Siobhán has worked with Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ulster University, Becca Bor, NI Anti-Poverty Network and Jude Hill from Save the Children NI to produce a Toolkit to encourage engagement with the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy which is currently out for consultation (closing on 19th September).
On behalf of the Women’s Regional Consortium, Siobhán has used the Toolkit at a number of focus groups with women to discuss what is in the Strategy and to gather the views of women on whether the actions in the draft will make a difference to poverty levels in NI and what they think is missing from it.
The Women’s Spaces project has also used the Toolkit to create an online space for women to discuss their views and concerns about the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy.
This activity has resulted in over 100 responses to a simple feedback form on the content of the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy which will be used to provide lived experience input into the consultation process. Siobhán is working on the Consortium response to this consultation and to summarise and include all of the feedback from the use of the Toolkit.
The NI Anti-Poverty Network has produced a template response to the consultation which individuals and organisations can use to respond. This template supports the updated recommendations from the Anti-Poverty Strategy Group and the Women’s Regional Consortium will also support these recommendations. The NI Anti-Poverty Network template response to the consultation is available here:
https://niapn.org/response-to-the-draft-anti-poverty-strategy/
All of the resources included in the Toolkit are available on the NI Anti-Poverty Network’s website here: https://niapn.org/have-your-voice-heard/
