Discover below a visual report of events around Ireland marking the International UN Eradication of Poverty Day – 17 October 2021
For more information on these events you can view the Irish 17 October Committee’s National 17 October 2021 Programme Booklet
The 17 October Committee is grateful to all the stakeholders and volunteers who made all of these events possible.
THIS YEARS THEME
The concept for the Irish 17 October 2021 theme “It’s Time to Change and End Persistent Poverty” was inspired by condensing the International theme “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet” and focusing on it’s core message – which we took as being – the radical need for ‘change’, now so more than ever. We believe that at the heart of the planet are it’s people and so in order to create a better, more sustainable future for all – we must call to end persistent poverty on a national and international level, immediately. The pandemic may be looked upon as an extreme warning sign by nature of a failing system that can no longer be ignored. It was clear that during this challenging period, people suffering from poverty all over the world, continued to be left furthest behind. It was also clear that it gave others an insight into the intense feeling of isolation that those living in poverty were already familiar with and in doing so, hopefully a new-found empathy towards this hardship. We need to re-examine how we interact with our Earth as well as with each-other. For far too long the planet and so many of it’s inhabitants were not being respected or looked out for by those in power. During this time, we saw how quickly governments can act in crisis when it affects them – the same attention must be given to those in constant crisis due to poverty.
Now, as we reintegrate into society post – pandemic — we are being given an opportunity to rise and change the unequal world we were living in before. The concept of the butterfly emerging from it’s cocoon stemmed from the idea of us emerging from the prison like confines of the lockdown better and more hopeful then we were before. The cocoon represents the trap of being caught within the cycle of poverty and the words engraved into it e.g. discrimination, stigma, trauma, debt etc. represent the harsh barriers forced upon those with no choice but to be stuck, living within it. The butterfly on the other hand – represents the transformative opportunity that exists in creating a fairer, greener, more beautiful world. The words engraved on it e.g. hope, dignity, equality, freedom – represent the life that everyone deserves. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending – they turned into a butterfly. The world has changed, so let us change with it. We must learn from this time and begin to evolve, by creating something positive and colourful from the darkness.
The time to renew, revolutionise and reconstruct a better future is now.
Lus Na Gréine
Lus Na Gréine presented: Walk in our Shoes” – A multicultural initiative in North Longford that brought together newly settled families with the local community in conversations around the causes and impacts of poverty in all its forms. These conversations resulted in the production of a local exhibition of art work and photography and the production of a video/ podcast which has been circulated on social media and launched at a coffee morning hosted in the Lus Na Gréine Family Resource Centre on Tuesday October 19th. The project has engaged children, young people and adults across the life course. This has helped in greater understanding of our new and ever increasing multicultural society.
Doras Buí
Doras Buí put together a holistic course that includes body, mind, and awareness of the environment. Cooking on a budget with participants will take place once a week throughout the course which in turn will bring about opportunities to raise awareness about poverty, environmental issues and respecting each other and our planet. Doras Buí will also look at the benefits of Mindfulness in everyday living, this will encourage people to come together and participate in weekly practices of Mindfulness.
Aster Family Support and Resource Centre
ASTER Family Support and Resource Centre ran a campaign to “Raise awareness and highlight the devastating effects of child poverty in communities, facts and lived experiences.” This Campaign is through participatory child poverty; how they can contribute to the fight against child poverty, children’s participation and their own understanding of poverty and their ability to influence the improvement of services for children and young people in communities.
Kid’s Own Publishing Partnership
Kids’ Own Publishing facilitated creative workshops in collaboration with Sligo Traveller Support Group, with children and young people at their homework clubs in Sligo. Young participants worked in collaboration with a professional artist and writer, and together responded to the theme “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and Our Planet”. These creative workshops were an important opportunity for the voices of Traveller children to be heard on this issue.
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Tullamore Community and FRC
Tullamore Community & Family Resource Centre held a community event on the 15th of October to commemorate the UN International Day for the Eradication of poverty. A Therapeutic garden project was developed where members of the community can sit and talk or take time out. The Garden include a Mural to represent “ Family, Inclusion and togetherness” and a commemorative bench as a permanent reminder of the UN International day for the Eradication of poverty for people to sit and enjoy the space. We would like to thank the “Artist Vincent Devine Art and Lynn for the beautiful Art work! To all the children that took time out of school to take part! To all the members of the community that came to celebrate the days event.
City Wise Education
City Wise Education groups explored the Sustainable Development Goals concerning Poverty, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Peace and Justice. Their Homework Club used art to give their insights into the topic. Their Leadership group discussed the ways in which we can help do our part to eradicate poverty. This gallery of photographs show just a small snippet of their work around the eradication of poverty. There is no doubt that the young people they have the privilege of working with will make a difference in the world!
Portlaoise FRC
Portlaoise Community and Family Resource Centre undertook a 6 week project to make a Mosaic Mural for individuals in the local community. The mural is now in public view in their Centre. In addition to mark the occasion on the 17th October the group had a tea/coffee and refreshments morning to gage discussion around the Eradication of Poverty and how the mosaic mural symbolizes this.
Bridgeways FRC
Bridgeways Family Resource Centre came together along with eight other family resource centres in the midlands to launch a campaign called “Face Poverty”. The objective for this campaign is to improve and increase general knowledge and awareness of poverty in our local areas. To begin this campaign they designed a campaign logo flag which will symbolise the various faces of poverty, this will demonstrate that there is no distinct characteristic of poverty. This flag will be used to highlight the campaign and raise awareness of poverty. They also produced a short documentary on “What is Poverty?”. Throughout the production of this documentary, they asked several members of the community of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, “what does poverty mean to you?”. The responses to this question were recorded, using only audio recording devices. These audios were then combined with still photos which they have taken of their community, along with images that portray poverty both in their community and globally, to create an influential and educational documentary on poverty.
Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living
Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living have had a mural with the theme respecting all people and our planet painted on the wall of their community garden. The group also hosted an event in the garden to acknowledge world poverty day.
Clonmany Youth and Community Resource Centre
Clonmany Youth and Community Resource Centre marked the day with an informative digital presentation which demonstrates the effects of poverty experienced by families and individuals in Indonesia.
They also created an informative and collaborative cookbook which features recipes from Indonesian and Irish families, some of these families are themselves affected by poverty, while others are actively working together to eradicate the effects of of poverty in Ireland and Indonesia. Using genuine Indonesian batik fabric, they have crafted some unique crafted items, and these will be available for purchase at an upcoming Craft Fair and other events along with copies of the very special Indo-Irish Cookbook. They are very grateful for the support of the local community and are committed to raising public awareness of the SDG 1 – NO POVERTY!
ATD Ireland
ATD Ireland in cooperation with the Irish 17 October Committee hosted an event on Sunday the 17th of October to mark the annual commemoration of the UN International End Poverty Day at the Human Rights and Poverty Stone, Dublin. Central to this event was a number of personal testimonies of people with lived experience of poverty. The event also acted as a soft launch of the ‘Lockdown Liberties’ film and book featuring spoken and written word on individuals within the ATD community’s experiences of Poverty and Mental Health etc.
Northside Family Resource Centre
Northside Family Resource Centre joined with the nine (9) Family Resource Centres in the Mid-west Region of Ireland to form the Mid- West FRC Regional Forum. Projects will work in partnership highlighting both local and global issues of poverty and social inclusion. This photo is from the Forum National FRC Mental Health Promotion Project.
Saol Project
SAOL Project created six badges for their ‘NO NEED’ campaign for this year. They made 500 of each badge. The tag lines on the badges are a direct reference to six of the 17 goals. The badges were distributed at the October 17 event and will be through all other SAOL Project events. Another strand of the campaign is to be conducted on social media. Each badge will be printed in a 600 mm banner to be held by people making their statement of ‘NO NEED’ for. This statements will be recorded and posted on SAOL social media for others to share. They have established links with some of our new communities whom will make their statements in their native languages. They have also written a new song ‘No Need’ to be preformed at the OCT 17 event, we propose to video this performance for our official song video to be merged with people making their statement.
Thank you to everyone who sponsored and took part in honouring such an important event 🙂