Endpoverty

2010 Coalition website: information and documentation tool

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-10-12T11:40:56Z

This website was created for the 2010 Coalition of Social NGOs, on the occasion of the 2010 European Year against Poverty and Social exclusion. It is no longer displaying ongoing events but serves as a great stock of information and documentation on the Year. You can also contact EAPN, the coordinator of this website, at: team eapn.eu

Benefits: A Lifestyle Choice?

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-06-20T09:49:13Z

A film made for The Poverty Alliance Scotland. The purpose of the organisation and film is to challenge the stigmas associated with people in poverty.

Benefits: A Lifestyle Choice? from Ian Robertson on Vimeo.

"'Diary of a Jobseeker"

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-03-25T15:21:36Z

Justine is sharing her experiences of looking for full-time work in recession hit North East Derbyshire. We hope to encourage other unemployed workers in recording thier experiences of living on benefits and dealing with the employment services, public and private.

Acces to the blog here: http://justine-diaryofajobseeker.blogspot.com/

The story of Dimitrijus, volunteer in EAPN Lithuania

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-03-14T16:03:09Z

Learnt Lithuanian

The parents of Dimitrijus (name changed) cared more of alcohol than of children and thus, at the early age of four, the boy settled in the children's home. He remembers he could only speak Russian and being a problem child. “After some time, I started speaking Lithuanian. Also, I learnt to share. You see, at first I wanted that all things belonged to me”, said Dimitrijus. At the age of 14, Dimitrijus started working in the children's home. He used to lay and clean the tables, wash the dishes and perform other household chores. “I would not spend the money earned. I used to take some for myself, and give the rest to the mentor, so that I would not be tempted to spend it”, said the young man.

Missed the family

The young man does not hide he really missed a true family. “Of course, I wanted to have someone who loved me and always care of me,” said Dimitrijus, who was living in the children's home with his sister. Dimitrijus mentions he does not keep in touch with his mother and brothers, as they have caused too much pain. “I am OK being alone,” finished Dimitrijus about his family. Dimitrijus started living independently at a mentor's place. The woman allowed Dimitrijus and his friend to stay temporarily in her come. “Having graduated from the secondary school, I started studying in a vocational school. According to the law, the orphans studying full-time receive the benefit of 520 litas per month. It is not a lot, but it comes in useful”, told Dimitrijus about the beginning of independent life. Volunteering in Czech Republic Dimitrijus got interested in volunteering after the volunteers from different countries started visiting the children's home. During the summers of several years, he participated in youth exchange projects in Lithuania, Czech Republic, and Poland. After the first visit to the camp in Czech Republic, Dimitrijus took interest in volunteering possibilities in the country. “While volunteering, not only I learn of the culture and language of the country, but also share the experience with the young people of a similar fate. It is interesting to me how they start their independent life, what state support they receive”, said Dimitrijus. The young man helps the project managers in organising leisure for small children, handles administrative tasks and communicates with young people in families at risk.

Source: EAPN Lithuania

2010 European Year assessment and futures actions

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-02-21T11:26:21Z

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the 2010 Coalition of Social NGOs held a joint hearing on 22 November 2010.

Read here the 2010 NGO Coalition's evaluation of the 2010 European Year.
Read here EAPN's evaluation of the 2010 European Year.
See EESC webpage. The EESC report is only available on this page in French here: rapport de synthèse du CESE en français.

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Bilan de l'Année européenne 2010 et actions futures, Comité économique et social et Coalition 2010 des ONG sociales

Le Comité économique et social européen et la Coalition 2010 des ONG Sociales ont tenu une audition conjointe le 22 novembre 2010, dont le rapport de synthèse est maintenant disponible.

Lisez ici le rapport d'évaluation de l'Année européenne par la Coalition 2010 des ONG Sociales (en anglais seulement).
Lisez ici le rapport d'évaluation de l'Année européenne par EAPN (en anglais seulement).
Voir la page du CESE et lire le rapport de synthèse du CESE en français.

3rd European Day of Solidarity between generations

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-02-15T09:47:37Z

AGE is involved in an awareness-raising campaign to attract the attention of politicians at European, national, regional and local levels on how to rethink the concept of solidarity between the generations, and on how to support civil society initiatives on intergenerational cooperation.

This campaign was launched in 2008 and is now supported by a growing coalition of NGOs active in various sectors and representing different citizens groups.

Objective of this campaign:

Encourage the European policy-makers to put intergenerational solidarity high on the EU agenda and to support the proposal to designate 2012 the European Year on Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity as proposed by Commissioner Špidla in 2008.

You will find on the campaign dedicated page on AGE website information on the EU Day (and how to support the campaign) and some useful ideas.

MHE's Conference on “Challenging Poverty – Creating Hope. Breaking the cycle of poverty and mental health problems”

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-02-10T10:15:19Z

People experiencing poverty are particularly vulnerable towards developing mental health problems. At the same time, people who already suffer from mental health problems are more likely to fall into the poverty trap. Against this background and in the frame of the European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion Mental Health Europe, in collaboration with the Institut Wallon pour la Santé Mentale and the Vlaamse Vereniging voor Geestelijke Gezondheid, organized a conference on “Challenging Poverty – Creating Hope. Breaking the cycle of poverty and mental health problems” which took place in Brussels from 22-23 October 2010. In parallel sessions several aspects of the interrelation between poverty and mental health problems were addressed:

Intergenerational poverty and mental health problems
The impact of poverty on the mental health of the children
Mental health problems, poverty and discrimination: a human rights issue
(Un)employment and mental health : the working poor and the unemployed
Vulnerable groups, mental health and poverty
Empowerment: a tool for combating poverty and social exclusion
Social support systems

More details on Mental Health Europe's conference with all related documents can be found at: http://www.mhe-sme.org/conference2010.html

In the frame of the European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Mental Health Europe and its members have been conducting a survey on the link between poverty and mental health problems. The survey laid its emphasis on four particularly vulnerable groups in society: children and young people, older people, women and migrants.

The results of the survey confirmed that where there is poverty, there is a greater risk that people living in poverty who are suffering from mental health problems do not find or cannot access appropriate help. Not the low income itself causes mental health problems, but the factors connected to low income; it affects which opportunities people or families with low incomes dispose of in case mental health problems occur. Policy-makers should be aware of this challenge and in its conclusion of the survey report, Mental Health Europe conveys targeted policy recommendations to decision-makers.

The full survey report including recommendations for policy-makers can be downloaded here in PFD.

Getting out of poverty

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-01-26T16:26:09Z

Hope for the future: examples of change

In the context of the 2010 European Year, the European Commission released a series of video clips highlighting facts and figures relating to poverty, as well as good practices from 29 countries, putting them in a European perspective.

Click here to see the videos

2010 EY closing conference

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-01-19T15:59:38Z

The 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion was officially closed with a ceremony that took place in the Charlemagne building of the European Commission on 17 December in Brussels.

This event coincided with the publication of the Commission's Communication on the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion - one of the five thematic flagships included in the Europe 2020 Strategy. The aim of the conference was mainly to present best practice from national level on actions to fight poverty and social exclusion that took place throughout 2010.

Ludo Horemans, EAPN's President, spoke on behalf of the 2010 Coalition of social NGOs, warning against the massive negative impact of the budgetary measures currently being introduced across Europe. "Given the reality of the austerity measures taken in most Member States, which impact on people living in poverty and exclusion the most, urgent actions will be needed if the good intentions and commitments in the Platform are to be convincing", said Mr Horemans.

He called on the European institutions and Member States to complete the fight against poverty fighting against growing inequalities. "All citizens have a fundamental right to live in dignity, and this can be achieved only if European societies are based on the solidarity principle. A European Year on Combating Inequalities should be, therefore, envisaged in near future", concluded Ludo Horemans.

The conference ended with a Council declaration expressing Member States' commitments in relation to the fight against poverty in Europe. A delegation of people living in poverty also delivered their common message to the Heads of State.

Useful documents

2010 NGO Coalition's statement on the 2010 Year
Council Declaration on The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion: Working together to fight poverty in 2010 and beyond
EAPN's final Declaration on the European Year combating poverty and social exclusion: English - French - Spanish

See also the article on Carita's website: Zero Poverty voices reach final destination

Interviews with People Experiencing Poverty in Ireland

European Anti Poverty Network — 2011-01-19T14:51:48Z

These stories have been published by Politico.ie and are an interesting and thought-provoking read on the realities of living on or below the poverty line in Ireland.

The first of these details the story of Roger, a father of three from Dundalk who worked as an electrician for twenty years and retrained as a computers based designer after hurting his back. After working in a local company drawing electrical diagrams for four years he was let go due to the recession. He has been unemployed for two years and discusses the difficulties of finding suitable training opportunities which will lead to employment, the importance of providing more help to those who wish to start their own companies and the practical difficulties of maintaining a family of five on the social welfare. You can read Rogers story here.

Laura is in her thirties and a social welfare recipient. She lost her job in 2006 due to her company downsizing and decided to return to education, graduating with a higher diploma in 2009. She has found it difficult to find employment since then but remains hopeful that higher education will pay off in the end. Laura discusses the difficulties of facing into the current employment market as a broke student and what the cuts to the social welfare payments past and future mean to her. Read Laura's story here.

The third story in this series of interviews details the experience of a single mother in Cork living on disability. Fiona is currently doing a community development course and gaining work experience in that area. Fiona discusses the difficulties of coming from a disadvantaged area and the importance of education in breaking inter-generational poverty. Click here for Fiona's story.

The final story in the series is from the point of view of Shahim, a South African asylum seeker placed in Galway. Shahim is a computer technician and web designer who arrived in Ireland in July 2004. He discusses some of the difficulties surrounding the hostel system, the lengthy process of seeking asylum in Ireland, and the difficulties of living below the poverty for a number of years. Clickhere for Shahim's story.

For further information please contact aine eapn.ie