Disadvantaged communities need to be empowered to address the problems of hardship within Irish society, a leading anti-poverty campaigner argued today.
The director of Combat Poverty Helen Johnston said today that policies to tackle the problem of people living in poverty were more likely to succeed if the communities affected are involved in their planning.
"Combat Poverty has always considered that policies intended to tackle poverty are more likely to work if the people and the communities they are designed for are involved in their planning and implementation," Ms Johnston said.
"It also recognises that poverty can make it difficult to act and work for change when the struggle of day to day living on low incomes can drain people's available energy and resources."
Speaking at the Having Your Sayconference in Dublin, Ms Johnston said there is a growing awareness at both European and national level that people affected by policy decisions have a right to be consulted about the issues.
"Over the last ten to 15 years the range of opportunities for anti-poverty community and voluntary organisations to participate in policy structures has expanded significantly," she said.
But Ms Johnston said people need to be equipped with the skills and capacity to take advantage of this.
The director said the three-year Having Your Sayprogramme would support work that enables people experiencing poverty to engage in the policy system. The programme will include training resources for public officials on poverty awareness and a range of research and events to build the policy influencing skills of organisations.
Ruth Lister, a professor of social policy from Loughborough University in the UK, told the 180 delegates at the conference in Dublin Castle that the voicelessness associated with poverty is a symptom of the lack of respect shown to the poor.
"Enabling the voices of people with experience of poverty to be heard is one way of counteracting that lack; and of seeing and hearing people in poverty as human beings whose presence matters," she said.
PA