Church Action on Poverty

Church Action on Povertyis a UK-based nationalecumenicalChristiansocial justicecharity,committed to tacklingpoverty in the United Kingdom.Church Action on Poverty works in partnership with churches and with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to poverty, locally, nationally and globally.

History

Church Action on Poverty was formed in 1982, has its main offices inManchesterand is charity number 1079986. The first director of CAP was the MPJohn Battle,the second Director was former government ministerPaul Goggins.The current director is Niall Cooper.

Philosophy

Church Action on Poverty emphasises the need for people in poverty to have a voice in decisions which affect them, and focuses on participation and empowerment. An example of this approach is their 'poverty hearing' model.

Campaigns

Church Action on Poverty currently runs campaigns which are connected by the theme 'Close the Gap', aiming to tackle economic inequality and close the gap between rich and poor. The organisation has successfully campaigned for all the UK's major Christian denominations to support the Living Wage.

Previously, Church Action on Poverty ran the Living Ghosts campaign highlighting the destitution ofasylum seekersin the UK. It also helped to set up and run theDebt on our Doorstepcampaign against loan sharks and extortionate lending practices such aspayday loans.

Church Action on Poverty has pioneered the use ofinternational developmentapproaches to tackle UK poverty. Examples includeparticipatory budgeting(which was taken up by theLabourgovernment in 2007), sustainable livelihoods analysis, andFreireanpopular education in the form of 'Schools of Participation'.

People's Budget

Not to be confused withPeople's Budget.

ThePeople's Budgetis a campaign for moreparticipatory budgetingin UK led by the Church Action on Poverty who planned campaign workshops across the UK inLondon,St. Helens, Merseyside,Dudley,Tameside,LeedsandTyneside.

The Church Action on Poverty feels that billions of pounds of money is being used by public bodies without any involvement of local people. 'The People's Budget' campaign is about helping British citizens understand how to influence their local council, health organisation, police force or housing provider. The campaign works with groups and individual to promote:

1. Participatory budgetingin their local area and wider
2. Participatory budgeting as the standard model for certain budgets
3. Having a one percent minimum ofpublic sectorbudgets decided using participatory budgeting

External resources

• Church Action on Poverty website