David Eyre, Communications Officer, The Poverty Alliance
I've been thinking a lot about democracy, justice, and participation.
I was on jury duty from Wednesday last week to Wednesday this week. I was very impressed by my fellow jurors. They listened to evidence, took good notes, understood directions in law, and then debated their verdict in a serious, informed, open way, with everyone having a say.
The actual crime and evidence was grim, but the jury process gave me a lot of hope. At the Poverty Alliance we talk a lot about the need for policies to be shaped by people with lived experience of life on low incomes. We support increased use of public participation in budgeting. My fellow jurors assured me that people-powered policy is the right approach.
We've heard that politicians at Holyrood are set to start yet another consultation on the unjust, regressive Council Tax. I wonder if it's time to hand the issue over to a citizens' jury.
When I came back to work, I learned about two exciting events that we're organising, and created social media posts and a short newsletter to tell publicise them.
Our Rights in Action project is launching its 'Becoming Human Rights Defenders' report, with a special webinar and Q&A session on Tuesday 11 February. The report shares learning from six different organisations who have been learning how to use human rights as a tool to win the changes their communities need.
On Thursday 20 February, we're joining the Fraser of Allander Institute to launch a new toolkit to help tackle low pay in Scotland's hospitality industry. It's part of the successful Serving the Future project, that has been helping workers and employers talk openly about why low income is a problem in the sector, and what we can do to solve it.
Finally, we're thinking a lot about how Challenge Poverty Week is going to work this year, and I spent a bit of time trying to pin down some values framing and imagery for it, as well as reading some exciting ideas from our campaigns officer Alyson. I can't say a lot about the plans at the moment, but hope to be able to publish our thoughts soon.
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