A Participatory Approach to Understanding Poverty in All its Forms

理解各种形式的贫困:英国贫困的参与性研究

Abstract

Backed by an international research team from the University of Oxford and the International Movement ATD Fourth World, ATD Fourth World UK(link) has produced an inspiring report ‘Understanding Poverty in All its Forms: A participatory research study into poverty in the UK’. (link)  This report is about the experience of poverty in all its forms in the UK. Although there have been many reports about poverty, this one is different. Instead of being led by policy makers or academic experts, this research has involved those experiencing poverty throughout the process. People with experience of poverty have led, shaped and written up the research and were not simply its subjects. This report describes how the research was planned and carried out by a group of co-researchers, half of whom had direct lived experience of poverty and half of whom had experience of poverty through their work, in research, journalism or public services. The co-researchers worked with an operations team from ATD Fourth World UK, who provided a secretariat. Together the co-researchers and operations team made up the national research team.

背景

在来自牛津大学和国际运动ATD第四世界的国际研究小组的支持下,ATD英国出台了一份鼓舞人心的报告——理解各种形式的贫困:英国贫困的参与性研究。这份报告研究了英国各种形式的贫困。虽然已经有许多关于贫困的报告,但这项报告有其独特之处。这项研究没有由政策制定者或学术专家领导,而是让那些经历过贫困的人全程参与。那些亲身经历过贫困的人带头,制定并撰写了这项研究,而在此次研究中,这些人不仅仅是研究的对象。本报告描述了共同研究人员是如何计划和开展这项研究的,其中一半的人亲身经历过贫困,另一半的人通过工作、研究、新闻或公共服务接触过贫困。联合研究人员与英国第四世界扶贫运动的一个行动小组合作,后者提供了一个秘书处。联合研究人员和业务小组共同组成了国家研究小组。

在英国诸多辩论中,各种形式的贫困是一种新观点。这种观点来自联合国可持续发展目标第一项,即“消除世界各地一切形式的贫困”。2015年9月,150多位世界领导人签署了这一目标。千年发展目标侧重于发展中国家的贫困问题,与此不同,英国政府承诺实现可持续发展目标。此术语“一切形式的贫困”暗示了贫困是一个多层面的问题。因此,‘囊中羞涩’只是贫困的一个层面,更重要的是要了解贫困还有其他方面,如健康不良或教育障碍。

深入解读

贫穷正成为比以往任何时候都更紧迫的问题,因为日益严重的贫穷也意味着贫富差距日益扩大,这也证明了社会不平等和社会分化。这一研究为贫困的多维性提供了一个新的视角。由此,不同形式的贫困的确存在,而不仅仅是缺钱。其他形式的贫困包括饥饿、儿童严重营养不良、健康问题、对生活缺乏选择、缺乏物质资源和机会。从这个角度来看,我们也可以知道导致贫困的因素是多方面的。据研究小组的参与者说,最常提到的原因之一是经济、政治和社会结构的弊病。

本报告采用参与式研究方法,为以后类似研究提供了很好的借鉴。那些在贫困中有直接经验的人参与到此项研究中,有效地避免了权力失衡,因为这些人长期被排除在贫困辩论之外。它也是一种以人为本的方法,关注人们的需要,倾听他们的声音。正如参与者所说,“在[政治]系统中你是一个数字而不是一个人”,这是一种非人性化。根据此报告,研究小组在苏格兰中部地带、英格兰南部和英格兰北部开展了各项研究活动。从这个意义上说,这项研究包括了来自不同背景身经贫困的人,这使得这份报告更有说服力。然而,也有一个局限性,这项研究没有涵盖来自威尔士和北爱尔兰的群体。这份报告收集了来自基层的一手数据。在这份报告中,我可以看到很多来自同行群体的直接引语,这让我深受感动。从某种程度上说,这些词语是贫困生活经验的证明,比单调的学术研究更有力。

这个饱受贫困之苦的社区没有足够的代表性,因此,他们肯定需要通过站出来说话让公众看到他们。这样,无论是公众还是决策者都会更加关注这个社区本身。在设计公共服务时,还需要包括服务用户的见解。可以确定一位社区领头人或特别小组组长,他们可以代表社区,为有尊严地过生活的权利发声。我认为这也是消除污名化的好方法。来自同一个社区的人们可以互相帮助,这也是一种让人们联系在一起的舒适方式。我之所以认为这是一种更好的方式,是因为参与者认为服务应该是支持性的,但是有些服务被认为是控制性的和压迫性的。

个人复原力不能替代更好的制度、结构和政策。由此看来,提高个人的应变能力固然是好事,但根深蒂固的社会制度和政策仍然是需要解决的制度性原因。这也是为什么必须要听取直接经历过贫困生活的人的声音。如果听不到这些声音,就意味着缺少能够使社会政策更好地为每个人服务的重要信息和对话。这样,贫困的制度根源就可以在很大程度上得到解决。这也表明了自下而上的方法,而不是集中的自上而下的方法。更重要的是,必须使社区具有更强的复原力,这样才能有效地解决贫困问题,最终摆脱贫困。同时,下放制度权力和赋予人民权力应该放在消除贫穷议程的首位。

该报告还可以用来创建一些指标,这些指标有可能被用来衡量贫困程度。这反过来又可以作为衡量政策成败的标准。就爱尔兰而言,英国和爱尔兰之间应该有一个比较。利用爱尔兰的优势和从本研究报告中吸取的教训。爱尔兰需要根据自己的国情制定解决贫困问题的措施。

关键信息

研究报告从六个维度描述了英国各种形式贫困,即:

1.剥夺权力的制度、结构和政策

2.财务不安全、财务排斥和债务

3.损害健康和福祉

4.耻辱、指责和评头论足

5.对选择缺乏控制

6.未被承认的奋斗、技能和贡献

联合研究人员确定了七个关键信息:

1.亲身经历经历过贫困的人必须参与解决贫困问题。这需要时间、周密的计划和承诺。

2.需要有更好的贫穷指标,该指标能强调和反映人类贫穷的经验。

3.财政资源不足是贫困的一个原因,它夺走了控制权,缩短了生命。

4.耻辱感和负面判断的影响是贫穷中特别痛苦的一部分。

5.研究人员同意服务应是有利的和支持性的;但有些服务被认为是控制性和压迫性的。

6.穷人对社会的技能和贡献往往得不到承认。

7.个人复原力不能替代更好的制度、结构和政策。

深层思考

如前所述,参与式方法为后面的研究树立了一个很好的榜样,但仍然需要继续发现不足, 弥补漏洞。这启发了研究者如何运用整体的方法和量体裁衣的措施来深入研究各种因素,缩小不同研究中存在的差距。这项研究本身也有矛盾之处,尽管将贫困人口纳入这一过程至关重要,但报告没有一个贫困的初步定义来指导选择,因为在此基础上进行的筛选可能会导致得到的关于多维贫穷的答案有所偏差。ATD英国团队寻求可能正经历严重不利处境的人群的多样性,要么生活在不利地区,要么与反贫困宣传和支持组织有联系,这是否足以寻求解决方案?还是有别的办法?作为另一个值得思考的问题,我还希望将这份报告与“关注世界”组织如何理解赤贫进行比较。同时作者建议阅读《世界发展报告》,以此获得更好的理解。

A Participatory Approach to Understanding Poverty in All its Forms


Backed by an international research team from the University of Oxford and the International Movement ATD Fourth World, ATD Fourth World UK has produced an inspiring reportUnderstanding Poverty in All its Forms: A participatory research study into poverty in the UK.  This report is about the experience of poverty in all its forms in the UK. Although there have been many reports about poverty, this one is different. Instead of being led by policy makers or academic experts, this research has involved those experiencing poverty throughout the process. People with experience of poverty have led, shaped and written up the research and were not simply its subjects. This report describes how the research was planned and carried out by a group of co-researchers, half of whom had direct lived experience of poverty and half of whom had experience of poverty through their work, in research, journalism or public services. The co-researchers worked with an operations team from ATD Fourth World UK, who provided a secretariat. Together the co-researchers and operations team made up the national research team.

read more in Chinese: 理解各种形式的贫困:英国贫困的参与性研究

click picture to download the full report.

 

The idea of poverty in all its forms is a new one in UK debates. The phrase comes from Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) which is ‘To end poverty in all its forms everywhere’. This goal was signed by more than 150 of the world’s leaders in September 2015. Unlike the previous Millennium Development Goals, which focused on poverty in developing countries, there is a commitment to meet the Sustainable Development Goals within the UK. The term ‘poverty all its forms’ recognizes that poverty is a multidimensional problem. So, while not having enough money is very important, it is important to understand that there are also other dimensions to poverty such as ill-health or barriers to education.

 

Poverty is becoming a more pressing issue than ever before, because the growing poverty also means the increasingly widened gap between the rich and the poor, which is a common evidence of social inequalities and divisions. This research provides a new perspective that poverty is multi-dimensional. By this, there are different forms of poverty, not just lack of money. Other forms of poverty include hunger, acute malnutrition among children, health issue, lack of choices over life, lack of material resources and opportunities. From this perspective, we can also know there are multiple factors that lead to poverty. One of the most frequently mentioned cause is economic, political and social structures, according to research group participants.

 

 

This report adopted a Participatory Research method,which sets a good example for latter similar research. It included people who have direct experience in poverty, effectively avoiding power imbalance because those people have long been excluded from the poverty debate. It is also a people-centered approach, taking heed of people’s needs and listening to their voices. As indicated by a group of people, ‘in the system you are a number instead of a person’, this a form of dehumanization. It says in the report ‘the groups took place in the Central Belt of Scotland, in the South of England and the North of England’. In this sense, this research include a diverse group of people who experience poverty, which makes this report more convincing. However, there is also a limitation that this research did not cover groups from Wales and Northern Ireland. This report collect data from grassroots who have first-hand experience of poverty. In this report, i can see a lot of direct quotations from peer groups, which makes feel deeply touched. To some degree, these words which are testament of lived experience of poverty are more powerful and strong than monotonous academic research.

 

 

This community suffering poverty is under-representative, so definitely they need to make them visible to the public by standing out and speaking up. In this way, both the public or decision-makers are gonna pay more attention to this community per se. Also there is a need to include the insights of service users when designing public services. A community leader or focused group leader can be identified, and they can be on behalf of the community, speaking up for the rights to lead a life in dignity. I think it is also a good way to de-stigmatize. People from the same community can help each other, also it is deemed as a comfortable way for people to bond. The reason why i think it is better way is based on the participants’ reflection that services should be enabling and supportive, but some services are experienced as controlling and oppressive.

 

Individual resilience is no substitute for better systems, structures and policies. By this, increasing individual resilience is for sure good, still the deep-rooted social systems and policies are institutional causes which should be addressed. This is also why the voices of people with direct experience of life in poverty must be heard. Failing to listen to these voices means missing vital information and dialogue that could make social policy work better for everyone. This way, the institutional causes of poverty could be solved to a large degree. This also indicates a bottom-up approach instead of centralized top-down approach. What is more, it is imperative to make the community more resilient, in this way can poverty be tackled effectively and finally get rid off poverty. It is also important to note that decentralizing the system and empowering people should be on the top of poverty-eradication agenda.

The report can be also referred to create some indicators that can be potentially used as measurement of poverty. This in turn can be a yardstick by which to understand policy failure or success. In Ireland case, there should be a comparison between the UK and Ireland. Drawing on the strengths that Ireland has and lessons that are learned from this research report. Ireland needs to tailor measures to tackle poverty based on its national conditions.

 

The research findings identify six dimensions that describe poverty in all its forms in the UK:
1. disempowering systems, structures and policies

2. financial insecurity, financial exclusion, and debt

3. damaged health and well-being

4. stigma, blame and judgment

5. lack of control over choices

6. unrecognized struggles, skills and contributions.

 

The co-researchers identified seven key messages:
1. It is essential that people with lived experience participate in tackling poverty. This requires time, careful planning and commitment.

2. There is a need for better indicators of poverty that emphasize and capture the human experience of poverty.

3. Inadequate financial resources are a cause of poverty that take away control and shorten lives.

4. The impact of stigma and negative judgement is a particularly painful part of poverty.

5. Participants agreed services should be enabling and supportive; but some services are experienced as controlling and oppressive.

6. The skills and contributions made to society by people in poverty often go unrecognised.

7. Individual resilience is no substitute for better systems, structures and policies.

 

As mentioned before, a participatory approach sets a good example for latter research, but there are still some gaps that needs to be identified and then bridged. This provokes how researchers use a holistic approach and tailor measures to go deeper into various factors, narrowing down gaps existent in different researches. It is an inherent tension in this research that, while it was essential to include people in poverty in the process, the report did not have an initial definition of poverty to guide selection, since to select on that basis would have prejudged the answer to our research question about what constitutes poverty in all of its forms. Is it enough to go for a solution that the ATD UK team sought a diversity of people likely to be experiencing serious disadvantage, either living in disadvantaged areas or who were in contact with anti-poverty advocacy and support organizations? Or are there other ways around? As another food for thought, i would also expect a comparison between this report and how Concern Worldwide understands extreme poverty. It is also recommended to read through the World Development Report.

 

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Sources:
ATD UK, 2019. Understanding Poverty in All its Forms: A participatory research study into poverty in the UK. Available at: https://www.atdireland.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ATD-POVERTY-REPORT_D-1.pdf

 

Read more in Chinese: 理解各种形式的贫困:英国贫困的参与性研究