Dumfries and Galloway Council Members attend Anti-Poverty Training

Dumfries and Galloway Council‘s Anti-Poverty Strategy has been in place since June 2015 and to date has made significant progress. The Strategy, entitled ‘On the Up’ aims to tackle the often hidden problem of poverty and inequality across the region. It has been recognised as good practice by the Scottish Human Rights Commission, COSLA and the Child Poverty Action Group, because it is not just about financial poverty or the services that public services provide to people experiencing poverty – it is also about how poverty affects people.

Since the Strategy and Action Plan were agreed, progress has been good, with a wide range of work and activity developing. Included in this activity are training sessions for Elected Members, Dumfries and Galloway Council staff and partner organisations.

These sessions aim to challenge the myths of poverty, help recognise the signs of poverty and target change to help alleviate poverty. The training afternoons will aim to increase participant’s knowledge and understanding of the relationship between poverty and inequality and how poverty impacts on individual’s lives. The sessions will also enable participants to identify ways in which they can provide an effective service to people who experience poverty.

Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Elected Members attended their session yesterday (16^th May). This was run in conjunction with The Poverty Alliance, which is a network of individuals and organisations across Scotland working together to combat poverty.

The workshop covered three broad questions:

·         What do we think about poverty and welfare in Scotland?

·         Can we change what the public believes about poverty?

·         How do we campaign for change at local and national levels?

Elected Members were given the opportunity to discuss and debate the issues around attitudes to poverty and were given practical examples of how to change ideas. They were encouraged to look at how they could change attitudes to poverty, either through campaigning, through practice, or through service development.

At the end of the session Members had a new understanding of the nature, roots and causes of poverty and what poverty means to those experiencing it. Members were also given an new awareness of ways in which common prejudices and stereotypes can lead to discrimination and the unfair treatment of people experiencing poverty.   This helped to identify changes and improvements which could be made to work practices to improve service delivery.

Dumfries and Galloway Council Leader, Councillor Ronnie Nicholson said: “Poverty affects so much of what we are trying to achieve as a council – providing the best start in life for our children, protecting our most vulnerable and building our local economy. Through signing up to the Poverty Alliance’s pledges we undertook to go beyond our core duties: to provide practical assistance to those in need, and promise to challenge perceptions, ensuring we use non-stigmatising language in all our work.

Through this training, we will lead by example, by taking a nurturing, sympathetic, and courteous view towards the less fortunate of our region. I believe this training is invaluable, to myself and my fellow Members, in order to help us recognise the signs of Poverty and help to tackle it head on.”