Join us next Monday at the Poverty Stone to mark End Poverty Day :)
Dearest Friends of ATD,
We hope you have been enjoying the crisp transition into the colours of autumn and are keeping warm.
17 October is now around the corner, and we are looking forward to marking the Eradication of Poverty Day with our annual event, next Monday. We hope to join together with friends, allies, partner organisations and the general public in our common goal to end Poverty, encourage equality and to respect the dignity of all humanity. We have also been busy this month, writing reports and embarking on our Leave No One Behind series 3 workshops, based upon the important link between SDG 1 No Poverty and SDG 3 Health and Wellbeing.
As always we are are only a phone-call, email or a doorbell away, so feel free to get in touch anytime :)
Sending love to all,
The ATD team
17 October - Invitation Reminder
We hope to see you next Monday at the International Eradication of Poverty Day event, with personal testimonies at the heart of the programme. The main event will take place at the Poverty Stone from 11 - 12.30 am. Afterwards there will be refreshments served at the Sheriff Street Youth Hall. There will free t-shirts available for those in attendance, in the theme of Respecting the Dignity of All Humanity: End Persistent Poverty.
ATD Ireland will also be hosting an Information Exhibition at the EPIC centre from Sunday the 16th of October 10.30am until Tuesday the 18th at 4.30pm to which all are also invited. Here we will be promoting the Add the 10th campaign to end socio - economic discrimination with the opportunity to support the campaign by having your photo taken with the missing jigsaw piece. Our new Leave No One Behind: Series 2 reports will also be on display, as well as our Hidden Dimensions of Poverty: Toolkit - with free copies available for all. Copies of Martin Byrne's new poetry book, as well as poverty fact sheets will also be available alongside new ATD films for to offer audiences a glimpse into the inspiring work that has gone on this past year by ATD activists.
Hidden Dimensions - Toolkit
ATD Ireland have developed a new publication; “The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty – International Participatory research: A toolkit to conducting participatory research”.This toolkit is aimed at people interested in carrying out participatory action research, especially on poverty and socioeconomic discrimination. Often researchers (including academic research and action research) try to capture the ‘lived experience’ to better their findings. However, this is often done in a way in which knowledge from experience remains in the data collection phase and does not move to the analysis, discussion, interpretation and presentation of the data phase. This toolkit argues that those with lived experience should have greater ownership and control over research which is focused on their lives.This document brings together the voices of co-researchers with lived experience of poverty, along with academics and practitioners demonstrating how each group brought a necessary and unique contribution to the research. However, it is also necessary to acknowledge that to properly carry out a piece of research in this way necessitates a particular set of requirements, strategies and often a change in mindset. This toolkit aims to fill in those gaps and serve as a useful guide.
Our Leave No One Behind Series 3 workshops have now begun. Keeping SDG 3 - Health and Wellbeing at the core of this series, ATD staff and activists headed to Donegal to team up with the wonderful mindfulness facilitator Finola Tully, to guide participants through a weekend workshop series that encouraged positive physical and mental health practice in rural communities that may experience isolation. We joined people together in conversation and in exploring and experiencing nature in different ways through our Woodland Wellness initiative. This incorporated the professional facilitation of mindfulness walks, meditation, yoga and creative crafts alongside SDG and Leave No One Behind conversations, recognising positive actions that focus on breaking isolation and supporting well-being. It was a beautiful weekend filled with laughter, learning, mindfulness and calm.
The Leave No One Behind series 3 workshops have also been taking part in Dublin, where ATD have been partnering with DALC for creative workshops and conversation. The importance of breaking the shame and stigma of literacy has been a focus as has the importance of peer support. It has been an honour for ATD to begin to highlight the wonderful positive actions taking place in communities that experience discrimination and are at risk of being left behind, by organisations such as DALC and individuals such as Finola.
This month, we were delighted to release our Poverty Aware Practice with Trinity College film into the world. ATD Ireland has been collaborating with Trinity College Dublin to develop and deliver a Poverty Aware Practice to social work students. This module is based on the Hidden dimensions of poverty international research and is led by ATD community activists with lived experience of poverty and socio- economic discrimination. The module consists of testimonies based on lived experience, group exercises, a presentation and an interactive discussion and Q& A with the class. The aim of these sessions was to provide trainee social workers with a more dynamic and holistic understanding of the lives and daily experiences of those who are experiencing poverty, people they will be working with in the future. Further these sessions are an important stepping stone in breaking barriers between groups rarely have the chance to authentically engage with one another in this way.
We are now in the final editing stage of our Through Our Lens: The Stories Untold project (funded by IHREC) which aims to shine a new light on communities in Dublin that experience socio - economic discrimination, and some of the positive action taking place within these areas. We have been blown away by the talent, knowledge and insight of those involved and our excited to see the project come to fruition. We are excited to say that the film launch and screening will take place on Thursday the 3rd of November at 12.30 - 2.30pm at the IMC Savoy cinema. Everyone welcome :) We will have popcorn at the ready!
European Meeting on Institutional Discrimination
“What an amazing weekend people from all over the world getting involved in discrimination ya it does not make us any different from the people who maybe had their college degrees and others that pulled out of school too early. That was not our fault we are exactly the same and it’s great that we are getting our point across and please God we can change the way discrimination is been used all around the wourld. What a great time away, a learning experience - thank you A.T.D” – Ann Marie
On September 8th a group 5 representatives from ATD Ireland including community activists Annmarie, Lorraine and Paul travelled to France to take part in a three-day European Citizen’s Dialogue on institutional maltreatment and discrimination. This gathering brought together 60 delegates from Ireland, France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Belgium and Germany.This a very pressing and relevant issue in Ireland as we are currently undergoing a campaign to have socio- economic status recognised as the tenth ground of discrimination in Irish equality legislation. Further, many of our recent projects have been aimed towards bringing greater societal awareness of the lived experience of socio- economic discrimination in Ireland.
On the 15th October ATD Ireland Community activist Andrew along with Mark Hogan (as seen above) will be travelling to New York to the United Nations for the Commemorative Event to mark the 30th anniversary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2022.
Andrew has been invited to speak at the United Nations for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. He will be keynote speaker as an expert through his lived experience of poverty. Earlier this year Andrew was invited to join the International 17th October committee.
Andrew will be giving his address alongside other activists from across the world with lived experiences of poverty and hardship. He will also be speaking alongside representatives from the United Nations, UNICEF, the International 17th October committee and ATD Fourth World.
Andrew has prepared a presentation focusing on Dignity and how Discrimination and poverty can be challenged : "I’m here today as a community activist from ATD Ireland because I believe change is possible, I really want a better world and a more just society for my kids without such poverty and open socio-economic discrimination that I have faced my whole life."
Each year, on October 17, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, people gather around the world to listen to those living in poverty, and to reaffirm the collective commitment to end poverty. We wish Andrew and Mark the very best of luck :)
Register to attend online the New York United nations event https://IDEP.eventbrite.com #EndPoverty #IDEP2022
ATD Ireland were proud to be part of the Coalition 2030 photoshoot (seen above) at Dail Eireann to raise awareness about the investment and opportunities needed in marginalised communities and to build towards a more equal and fair Irish society ahead of the Budget 2022 announcement.
ATD were also proud to present our work and the 17th October event to a group of 15 professionals from the local area around Sean McDermott street at a Brown Bag Lunch. We had a great discussion with social workers, healthcare provides, youth leaders and the principle of the local school. New contacts and friends were made. What is a Brown Bag Lunch? Brown Bag Lunch definition: Brown bag lunches are combined learning/eating events, taking place over lunchtime, where training can occur in an informal setting.
