Challenges to Others
We call on the people living in poverty to be involved in shaping and delivering anti-poverty policy. We challenge governments to involve directly involve those who struggle against poverty in designing, implementing and evaluating solutions to poverty.
We recognise the wisdom, knowledge and expertise of people living in poverty - the real experts without whom limited progress will be made. We challenge people who are struggling to overcome poverty to share their struggle and to work together with others for lasting change.
We call for the people of Scotland to share our outrage at the huge and growing levels of disparity which exist between rich and poor. We challenge civil society, including the faith communities, to enable those in poverty to lead the debate on how we can develop a fairer and more equal Scotland.
We recognise that the best and most sustainable work to tackle violence is often done locally. We challenge local governments and the police to move beyond processes of consultation and community engagement and to devolve real power (including budgets) to local neighbourhoods.
We recognise the massive contribution which Kinship Carers make to the quality of life for children in their care. We challenge the Scottish and UK Governments, local authorities, health boards and Kinship Carers to work together to improve the quality of life for this highly vulnerable group of children and young people.
We recognise the damage which stereotyping does to people in poverty and to our society as a whole. We call on the public to challenge biased reporting; the media to establish better links with community groups, and politicians to include people in poverty amongst those who advise them.
We recognise that bringing about the long term and sustainable involvement of people in poverty requires long term commitment to listening and working together. We call for governments and third sector organisations to commit the time, people and resources to make this happen.
We call for others to take up our model - bringing together, over a sustained period of time, diverse groups of people to listen, learn and work together for practical and systemic change. We challenge those concerned with injustice not only to talk about those who are marginalised but to support them to bring about change.
If you are a community group, a poverty organisation, a government department or just someone interested in how our way of working could apply to you please contact us.
