SIF 2023 Preparatory Workshops Key Messages Report

Community Work Ireland (CWI) and the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland have published The Social Inclusion Forum 2023 Preparatory Workshops Key Message Report. This report highlights some of the issues emerging from the workshops and suggestions for solutions and interventions.

CWI and EAPN Ireland collaborate annually to organise a series of workshops to support participation at the Social Inclusion Forum and to identify issues of concern to people affected by poverty and the organisations working with them. In 2023, four workshops were held by CWI and EAPN Ireland, two on-line and two in-person in Sligo and Roscommon, reflecting the four themes of SIF 2023: Core Essentials– The Cost of Living and Income Adequacy; Social Inclusion and Children; Social Inclusion and Older People; and Expanding Opportunities for Employment.

Participants came from all over the country, from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. As highlighted by participants, many of the issues that impact on poverty for different groups and communities are interconnected and need a response across Government, something some saw as lacking.

As CWI and EAPN Ireland have previously reported, the key issues participants wanted heard at the Social Inclusion Forum are not new and are not unknown. They have been stated and repeated in one guise or another at previous SIFs and in other policy spaces.

Read the full CWI/EAPN Ireland Preparatory Workshops Key Messages to the Social Inclusion Forum 2023 – Report.