It’s hard to say goodbye to Twimukye

The Poverty Alliiance has thanked their Senior Communities & Network Officer for her long-term ‘commitment and dedication’ as she takes up a new post with Shelter Scotland.

Twimukye Macline Mushaka has been at the heart of the Poverty Alliance’s work alongside people who have lived experience of  in Scotland for many years.

Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly said: “Twimukye has been an important part of the Poverty Alliance team over the last 15 years. She has played a key role in developing important pieces of work and processes – in particular helping to establish our Community Activist Advisory Group, delivering Poverty Awareness Training to hundreds of organisations across, maintaining and developing our links with grassroots community organisations, supporting Scottish delegations to the annual European Conference of People with Experience of Poverty, delivering the implementation of Get Heard Scotland.

“Through all of this work Twimukye has brought a tangible sense of commitment and dedication, not only to the work that was being carried out but also to the overall mission of the Poverty Alliance. This commitment was evident not only to us as colleagues, but to the many activists she worked with over the years. They will miss her support and input that has helped ensure that their voices were heard and their experiences had an impact.

“We are all obviously sorry to see Twimukye leave the Poverty Alliance, but I know that she will have the opportunity to do more important work with Shelter Scotland as their Lived Experience Coordinator. I am sure that we will continue to work together in the future in her new role.”

Before joining the Poverty Alliance, Twimukye worked as Executive Director of the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda in the late 1990s, and as an independent advisor on disability and development issues in Eastern and Southern African regions until 2000.

She has brought courage in the face of personal difficulties, which were published in the Health & Social Care Alliance book ‘Humans of Scotland’, alongside former Scotland Rugby international Doddie Weir, with a foreword from former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Her kindness and empathy for others made here a Glasgow Evening Times Community Champion award winner in 2018.

We are all obviously sorry to see Twimukye leave the Poverty Alliance…

Twimukye said the best thing about working with the Poverty Alliance was working with the charity’s members, stakeholders, and people with lived experience of poverty and low incomes up and down the country.

She said: “Being given the opportunity to work with Poverty Alliance members, stakeholders, and people with lived experience of poverty and low income up and down the country. I have been to many places in Scotland I would never have dreamt of ever going to such as Wick, Thurso, Golspie, Scottish Borders, Western Isles and to many European countries mostly Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Latvia, and Austria because of the work we do.

“For nine years, I coordinated the UK delegation to the EU Meeting of People with Experience of Poverty, which was indeed a privilege to work with many wonderful people in Brussels.  I have enjoyed interacting with both third sector and the public sector in Scotland.

 

“Crucially, the best thing about working with the Poverty Alliance has been being able to champion the participation of people with lived experience in our work, who have now become a formidable force to reckon with and who tirelessly continue to educate us all about the daily grinds of living in poverty.

the best thing about working with the Poverty Alliance has been being able to champion the participation of people with lived experience in our work

“For each of them, we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. We are stronger and louder in our policy and campaigns work, our advocacy for better public services, in our quest for income adequacy for the people of Scotland and in our desire to have the voices of those seldom heard by people that have the gift to make change . The Poverty Alliance has provided the space, voice, and influence for people with lived experience of poverty and low income in our work.

“In Poverty Alliance, I have had different roles including coordinating the participation of people with lived experience in our work, working with community-based organisations on Get Heard Scotland since its inception in 2018,  and delivering Poverty Awareness Training to different organisations up and down the country. The biggest highlight of my work has been getting the voices of people with lived experience of poverty heard in places that matter such as Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government, Poverty & Inequality Commission and in some cases local authority level.

I will treasure all the beautiful memories…

“I will treasure all the beautiful memories of this work and the progress we have made. As I leave, I recall when we did the Give me 5 Campaign, how parents I spoke to up and down the country were eager to stress the importance of that extra support but were equally pessimistic about expected results at the time of austerity. The Scottish Child Payment is, in my view, one example where participation has informed policy change. We need more examples where we can celebrate success with the people that give us their time and share their experience with us.

“I have built good relationships with individuals and organisations across the county through my work at Poverty Alliance. Some of the people I worked with have lived experience of housing related issues and homelessness and they will be invited to be part of the developing the new participation process in my new role. I am confident that the experience I have gained so far working closely with people with lived experience of poverty is an added advantage to my new role. I am excited at the opportunities of engagement yet to come, and hopefully a continued partnership with the Poverty Alliance for many years to come.”