Campaigners need to change the way they talk about child poverty to counter far-right narratives and harness public energy for action, charities have warned.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Save the Children will on Wednesday launch a practical guide for campaigners, saying that although the third sector, politicians and the media talk frequently about the urgency of tackling child poverty, bolstered with alarming facts, “the way we talk about it doesn’t always help”.
They believe this is especially pertinent as public disillusionment with politics and the capacity to make change is weaponised by the far right across the UK.
The toolkit advises campaigners to connect with how overlooked and ignored people are feeling before presenting action on child poverty as a positive response. Tackling child poverty is popular, it points out, with more than three-quarters of people polled recently by the two charities wanting decision-makers to take more action.
The guide, called “The new story of child poverty in Scotland”, advises using one statistic at a time, because it says too much data leaves people with a sense of “an impossible, unsolvable problem” and talking about a better future for all children. “Families don’t tend to think about themselves being ‘in poverty’ even when they are. And when we only single out poor families, we can increase stigma and judgement.”
Launching the results of the two-year project, which engaged with the public, campaigners, and politicians as well as parents with their own experience of poverty, Chris Birt, the associate director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “It’s impossible to ignore that many people in Scotland are feeling overlooked and ignored by the current state of politics. With almost quarter of a million children living in poverty in Scotland is it any wonder people are angry?
“But there has to be a better story to tell them than we often hear at the moment. Where the solution presented for the alienation that many people feel is further division and alienation. This toolkit shows there is another way”.
Both JRF and Save the Children argue that next May’s Holyrood election is a chance for politicians from all parties to show they are serious about delivering a better future for all children.
Claire Telfer, the head of Scotland at Save the Children, said: “As charities and campaigners, we need to recognise how people are feeling and offer a hopeful alternative.
“This project has shown us that if we tell a new story about child poverty, we can connect with the public and build support for the change that children and families need. And politicians can begin to rebuild trust by acting on the things that matter most to people in Scotland.”
