What’s the best way to alleviate poverty? Give people more money?
This may seem a trite response to a huge issue but it was one that was raised by one of our partner charities working in a very deprived area of Scotland. Jane Overton from the Sovereign Credit Union has spent many years working for local authorities, and with the credit union, on various initiatives to tackle poverty. Her conclusion? That the only way to really lift people out of poverty ‘is to give them more money’.
A recent article in the Guardian on ‘obvious answers’ would seem to concur, and offers examples of research that back up this idea. The author suggests that alleviating some of the economic strain on poor families allows people to be better parents. The article goes on to highlight that an injection of ‘no strings attached’ money early on in a child’s life will, in effect, ‘pay for itself’ – by improving the life chances of that child and their family. It mentions the case of the Cherokee of North Carolina who shared profits from the opening of a casino with all the members of the tribe. This led to a drastic reduction in poverty levels, psychiatric problems and child behavioural issues, which meant demand for public services fell, saving money as a result.
In the UK, much of the work of the third sector is about trying (albeit indirectly) to ‘give people more money’ – or more precisely, to empower them to find the ways and means to access more money themselves. That may be through employability initiatives, debt advice, support in sustaining a tenancy, advice on benefits and so on.
People involved in the third sector put a lot of thought into how best to use resources, and how to measure the impact of what they do. Indeed, some of the best solutions to some of society’s problems have come from someone seeing a need and coming up with an innovative charity or service to address that need.
So is it time for a bigger discussion on the resources needed to address poverty and how and where they are used?
Certainly the recent criticism of the coalition government’s new child poverty strategy would seem to suggest there is a need for more (seemingly) radical solutions to changing people’s lives. At the very least, by putting forward more radical ideas we will start a much needed debate. The not-for-profit sector is practised in supporting people to have their voices heard. The sector would be ideally placed to facilitate a conversation with people experiencing the stress and hardship of poverty, to find out what they think would really help them.
by Michelle Davitt, Senior Project Manager, Pilotlight