Area-based, inclusive and open access services in a welcoming space. Practical support to improve parents’ headspace. Well-funded welfare to reduce family stress. These are some of the vital aspects of a system to improve outcomes for children living in low-income setting. In this episode, we speak with Naomi Eisenstadt. She was director of the Sure Start programme in England between 1999 and 2006. It was a ground-breaking and very popular scheme that provided a whole host of services to children and their parents in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The programme had many successes, such as impro ..read more

Welcome to the first version of my new bi-monthly episode! Instead of publishing a written post in the months that we’re not hosting external guests, I’m trialling a new type of episode in which I – your host, Keetie Roelen – share news, books, research, and other podcasts on poverty that caught our eye. In this episode, I first talk about the newly published book ‘Broke. Fixing Britain’s poverty crisis’, edited by Tom Clark. There are many great contributions by authors including Kerry Hudson (foreword) and Frances Ryan (disability), all of which could fill an episode in and of themselves. I ..read more

Regular cash transfers, no strings attached and no questions asked. What is their potential? Can it disrupt the power dynamic between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’? Will it lay the foundation of a caring economy, and caring society? Can it become the norm, not the exception? Can basic income rewrite the narrative about poverty? In this episode, I’m joined by two guests with first-hand experience of designing and implementing basic income interventions. Melody Valdes is Chief Program Officer of United South End Settlements (USES) in Boston in the US. She leads the implementation of the S.T.E.P. g ..read more

Imagine trying to find somewhere to live for yourself and your young daughter when wrongfully evicted. Or applying for support with energy bills only to find out that your application is rejected because one single word was missing from one the documents. Imagine your case worker telling you that there is no point trying to appeal a decision that would send you further down the spiral of homelessness. Or being told that ‘you people’ always want more when asking for basic support that you are entitled to. These are not hypothetical scenarios. These are lived experiences. In this case, they are ..read more

People in poverty contribute least to climate change yet also benefit least from policies that either try to mitigate climate change or help people adapt to it. It’s a double injustice that needs fixing. Social protection, and cash transfers in particular, can help people to adopt strategies that help them withstand the consequences of severe weather events, such as floods or droughts. With COP27 to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt next week, it’s an issue of utmost importance. In this episode, I am joined by two colleagues from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome. Nicholas Si ..read more

Empowering families in poverty to take control and set them on a path towards a better life, this is at the core of so-called ‘graduation’ programmes. By providing families with a combination of material support, training and coaching, they can develop new forms of income generation and improve their living conditions. It is the 20-year anniversary of the inception of the ‘graduation approach’ and its first implementation by BRAC in Bangladesh. Research shows that they can help to improve lives and that these improvements are maintained years after families completed the programme. Yet the pro ..read more

What would you do if encountered a tiger? Not in zoo behind a fence, but in the wild in front of you? Chances are you would either run or freeze. Some might choose to fight. These are our natural ways to respond to a threat.  Living in poverty is like looking a tiger in the eye every day, or often multiple times per day. Stress and trauma are omnipresent, taking up vital headspace and energy to navigate life. Coaching might offer those on low income another way of dealing with the tigers in their life and help to disrupt the cycle of poverty. In this episode, we speak with Elisabeth Babco ..read more

Imagine having to choose between turning on the heating, buying food or getting your child a school uniform. These are some of the impossible choices faced by people on a low income. Instead of receiving support that helps them create a better life, the welfare system keeps people trapped. Worse still, people on low incomes are seen as the culprits, being cast as lazy and unwilling to work. In this episode, we speak with participants Brian and Caroline and researcher Katie from the Covid Realities research project in the UK. We hear first-hand about the challenges of living on little, and what ..read more

Children growing up in poverty experience disadvantage in housing, schooling and later on in employment, giving them an unfair chance in life. Stigma and shaming of people in poverty means they do not take up their right to support. We need a change in narrative about poverty, more universal policies and greater investment in social protection to reduce inequality and give everyone a fair chance in life. These are some of the key points discussed in our conversation with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Olivier de Schutter. He was appointed as in March ..read more

On the outskirts of Mumbai in India lie the Deonar garbage mountains. Like in so many places around the world, wastepickers turn others’ trash into their treasure. Hidden and invisible, they build their livelihoods by collecting glass, sorting cloth scraps and hunting for hospital waste. They are lives marred by precarity and danger, but also love and laughter. Castaway Mountain (in the US)/ Mountain Tales (in the UK) is a new book about the wastepicker community in and around the Deonar trash mountains. It is a gripping tale of living life in the margins of society, shedding light on the ever ..read more