Working with Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) over a six month period, Resolve Poverty was commissioned to support the development of a new anti-poverty strategy for the borough.
Our approach was to work with the council and partners to identify areas where Resolve Poverty could add value, using our local anti-poverty strategies framework as a guide.
Bolton MBC recognise our expertise and working with Resolve Poverty in this way was a sign of their commitment to invest in their anti-poverty work.
The work included:
- Lived experience engagement sessions for input into the strategy by low income residents
- A scoping exercise evaluating previous and existing anti-poverty work in Bolton
- Working closely with council officers to research poverty and deprivation in Bolton
- Using our anti-poverty strategy framework and recommendations for use in the strategy.
Our approach
Through this work we created bespoke tools and provided support tailored to the needs of the organisation and the borough. This included:
- An internal scoping exercise: for council departments to inform the evidence base for the strategy, capturing the key activity each department is working on.
- A resource list: of local data on poverty and its drivers.
- Targeted surveys: for residents and partner organisations to gather evidence for strategy development.
- Anti-poverty working group support: by organising and setting agendas and coordinating activities.
- Event planning and facilitation: including designing agendas and creating activities tailored to specific formats and objectives.
- Action-planning questionnaire and template design: to capture partner organisation actions.
What next?
Beyond the development of the strategy, Resolve Poverty will work in partnership with the council to ensure ongoing buy-in by internal and external stakeholders and to deliver impact. This involves:
- Facilitating the anti-poverty partnership group: supporting the group to contribute effectively to the strategy’s implementation.
- Providing strategic oversight: acting as external governance to oversee the strategy and evaluate its effectiveness in achieving its goals.
- Building evidence for national advocacy: incorporating insights from Bolton’s anti-poverty work into national advocacy efforts, including contributions to national policy forums and our Westminster policy work.