The brief
The UK government figures on child poverty are staggering and in recent years, the situation has only become worse. In 2022/23, 4.3 million children were in poverty. A whopping 30% of UK children.
The journey to understanding and addressing child poverty in the UK first requires an understanding of its breadth and depth, and we were honoured to work with Save the Children UK to try and do just that. The charity’s aim was to spotlight the various elements of child poverty, recognising the necessity of embedding youth voices, and real lived experiences from families, into the next big campaign to combat the issue.
Participation People’s task was to conduct a programme of ‘Listening Lab’ focus groups that could capture personal stories and transform them into powerful catalysts for policy and social change. Together, we aimed to bring a structured and empathetic approach to drawing out these narratives, putting youth voices at the heart of this very emotive subject through a robust community engagement strategy.
What we did
One of this project’s main challenges lay in engaging a demographic often distrustful of outreach efforts due to systemic disappointments. So we developed a recruitment strategy that:
- Leveraged trusted existing community networks, working with local organisations that already have established relationships with the people we needed to reach
- Tailored our language, using culturally sensitive and age-appropriate messaging, to ensure clarity and to resonate with the audience’s experience
- Offered various participation formats, from digital platforms to in-person sessions, acknowledging the digital divide and accessibility barriers many face
Participants were invited to focus groups that were carefully planned to respect the needs of participants’, employing a blend of sensitivity and strategic questioning that elicited open, candid discussions. This involved:
- Ensuring safe, welcoming environments for free expression, both in physical spaces and online forums
- Providing clear, understandable, and relatable information about the focus group’s objectives and the confidentiality of shared information
- Adopting flexible facilitation techniques to accommodate unpredictable changes in participants’ availability or emotional readiness
Learnings
The project illuminated several key learnings. Firstly, pre-existing community relationships played a critical role in effectively engaging these underrepresented groups. Also, we realised the necessity of flexibility and adaptability in project execution when working with demographics facing consistent instability.
Finally, the importance of feedback mechanisms that reinforce participants’ own agency in the narrative shaping their lived experiences was central to our community engagement strategy.
Impact
This was an incredibly eye-opening project to be a part of and we’re proud that our strategy using our ‘Listening Lab’ focus groups achieved remarkable results, including:
- The successful recruitment and facilitation of over 300 young individuals and families facing financial hardship, surpassing our engagement goals
- A rich qualitative dataset developed that provided Save the Children with an in-depth understanding of child poverty’s real-life impacts first hand
- Enhanced credibility and substance for the ensuing campaign, driven by veritable, deeply felt community experiences
Overall, the child poverty Listening Labs led by Participation People marked a significant stride forwards in aligning child poverty advocacy with the complex reality of the young people and families affected.
The findings from our work not only shaped a more informed campaign for Save the Children, but also forged a pathway for the ongoing dialogue and participatory action within the community, made possible by our strategic and empathetic community engagement strategy.
Testimonial
“Working with Participation People was great – they bring such creativity to their conversations with young people and parents. I think this approach helps them to get into serious, difficult topics quickly with groups of young people, which is so valuable for us in hearing their perspectives on child poverty. They were also very committed to speaking to a diverse group of young people and parents, which was very valuable to us.”
Meghan Meek-O’Connor, Policy Lead – UK Child Poverty, Save the Children UK
Futureproof your strategy
Want to know how our ‘Listening Lab’ focus groups could help you engage with young people in local communities? Get in touch!
