Scotland is a country that believes in justice and compassion. These values guide the anti-poverty movement in all that we do – including the design and delivery of our campaigning activities.
Campaigning is central to the anti-poverty movement. Every year over 400 organisations come together to raise their voice against poverty during Challenge Poverty Week. Across civil society organisations lead vital campaigns, from a push for fair and sustainable third sector funding, to an Essentials Guarantee in Universal Credit, from locally-based movements for Better Buses, and national campaigning on fairer taxation.
Our sector is approaching a critical period for action. Despite welcome rhetoric from the Scottish Government, we are not currently on track to meet our child poverty targets, and the new UK Government take office at a time when data shows a trend for deepening poverty across the UK. The voice of civil society organisations in pushing for the changes needed to end the injustice of poverty is more important than ever.
As we face these challenges, we must consider how best to turn our campaigning energy into tangible changes that will impact on the lives of people living on low incomes. This year, the Poverty Alliance annual conference will focus on how we make change happen. What strategies are open to our sector as we push for a Scotland free from poverty? How do we learn from existing, successful campaigns? How do we engage more groups and individuals? How do remain resilient in the face of setbacks? And how can we apply this learning to our core policy priorities across child poverty, better public services, the Minimum Income Guarantee and social security reform at the UK level?
The charitable sector in Scotland involves more than 45,000 organisations, employing 135,000 people and more than 1.1 million volunteers involved. We need to turn those numbers into real political pressure, by getting organised and demanding the system change we talk so often about.
This is a chance to discuss how we organise for change, from the grassroots to the national level, to learn from each other about what works and when, and to help shape the anti-poverty movement’s campaigning priorities for the coming years.
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