they are not enough.

Closing the living income gap at scale requires coordinated national and regional policy initiatives, with governments playing a central role. Yet insights into how these strategies are actually built, what motivates the actors who shape them, and what living income practitioners can do to influence them have remained scarce.

The new report, Components for creating living income policy initiatives: Insights from three policy case studies, jointly commissioned by Evidensia, the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), and ISEAL, begins to fill that gap.

Inside the report

Drawing on three in-depth case studies and two practitioner deep dives, the report explores how living income initiatives have evolved in practice, what drives support or resistance among key actors, and what lessons can help shape future policy efforts.

Alongside the case studies, the report introduces a practical analytical framework to help practitioners understand the political economy of living income policy. It examines the contexts that shape change, the pathways available for action, and the incentives that influence decision-makers.

Recognising that there is more than one way to work towards a living income, the report examines three different types of living income strategy:

• Price differentials: The Living Income Differential in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
• Due diligence legislation: The integration of living income into the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
• Rural economic development policy: Vietnam’s decades-long national coffee sector strategy and why its smallholders now earn relatively high incomes

Additional deep dives examine the International Coffee Organization’s Coffee Public-Private Task Force and Rikolto's efforts to advance living income across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Led by Joost Backer, Anna Laven and Christopher Wunderlich, with expert contributions from Friedel Hütz-Adams and Abdulahi Aliyu, the report offers practical insights and a replicable framework for analysing and advancing living income policy change.

Join the discussion

Take part in our launch webinar on 21 July 2026 to explore the report's key findings and what they mean for practitioners shaping and influencing living income policy.

This report was produced with funding from the UK International Development from the UK government and support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO.