Participation works: involving people in poverty in policy-making

This report sets out the findings of ATD Fourth World's Public Debate Project which aimed to enable people living in long-term poverty to take part in the public debate; to give people in poverty a voice and make their contribution valued by others and to influence policy-makers at a national level. The key issues discussed include the necessary conditions for participation; the methods required and used; new mechanisms for involving people living in poverty in every stage of the public policy debate and lessons from the Public Debate Project that are transferable to other contexts and to the work of others. The report also examines how people living in poverty can go beyond just contributing their experiences, to contributing their knowledge and their thinking and also enter into meaningful dialogue with policy-makers. It aims to show why a comprehensive national anti-poverty strategy is necessary, highlights some of the issues that people in poverty would like to see prioritised, and makes suggestions for policy development.