CHALLENGE POVERTY WEEK 2022
We can #TurnTheTide
What is Challenge Poverty Week?
Challenge Poverty Week is an opportunity for you to raise your voice against poverty and unite with hundreds of organisations across Scotland in calling for a more just and equal society.
Times are hard, and getting harder, for hundreds of thousands of people across the country. A rising flood of living costs is pulling more and more people towards poverty.
But together, during #ChallengePoverty Week 2022, we can start to #TurnTheTide on the injustice of poverty in Scotland.
We’re all in the same boat. Stormy weather affects us all. Using our shared values of compassion and a belief in justice, we can make sure everyone gets the adequate income they need to live a dignified life, and we can redesign our economy so that it works for all of us.
Watch the STV News coverage of the Challenge Poverty Week event, broadcast Monday October 3rd.
Report and video courtesy of Louise Hosie/STV News
Challenging Poverty in Aberdeen
For Challenge Poverty Week 2022 ACVO, shmu, Cfine and AberNecessities partnered to produce a series of short films looking at ways in which Aberdeen’s third sector work to alleviate the strains financial insecurity place on our community. The films which were showcased at an event held at Belmont Picturehouse on Monday 3rd October 2022 can be viewed below.
The event, which brought together the third sector, community members and representatives from the local council, presented the opportunity to discuss what we as a city can do to challenge poverty.
Challenge Poverty Week 2022 provides a starting point for longer-term engagement, with a greater focus on hearing from those most affected as well as sharing valuable resources and ideas on how we can best support those in our communities.
Challenging Poverty in Aberdeen: a film by ACVO TSI
In this film, ACVO, the third sector interface for Aberdeen City, look at three organisations working to alleviate the strains of financial pressures placed upon our communities by the rise in the cost of living.
Jean Gordon of Befriend a Child, Jane Akadiri & Paula Fraser of Touch of Love Outreach as well as Sharon Forsythe of Cairncry Community Centre share stories of how their work supports some of the most vulnerable families and individuals in the city.
The work and efforts of their organisations provide vital lifelines for those who need it most at a time when being able to afford life’s basic provisions is becoming increasingly challenging.
shmu: Young Voices Challenging Poverty
shmu’s film hears from young people in Aberdeen about their perception and thoughts on poverty and the escalating crisis cost of living.
Station House Media Unit (shmu), established as a charity in 2003, is one of the core cultural organisations in Aberdeen, and is at the forefront of Community Media development in Scotland, supporting residents in the seven regeneration areas of the city in radio and video production, traditional and on-line publications, music production and digital inclusion. The organisation also supports other disadvantaged communities, both geographic and communities of interest across the region, with an employability and training arm and programmes for adults facing personal challenges.
AberNecessities: No child should go without
AberNecessities film highlights the ongoing hardships of thousands of families across the city and shire who use their services.
Sadly 18% of children across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are living in poverty. The charity has seen an immediate and sustained surge from families with pre-existing vulnerabilities as well as from those experiencing loss of employment and financial insecurity for the first time.
Since launching in March 2019, AberNecessities has helped over 8,000 children across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. To us that means, over 8,000 full tummies, over 8,000 pairs of cosy hands and feet and over 8,000 smiles.
Cfine: Volunteers Challenging Poverty
Cfine’s film offers an insight into the role of a volunteer and what they do at Cfine.
CFINE improves health and wellbeing and the environment, tackles poverty and builds resilience through a range of support and services for and with disadvantaged, vulnerable, low-income individuals, families and communities in North East Scotland
Want to find out more?
Challenge Poverty Week 2022 takes place between October 3rd – 9th 2022 but the work continues when the week is over – now is the time to take steps to start to #TurnTheTide on the injustice of poverty in Scotland.
Visit challengepoverty.net to find out more about the annual campaign. If you are interested in learning more and in getting involved in the fight against poverty in Scotland, The Poverty Alliance run regular campaigns and provide a wealth of information on the topic – discover more at povertyalliance.org
