Women’s Support Network Policy Worker, Siobhán Harding is working with Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ulster University, Becca Bor, NI Anti-Poverty Network and Jude Hill from Save the Children NI 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 held 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.
Siobhán, Ciara, Becca and Jude have produced a Toolkit for helping Women’s Centres and other community groups to engage in the consultation. The details of the Toolkit are included below. We encourage Women’s Centres and community groups to use this Toolkit to discuss the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy with those living in poverty and who are most likely to be impacted by poverty. The Toolkit includes a range of actions that you can take to provide feedback on the draft Strategy including completing an online feedback form so that we can amplify people’s responses to the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy with policy makers.
The NI Executive have published the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy and it is not fit for purpose. The draft strategy does not include measurables, concrete timebound targets, nor have ring-fenced funding.
Over 75 community organisations, faith leaders, trade unions, and academics have signed an open letter asking the NI Executive to withdraw their support for this draft and revisit the recommendations they have already received from the Anti-Poverty Strategy Group. You can contact Siobhán at policy@wsn.org.uk to add your organisation to the letter and you can sign an online petition here.
The consultation for the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy is open until the 19 September, and we are encouraging people to have their say!
We have come together to create a toolkit to encourage pubic engagement on the draft Strategy. We have already been collecting responses and feedback from people with lived experience of poverty and their words need to be heard loud and clear!
This toolkit includes:
- A short video that can be shared on social media.
- An “easy read” document that outlines what is in the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy.
- An online feedback form for people to share their thoughts on the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy
- A series of images of quotes with feedback about the draft strategy that can be used for social media.
We support the updated recommendations from the Anti-Poverty Strategy Group and the NI Anti-Poverty Network will shortly release a covering letter that others can use if they chose to respond formally to the consultation. If organisations or individuals chose to respond to the consultation, we encourage them to attach the updated recommendations from the Anti-Poverty Strategy Group.
All of the resources detailed in this Toolkit are available on the NI Anti-Poverty Network’s website here: https://niapn.org/have-your-voice-heard/
