poverty truth commissionslearning project€¦ · poverty truth commissions learning project...

Poverty Truth

Commissions

Learning Project

Learning Report,

AUGUST, 2019Katy Goldstraw, Dan Silver,

Mandy Wilson

Poverty Truth Commissions Learning Project Learning Report, May 2019

Summary of findingsPoverty Truth Commissions (PTCs) create a space to meaningfully bring together people with different experiences, knowledge, and power: PTCs create a new space for participatory politics to affect social change. Within this space, distinct groups of people are brought together on an equal footing: people who have had experience of living in poverty come together with senior civic, political and business leaders. Together, they potentially have the power to create policy change.

The learning process identified a number of foundations that are instrumental in creating an effective PTC. It is the combination of these foundations that is significant in the PTC process:

• Valuing experience: civic, business, faith leaders and those with lived experience of poverty raises awareness of the need for change. PTCs have people with lived experience of poverty at their core but they also require civic and business leaders to make the whole thing work.

• Ownership of the process: commissioners with lived experience of poverty set the agenda and lead the process. This has the power to positively disrupt more mainstream policy making processes and creates new possibilities and solutions.

• Listening and dialogue: the importance of listening to other perspectives in a non-judgmental way, and talking things through helps to share learning. Active listening leads to deep learning.

• Safety: Commissioners need to feel emotionally and physically safe before they can share their experiences.

• Shared expectations and shared commitments: if all the commissioners know what to expect from the start, then an effective shared journey can be established

• Trust and relationships: supportive relationships between commissioners are the foundation for a PTC, meeting together on a level, building trust between PTC and agencies.

The poverty truth process requires some resources. The time, dedication and quality of support that the paid facilitators provide are very important. Skilled facilitation ensures a gradual approach works to start the process, to go through the process without pressure, and following up with people to make sure they are okay.

Outcomes from the PTC process can be seen as a triangle of change – personal change for all those involved, cultural and policy change, and tangible change.

These key findings are explained in more detail below.

1

Poverty Truth Commissions Learning Project

2

Learning Report, May 2019

Introduction Poverty Truth Commissions (PTCs) use a specific model of participatory action, bringing together distinct groups of people on an equal footing: people who have lived experience of poverty come together with and an equal number of senior civic, political and business leaders.

There are currently more than ten existing PTCs, which are all locally focused and are at different stages in their life cycles. The PTC movement has emerged from a longer history of movements which speak truth to power. The PTCs have different approaches, but most are facilitated by part-time paid facilitators, and usually associated with a local organisation. The Commissions run for approximately 18 months, starting with a period of engagement work reaching out to people with a lived experience of poverty, who then spend time establishing a peer group that meets at least monthly. At the same time the facilitator is reaching out to public life ‘professionals’ and business leaders to establish a commitment to take part in the PTC process. The PTCs focus on:

• building relationships between commissioners with experience of poverty and those coming from various areas of civic life and business;

• encouraging change within the organisations, institutions and communities that the commissioners come from;

• developing shared activity between the different groups of commissioners; and

LEEDS PTC • Independent.

• Financial support has come from a range of sources, most recently from JRF and the National Lottery Community Fund.

• About culture change - aim to re-frame how policy and practice are developed

• Held 2 PTCs, embarking on 3rd which is focused around 3 neighbourhoods, with city wide business and civic leaders

• 3 working groups in the first commission.

• Humanifesto produced following 2nd Commission.

• Long term commitment to engagement (desire to ensure don’t become a poverty industry).

SALFORD PTC • Salford PTC is

delivered by Community Pride and Church Action on Poverty.

• Salford PTC has strong connection with the council, and involvement from the Mayor

• About people’s voices affecting change in positive ways and being part of that change

• Salford PTC has received good media coverage, both local and national

• Follow on from 1st Commission through Ambassadors / Community Pride

• Funded for the next commission secured in 2019


3


• making anti-poverty policy and practice proposals, as identified through the experience and knowledge of the commissioners.

The first few months are spent building relationships amongst the commissioners. The commissioners then work together to collectively agree a small number of locally relevant issues that they will focus on in their sessions together. Social policy issues that have been identified in previous PTCs include: homelessness, mental health and young people, council tax enforcement, local education opportunities, better local council customer service. The PTCs aim to include both policy-making and implementation.

The involvement of people with lived experience of poverty is at the heart of all stages of the process - but the PTCs are fundamentally about collaboration, through which the commissioners co-design, co-develop and co-create action to address poverty. PTCs seek to change policy, practice and culture. Many people will serve as a commissioner only once, but past commissioners often remain in touch with each other and the facilitators, forming a growing community of current and past commissioners.

This report is based on a learning project that has worked collaboratively with established PTCs in Cheshire, Leeds, Salford, and Scotland to reflect on the process. The aim of this reflection has been to identify the key foundations that make a PTC work in order to provide a platform to share the learning and work with other like-minded organisations.

SCOTLAND PTC • Scotland PTC is the

longest running PTC, and has diversified, but remaining consistent with the original ethos.

• 4 completed commissions

• About policy change

• Scotland PTC connects with the Scottish government and so is unique compared to the other PTCs

• Funding has come from the Scottish Government and Comic Relief

• Scotland PTC keeps in touch with previous commissioners and supports continued engagement, and has evolved into the Poverty Truth Community.

WEST CHESHIRE PTC • Hosted by Cheshire West

and Chester Council

• About ‘voice’ to affect change

• Held one commission which had 3 working groups. Second Commission now in process.

• Reflection on learning from the process and how they might improve relationships longer term. Past Commissioners now mentoring newer Commissioners.

• Has received good media coverage, both local and national

• Produced the PTC Pledge; set of principles that local organisations can sign up to.

• 2nd Commission started in 2019


4


PTCs: Creating a space to meaningfully bring together people with different experiences, knowledge, and power. Poverty Truth Commissions (PTCs) create a new space for participatory politics to affect social change. Within this space, distinct groups of people are brought together on an equal footing: people who have had experience of living in poverty come together with senior civic, political and business leaders. Together, they potentially have the power to create policy change.

“And people just listened to you really. There was not any magic thing. There is something organic about this organisation, that just happens in you. The more you attend and feel valued. Right away you feel valued. Right away you are a commissioner. You aren’t a benefit cheat, you are a commissioner. You are not useless. You have got information, you have got experience. That alone was really important. People listen to you and accept you for who you are.”

The PTCs create a space where people come to listen and engage in a dialogue to share experiences, insights, and ideas for anti-poverty work - both within the local area in which the PTC is operating, and at a national level. The process is not about consultation, but genuine partnership work to make change. The PTCs are based on the inclusion of diverse perspectives, equal recognition of different expertise, and genuine dialogue between commissioners.

There is a sense of mutual education that happens throughout the process of PTCs. Commissioners come together over an extended period of time to learn from each other and to collectively identify actions to address poverty. This is what makes the PTCs stand out. Commissioners with lived experience of poverty do not only share their experiential knowledge - but provide insights and ideas to be able to address structural inequalities. Equally, commissioners from positions of power do not only share their knowledge of the policy-making process and systems of bureaucracy, but are encouraged to share their own experiences and enabled to develop creative anti-poverty strategies.

The PTCs create a space that can inform approaches to participatory politics. Gaventa (2006) identifies how ‘created spaces’ can be seen as moments and opportunities within which participants can affect the discourses, policies, relationships, and decisions that have an impact on their lives. It is within the PTC that change begins to happen through the relationships that are developed between the commissioners. The actions from PTCs that follow are different across each commission and are dependent upon on the participants, the local contexts, and the policy-making process.


5


The PTC then, brings together people with different experiences, knowledge and power to identify potential ways to tackle poverty. The PTC process opens up new possibilities to address social problems by placing greater value on the ideas, assets and capacities of people with experience of poverty (Durose & Richardson, 2015, p. 43).

The following section identifies the key foundations of the PTC process, which are needed in order to create an effective space for social change.

PTCS: THE KEY FOUNDATIONSThrough the learning process we collectively identified the key foundations of the PTCs. The combination of these foundations is needed for the PTCs to work effectively, and is common across the different commissions. Each foundation in itself is not unique to the PTC process - we can see many of these foundations in other spaces of participatory politics. Collectively however, these foundations build a space that connects people with lived experience of poverty and civic and business leaders, and contribute to positive change. As such, the foundations can be used to identify organisations working in similar ways and to develop collaborations and networks.

1. Valuing experiencesSociety tends to stigmatise people living in poverty. The experiences of people living in poverty are often de-valued as a result. The PTC process disrupts this. The knowledge of people with lived experience of poverty is valued within the PTC.

“I went to one meeting, and then that was me, I was part of it from then on. I just really liked it. I was then on benefits and not able to work, so bit by bit all those labels start to attach to you, and you start to believe that you are of no use, and you are crap, and whatever. And it was about shifting out of that place. I needed to move into the world. The [PTC] meeting itself, I felt that real sense of acceptance…people just listen to you really. There was not any magic thing. There is something organic about this organisation that happens in you. The more and more you attend, the more you feel valued. Right away you feel valued. Right away you are a commissioner. You aren’t’t a benefit cheat, you are a commissioner. You are not useless.”

“People feel valued – even just the little wee texts you get after the meetings. Something about the texts makes me think that they don’t just send the same texts to everybody. I think that they take time to send individual messages to say thank you.”

“We came together as a group of strangers but we’re now a family. I feel like if any of us are ever in any need they could turn to one of us. I feel like if I needed help, I could ask one of the others (commissioners). I hope that they would feel the same”


6


As the PTC’s developed, trust was built between grassroots commissioners and civic and business leaders. Sharing stories and informal participatory exercises such as ice breaker style games encouraged the building of relationships and trust amongst the commissions, Trusting people with your story is a real risk but if done within a facilitated and supportive space it helps to builds bonds.

“Also, it is seeing someone as a person. You are not a story about poverty, and not just one thing. I think that is just so important … connecting on other levels. Discovering a whole person.”

The foundations are set through the PTC where experiences are valued. As a result, participants in the PTC process feel able to share their powerful experiences.

“Our most transformative moments have nearly always centred on the sharing of someone’s experience of struggle. It has made the problem real, encouraged empathy and created tangible passion for change.”

Harding (1991) identified a crucial value in the knowledge of people with experience of poverty and marginalization. This was based on the idea that people with lived experience of poverty have to struggle against injustice on a daily basis - coming up with solutions to poverty is a regular thing that people have to do over and over again. As a result, people with lived experience of poverty have powerful insights about how we might go about addressing the root causes of poverty. The PTC process doesn’t exclude other insights from different experiences; what it does do is to create a platform that values the knowledge of people with lived experiences of poverty – people who are so often excluded from the policy-making process.

“People can just become ‘a story’ that then gets passed around and heard all over the show. With PTC, it is different because it is people sharing their story in a way that empowers them - it is not tokenistic for us to get airtime in the media, it is their agenda, their experience - whatever part of it that they want to share. It is up to them to decide what they want to share, how they want to share it, where they want to.”

“Poverty is the surface. But it is degrading what you feel within … [PTC] was about ‘building a movement’ that capitalized on the hidden potential in people and tries to bring that out.”

2. Ownership of the process through setting the agendaThe PTC process is led by commissioners with lived experience of poverty, and this includes setting the agenda for discussion. Commissioners shared their experience of aiming to enact wider culture change and to hold this approach whilst working towards making specific locally based policy changes. Holding these dual positions and negotiating the boundaries between them sat more easily with some commissioners than others. PTCs began with an open agenda that was set as part of the PTC process. This built ownership and centered the priorities of the PTC from the lived experience of poverty.

6 Ke

y fo

unda

tion

s

Trust &relationships

Poverty Truth Commissions create a space to bring together people with different experiences, knowledge,

and ideas about how to address poverty

Sharedexpectations &commitments

Physical andemotional

safety

Valuingexperiences

Listening & dialogue

Ownershipof process

Faci

lita

tion

Gradualapproach

Changes to Everyday Life

Poverty truth

commissions

Cultural Changes

Tangible Policy Changes


8


“The agenda wasn’t set in stone from day one and set by people from up high, that nobody wanted to stray from it. The agenda was a lot more fluid, and you felt that you had…ownership over it.”

“It is important that the agenda comes from the grass-roots people with lived experiences. A lot of the public bodies have five year strategies that they are following. They have got their priorities nailed down…which are not reflective of what communities are saying on a daily basis”.

“From my experience of working in health and social care commissioning - we have an agenda for every meeting; if we work with a service-user group, we are usually asking them certain questions. The PTC was different, with people deciding their own agenda. The key thing about the open agenda was that it was completely empowering to the people who know most about poverty, and it allowed them to say what they wanted to talk about and what they wanted to address. For me, that was unique. I don’t think we have ever done that in health and social care commissioning…”

3. Listening and dialogueShared learning is supported through listening to other perspectives in a non-judgmental way, and talking things through collectively. Meaningful dialogue between senior civic, political and business leaders and people who have experienced poverty on a daily basis is a key foundation to enable a process of mutual education between commissioners.

“We have all these perceptions of each other. And we build them so we don’t have to address issues in ourselves, and can just blame the decision-makers. But there are well-meaning and good hearted people. but they don’t have the opportunity to have a dialogue with people who can come up with solutions. When we share the ideas, and the power to do something - that is when change begins to happen.“

This is a genuine two-way process of learning through dialogue about experience

“…one of the things that struck me immediately was that for folks experiencing poverty, they feel that they have to fight for every single little thing that they need. So, their relationships with bureaucracy becomes adversarial, where they are not treated with dignity or respect, and not treated seriously. So one of the things that came out of it for me…is for us to always remember to treat people with respect and to really think about the barriers that we put up - we are bureaucratic and we have to have systems and processes to make sure that things are fair and transparent, but sometimes that translates too much into how we deal with folks - so that was a really good lesson that I was able to share that with my senior management team, and then make sure that was shared with the wider teams…”


9


Disrupting the space of policy makingPolicy-making is often based on the ways that policy-makers frame a problem (Turnbull, 2006). Once a problem has been framed by policy-makers, the range of possible solutions becomes restricted. Even when there are processes of consultation and engagement, these tend to follow the original frames that have been defined, and the range of possibilities to develop alternative approaches is limited. The PTC process aims to reverse this. The process is led by the experiences of people in poverty – enabling greater potential for policy-makers to see the problems of poverty in a different light and so create the possibilities for new solutions.

A significant aspect of the Poverty Truth Commissions’ role has been to disrupt the traditional safe space held by policy makers. In seeking to change policy and practice using alternative framing, Poverty Truth Commissions have enabled critical reflection about the lived experience of poverty at the community level.

“It is the mix of circumstances, its not just bureaucratic folks sitting around the table thinking that they are high powered enough to find solutions… I cant quite explain it properly. For me, it is the high levels of engagement with folk – of people really wanting to make a difference and the right mix of folk”

Arguably Poverty Truth Commissions have offered the opportunity for communities to move beyond safe social spaces to transformative spaces (Vaughan, 2014). By framing their stories of lived experience within a broader policy environment, commissioners were able to develop their critical reflections, ‘personalising and humanising their stories’ (Vaughan, 2014 p189). This is achieved through the development of critical thinking with each commission.

“I have learned that, no matter how much we want it, change takes time. And the political process is like trying to push a twenty ton weight on flat ground, in the hope that at some point you will get to downhill. The difficulty is that once you get started, you need to keep it moving, and it can keep up momentum, but it can take ages just to get it started. Like it or not, but sometimes you have to work with the system. And you get to learn the system, you get to learn ways around it, and you can use the system to benefit everyone”.

In sharing their stories using visual, narrative and dramatic means commissioners created spaces of reflection, that were ‘reflective of the subtle, incremental and provisional ways in which social change actually occurs’ (Cornwall and Edwards, 2010). In disrupting the traditional policy environment Poverty Truth Commissions have disrupted traditional policy space and paved the way for a more personal and human approach to anti-poverty policy and practice.


10


The approach of the PTC is ‘sociable’, through which there is a ‘circulation of communication’ (Sinha and Back, 2013). It is through this flow of ideas, insights and experiences that commissioners’ knowledge becomes enhanced. As a result commissioners are able to reflect on their own experiences and make changes.

4. Safety – creating a safe space “It’s been a real journey to face up to how I feel and cope with living in poverty; I came away from many of the sessions and really felt quite raw”.

Commissioners need to feel emotionally and physically safe before they can share their experiences. People have talked about the PTC becoming a community / family where everything can be shared, but that it has costs e.g. an emotional and physical toil that takes a few days to get over. Sharing your story has a high emotional cost for commissioners, as can hearing each other’s’ traumatic experiences: This requires a commitment to ensuring that mental health or physical health is not negatively affected by involvement in PTC.

The PTCs were felt by many to be physically safe spaces. For the most part PTCs met in community buildings. Meeting in community spaces felt physically safe for most PTC members as they were informal spaces and weren’t linked to the local authority, so felt independent.

The PTCs were valued by many as offering an emotionally safe space to share stories. The opportunity to share stories in small groups between grassroots commissioners first and then more broadly with civic and business leaders was valued as a method of building confidence. Several PTC members talked about the emotional impact that sharing their story, re-visiting traumatic times in their lives and sharing very personal details had had on them. In some instances PTC grassroots members shared that they had felt supported by strong social networks of other grassroots inspirers and PTC facilitators. In other cases grassroots PTC members had felt vulnerable and emotionally raw by this process of sharing.

“Its taught us how to open up and express ourselves and get confidence doing it. Its been a real journey where I’ve been able to work through my issues of shame, fear, guilt. Its not just about money – with poverty thinking you feel the effects more like a depression that weighs you down so bad. You know I have come away from many of the sessions and really felt quite raw.”

“Sharing your story can cause panic attacks. It links back to past trauma and can trigger panic attacks. I’m now more determined to be part of the PTC since having these panic attacks, I don’t want to stop it. “


11


5. Shared commitments If all the commissioners know what to expect from the start, then an effective shared journey can be established. The PTCs bring together two distinct groups of people on an equal footing: senior civic, political and business leaders and an equal number of people who experience poverty on a daily basis (grassroots commissioners). A crucial foundation for the approach to work is that there is a shared commitment

“The PTC is different. Overall there are equal numbers of people with influence and people from poverty. So right away, you feel on a level playing field with people that you are trying to influence. You also feel that the people of influence want to be there. They have been invited and told about it. And you feel that they genuinely want to be there. It is simple surroundings. We are not in a conference suite, with catering. We are in a local community place with sandwiches, tea, and a couple of cakes. It is not all these unnecessary buffets. So you just feel that you are on mutual ground, with a level playing field, and the people who are there want to be there. That is what makes the difference”.

The PTC process brings together people over a sustained period of time, with the aim of influencing social change. The shared commitment of commissioners is important to the effectiveness of being able to achieve change, as well as supporting relationships to develop.

6. Trust and relationships Supportive relationships between commissioners are a key foundation for a PTC to build trust between PTC and agencies. These encounters are not just one off, but developed regularly over time, which then enables more meaningful conversations to take place.

“The beauty of the way that the PTC brought the commissioners together, was how we got to know each other and opened up about our experiences. Nobody was critical of anybody. We realised that there was a vast array of experience about there - either of poverty, or the system. The grass-roots commissioners spent time getting to know each other, and we confident of being in the group, and knowing that nobody would be critical. That is not to say there weren’t challenges, but we all appreciated that everyone had experiences. People trusted each other. We all opened up about our experiences, and where we could help. People were honest, and felt that we had created relationships of trust, where there was no judgement”.

Bonding between commissioners and support for networks of peer support make a lot of difference to commissioners’ experience. As commissioners in the PTC share their experiences, it is crucial that they do not feel as though they will be negatively judged.


12


7. FacilitationThe skills of PTC coordination teams can be crucial. Recruitment of commissioners who can work well together and the facilitation of groups is important to help the process flow well. In addition, the coordination teams can play an essential role in being able to support commissioners and look out for their well-being through a caring approach.

“The amount of work that the staff team do - it is part time work they do, but I guarantee it won’t be part time hours that they work. As facilitators they are excellent, there is nothing too difficult for them to do for you, they go the extra mile. You know you can go to them if you are stuck, you know they are a phone call away. They are like a hub around which we can all operate. And knowing they are here, and can give you advice, or put you in contact with people - it makes such a difference”.

“…they never leave anybody on their own, and give support and encouragement. It can be quite scary going to an event, especially if you are going to talk. So having that familiar face, by your side, and knowing they are there for you. You have that familiarity. It is about giving strength through confidence, and through being there.”

The facilitators of the PTC provide the crucial infrastructure for the process to work effectively. The infrastructures of support are a key foundation of the PTCs.

8. A Gradual ApproachA gradual approach works to start the process, to go through the process without pressure, and following up with people to make sure they are okay.

“It is not about pressure. You can only share what you want to, and the way you want to. That is important to be given that time…. If you getting rushed you are stressed. And if you are stressed, you are not going to be your best. The PTC give the time, and give the support as well - it all comes back to confidence. Knowing you are not under pressure…if you are under pressure you are not capable. I can’t see it being a nice situation for anyone. It is very important to be given time.”

“So, having ownership over the circumstances in which you are able to express what you like is really important. Having that sense of power. Not in a bad way. Control I suppose over your destiny. And then really feeling as though you have contributed something”

A gradual approach includes: taking as much time as is needed to start the process (engaging people, supporting people, providing opportunities for people to bond and to know what is expected etc) is important to an effective Commission. Equally important was the time invested in keeping people together during the Commission, time for closure and follow-up support. It is important to recognize this time and to accept that this time has staffing costs as well as meeting facilitation costs. This gradual approach is fundamental to the process.


13


There were three levels of outcomes identified by this learning project; a triangle of change. Personal change for Commissioners, cultural policy changes and tangible policy changes made up a triangle of change for PTCs.

Most PTCs began with the intention of building tangible policy change to reduce poverty within their locality but they quickly found that these tangible changes were just one side of the triangle. Personal changes for each commissioner and broader cultural changes in the policy environment were outcomes that were very much part of the changes achieved by PTCs. Crenshaw (1989) writes about intersectionality, a framework for understanding the interactions between multiple social identities. Her framework is useful here as it can be used to understand the multiple perspectives on the three sides of the triangle of change that PTCs have experienced; tangible, personal and cultural.

“…[we took] things in bite size chunks - you know, you are sitting in a room trying to solve poverty - people haven’t been able to do that in the last hundred years! So how are we going to do in eighteen months? But it was the stepped approach, and the length of time, the gradual approach. We could see that there were things that we could influence, where we could make a difference.

TRiangle

of changePersonalchange

Cultural Changes

Tangible Policy Changes

PTCs: the key outcomes


14


The model worked from that point of view. It is thinking about what are the aspects, what are the strands of the big problem [of poverty], what can we try and do to make that difference.“

Commissioners talked about incremental change, small focused discussion leading to bigger change. The project Steering Group identified change that can be seen, as well as more subtle underlying change.

Tangible change Cultural and Personal change

• Participation in first Homelessness Commission

• Civic and Business Leaders see opportunities … (meet unusual people, have unusual conversations)

• Media article about prison reform and ex-offender rehabilitation

• BBC Scotland changed the way it tells stories around poverty

• Mad Pride Salford

• GP Engagement Strategy

• Support Guide for Rough Sleepers

• Change of Policy re School Clothing Grant

• Council Created “Better Off” Website and Coffee morning to help local people with debt.

• Connecting local to national - joining a national conversation

• No more brown envelopes for council tax debt letters

• Strong partnerships and alliances across the UK

• Coping with the unknown

• Costs of asylum seeking (Right to Remain Status) taken by Scottish Faiths Glasgow

• Positive Impact on wellbeing - feeling connected and supported

• Recognition of great resource people are in communities. More partnership work at the local level

• Ambassadors supported to be part of recruitment panels at the council

• Cups of tea - Informal meetings between grass-roots & civic commissioners

• Tone of Relationship - not conflictual

• People asking how to work in this way

CHANGES AFFECTING EVERYDAY LIFE The changes within commissioners that can have an impact in everyday life. One commissioner has been inspired to set up her own charity to recycle school uniform for families struggling so that hand-me-downs were less shameful and damaging to children’s mental health.


15


“At the moment in my community, I am supporting people who are kinship carers, but who are too scared to go to social workers. It is not a group I have, but I meet up and chat with people. I can refer to other kinship carers, and let them know about groups, and go along with them. There is a lot of knowledge that I have picked up. I am always kind of trying to do the poverty truth…that acceptance thing, and building relationships with people. I am more confident in speaking to people. What works is me talking about my experience, and people are hearing it, and I can see it sparking things in certain people. But it takes time for people. And that is what it is like the PTC too. It is just organic. “

TANGIBLE POLICY CHANGESTangible changes refer to influencing changes that have a real impact on the lives of people who are experiencing poverty. The changes listed below are examples from each PTC that participated on the learning project. These however are not the only changes that have been achieved. There are many tangible changes achieved by each PTC, these are listed on their individual PTC websites.

Glasgow School Uniforms: The Glasgow PTC found that affording school uniforms was a real pinch point for families at the start of the school year. When they did some research they found that although there was a grant available from the local authority, that different local authorities across the area offered varying amounts. The Glasgow PTC worked closely across the local authority areas to ensure a standard grant, that was enough money to actually cover the cost of school uniforms, was on offer to support families in purchasing school uniforms.

Salford and Birth Certificates: The Salford PTC found that a major stumbling block for homeless people was accessing copies of identification documents. An address was required to request and receive a copy of a birth certificate. The PTC worked with the local authority to change these requirements and homeless people can now request and receive a copy of their birth certificate.

West Cheshire PTC Pledge and The Local Offer: The West Cheshire PTC found that there wasn’t enough information about the support services available in the area. The Poverty Truth Commission Pledge promotes decent, honest, and respectful treatment of all people, and encourages the development of positive relationships rather than transactional processes. The aim is that by signing up to this, organisations and the people within them become more self-aware, and are accountable for their behaviour.

The PTC worked with the council to update the Local Offer, the council website so that it was more user friendly and offered up to date information in line with their Poverty Truth Commission Pledge. From this they developed a Navigator Project designed to help people navigate their way to local sources of support.


16


Leeds PTC Humanifesto: The Leeds Poverty Truth Commission developed a Humanifesto. This is a Manefesto that focusses on the de-humanising effects of poverty and asks public, private and voluntary sector organisations to commit to include people with lived experience of poverty in all their anti-poverty work.

CULTURAL CHANGES This relates to how the approach that public and private sector organisations take can shift through involvement in a Poverty Truth Commission. People talked about being on a journey - building deeper relationships of trust and knowing:

“The PTC has changed the tone of relationships with organisations …. – not conflictual. People are coming and asking for advice as to how the PTC works in this way and why.”

The concept of ‘lived experience’ is getting more credibility with funders. Indeed the Poverty Truth Network, the national network of poverty truth commissions has met with several large funders to share their learning in this area.

The PTCs have also led to wider contacts with power holders, for example they have led an anti-poverty event at Portcullis House, inviting MPs and key decision makers to hear their story. PTCs have also been part of the group working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to re-draft DWP letters in clear and more understandable language. This involvement with local and national funders, power holders and decision makers is evidence of slow but steady cultural change. The voice of people with lived experience is now a concept that is recognized and adopted in the language of social change. This is not solely due to the work of PTCs but their work has been a contributing factor in this change in the national conversation.


17


Reflections and considerationsAll work with people bring challenges as well as opportunities and requires critical reflection. The learning project revealed points for further consideration:

SAFE SPACESCreating a safe space requires that the space is safe for everyone. Safe spaces to enact moments of social change are contested notions - the term ‘safe space’ requires clarification, safe for who and from what? (Stoudt, 2007). Accommodating the needs of members of the PTC, embracing and supporting the intersectionality of these needs, that can often include mental health, substance mis-use, physical and / or learning difficulties, in an ethical way takes time, skilled facilitation and strong bonds across the PTC team.

“No one PTC will be the same. We cannot say to new PTCs - this is how we did it; you can explain what happened, but then you need to ask people how they would do it, and how they want to tackle it. The PTCs should belong to the people involved in it, but they might need some direction and some guidance about how to actually tackle the issues that they want to”

Offering a space of welcome for all and ensuring the space is also safe for all is challenging and requires carefully thought out risk assessment by the PTC facilitation team. Not all the buildings used by the PTCs were easy to access (although they complied with accessibility requirements under the 2010 Equality Act) and this created additional stress for some commissioners. Appropriate support should be offered to commissioners that require it e.g. personal assistants could be included as part of the support package offered to commissioners.

The learning project also revealed that not all commissioners felt listened to equally and some felt that they had not been able to build friendships as easily as other commissioners and had not made the same bonds with the group. In some circumstances, commissioners occasionally felt that this silenced their voice within the commission, and isolated them. Some civic and business leaders also shared that they had been emotionally affected by hearing the stories and expressed that they would have liked more opportunity to share their own stories; revealing their vulnerabilities might be have had a democratising effect – offering an equality of emotion.

Several commissioners shared that the process can be exhausting, physically and emotionally and spiritually. One PTC member reported that they needed to take recovery time to process the experience every few weeks.


18


‘LIVED EXPERIENCE’The term lived experience has become contested and can be tokenistic. There is a balance to be sought in seeking to value lived experience and seeking to avoid stigmatization. Several Commissioners with ‘lived experience’ made the point that they bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and interest and should not be defined by their experience of poverty. This is just one aspect of their experience at a given point in their lived. Different types of knowledge exist and are held (Facer and Pahl, 2018), ranging from the knowledge held by for example, community practitioners, policy makers, academics, artists and those with lived experience of a topic. These knowledges overlap and layer and should be valued for and of themselves.

“People’s personal stories are really important, but only if people want to give that information. It is also really important to only give what you want. People usually give it all, because you are trying to create change, to improve other’s situations. There have been horrendous stories being told, and that is really difficult for people to be saying. But they want to create change, so that is why they do it.”

Valuing a person’s experience, offering a supportive environment where that person can share their story and access training, support and build friendships is a nuanced process. The phrase lived experience is in danger of becoming the emperors new clothes of funding buzz words. If we are to truly value people with lived experience for their knowledge and contribution to policy, then we need to ensure that the term is used with respect, that people’s contribution is nurtured and that there is an element of reciprocity in their invitation to share knowledge.


19


Conclusions The PTCs can highlight a more inclusive way of working, which values the lived experience of people living in poverty, and illustrates the power of testimony:

• Locally: where the approach of putting people with lived experience at the centre can be taken into community work and everyday relationships

• Organisationally: different organisations such as funders, campaign groups, or charities can learn from the approach of the PTCs

• In policy: the PTCs can influence policy-makers at all levels to change how they work

• Nationally: PTCs can develop a national voice to talk about the importance of including people with lived experience of poverty in decision-making

But the grass-roots based approach of the PTC means that it is no one model that can just be replicated or done at a much bigger scale. The learning is about process and there are different approaches to the process, in relation to:

• their set up – how people were identified and selected

• their hosting organisations e.g. a local authority and a voluntary organisation may bring different strengths and weaknesses to the process

• their timeframes – some PTCs feel the finite timescale for each PTC is a favourable characteristic, others are moving away from this e.g. Scotland is pursuing a Poverty Truth Community as a long term movement to retain knowledge and relationships

• their composition and the relationships that result

• their scope and what they seek to achieve

PTCs are still evolving and they will develop differently in different spaces and different places There is no one model but there are common values that underpin the way that they work. At this point, and as more PTCs emerge, questions arise around:

• Is it necessary to define what is and what isn’t a PTC - in order to embrace good practices but exclude poorer ones? Who decides what is and isn’t a PTC?

• How can we ensure that people are not defined by their stories of poverty?

• How are people supported to move on and use their learning and experience in other forums and contexts?

• Is there a point at which PTCs should reach a natural conclusion, or at least evolve into something else?


20


ReferencesCornwall, A and Edwards, J (2010) Introduction: Negotiating empowerment IDS Bulletin: Institute for Development Studies 41 (2): 1-9

Crenshaw, Kimberle () “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

Druckman, J.N. (2001) The Implications of Framing Effects for Citizens Confidence Political Behavior (2001) 23: 225. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015006907312

Dunrose, C and Richardson, L (2015) Designing public Policy for co-production: theory, practice and change Bristol, Policy Press / Chicago, University of Chicago Press

Facer, K. and Pahl, K. Eds. (2017) Valuing interdisciplinary collaborative research: Beyond impact. Bristol: Policy Press.

Gaventa, J (2006) Finding the Spaces for Change: A Power Analysis IDS Bulletin Volume 37 Number 6 November 2006

Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1hhfnmg

Sinha,S.,& Back, L. (2014). Making methods sociable: dialogue, ethics and authorship in qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 14(4), 473-487 https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794113490717

Stoudt, B, G (2007) The Co-Construction of Knowledge in ‘safe spaces’ : Reflecting on Politics and Power in Participatory Action Research Children Youth and Environments Vol. 17. No.2

Turnbull, N. (2006). How should we theorise public policy? Problem solving and problematicity. Policy and Society, 25(2), 3-22.

Vaughan, C (2014) Participatory Research with youth: Idealising safe social spaces or building transformative links in difficult environments? Journal of Health psychology 2014, Vol 19 (1) 184-192

http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015006907312

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1hhfnmg

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1hhfnmg

https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794113490717


21


AppendixOUR LEARNING APPROACHThe learning period began in June 2018 and was completed in March 2019. Four Poverty Truth Commissions (PTCs) were chosen as sites for learning; Leeds, Scotland, Salford, West Cheshire, and each was represented on the project Steering Group

The learning team took a qualitative, participatory approach. The participatory approaches used were interactive workshops held with Poverty Truth Commissions, layered with semi-structured interviews and e-surveys and regular feedback and further discussion with the Steering Group. This provided an opportunity not only to acquire new knowledge but also to re-evaluate the knowledge that had been acquired through the other learning methods. A collaborative analysis workshop was held in March 2019 with a broader group of grassroots and civic and business leaders from the four commissions. Initial learning was updated to form the analysis presented in this report.

Taking this multi layered approach to the learning emerged from the stance that people have the right to participate, to analyse and create their own knowledge. Quotes are from Poverty Truth Commissioners (Grassroots and Civic and Business Leaders) from each of the four Poverty Truth Commissions. The quotes are a mix of grassroots commissioners and civic and business leaders reflections, which are broadly spread across each of the four Commissions. The choice not to state which commission or which background commissioners were from was made in order that the quotes represent a collective voice of the four commissions involved in the learning project.

Limitations: Four PTCs that had completed commissions were invited to participate in this JRF funded learning project. Three are now upwards of ten PTCs within England and Scotland several of which have completed. The findings from this learning project will have some common themes with other PTCs but it should be noted that as each PTCs is independently constituted this learning project is not necessarily generalizable to every PTC.

poverty truth commissionslearning project€¦ · poverty truth commissions learning project...

Documents