By Will Horwitz
This week sees the launch of the European Year Against Poverty. In common with most goings on at the EU, the British tend to ignore these things (last year was the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, in case you missed it). However, this year we’ve got a vested interest in making you take notice (we’re running a strand of the work), and we’ve got two reasons why you should.
Firstly, think tanks, NGOs, politicians and the media forever speculate on why, in a country as rich as ours, one in five people live in poverty. Yet the basis for our work this year is to ask the people who actually matter – those experiencing it.
I was at an event last week with a couple of Guardian journalists, Conservative MP David Willets, and Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh. The reverence with which the others treated Camila’s ‘street-level’ knowledge was incredible, and highlighted to me again the vast gulf between most of those who talk about poverty and those who experience it.
That’s why a series of local ‘Listening Campaigns’ held around the country over the next few months are crucial – they may not sound thrilling, but they are the bedrock for this year’s work.
We’re focussing on the interaction between work and poverty, whether it’s low wages, the benefit system, low skills, or a whole host of other issues. And we’re devoting this week on the blog to asking the same questions we’ll be asking of groups all around the country:
1) What government policy change would most reduce poverty amongst people of working age?
2) What public myth or misperception about poverty is it most important that we challenge?
The second reason you should take notice is that we’re determined to take everything we learn and turn it into something concrete. By the end of the year we aim to have two campaigns going – one on a policy issue we’ve identified, and one on a commonly-held myth that needs challenging. Alongside this will be supporting local groups to develop campaigns on issues specific to their areas.
The myth-busting element of the work stems from the largely negative attitudes the public display towards those in poverty in this country. We, as charities working on these issues, have been very bad at getting the public on our side. Some very effective campaigning and public mobilisation has meant the international aid budget is now ringfenced by both Labour and the Conservatives. In contrast, the UK welfare budget is one of those being lined up for cuts.
So please engage with the blog this week – tell us your ideas, critique other people’s, and join us not just for the week but for the year. We hope we can make this European Year one to remember
This post is part of Community Links and Church Action on Poverty‘s project looking at working age poverty, contributing to the European Year Against Poverty