2024 Cooperative Case Studies
- May 2024
A new approach has been launched in Swansea to help understand and address the causes and symptoms of poverty.
Swansea has become the first city in Wales to establish a Poverty Truth Commission.
Prior to the pandemic a cross-party group of councillors had been looking at poverty and the effectiveness of services provided by the council and its partners.
One of the overriding findings was the need to give those with a lived experience of poverty a greater voice to influence the changes needed.
The council got the ball rolling in helping to start-up the commission which is an independent body hosted by the third sector organisation Swansea Council for Voluntary Service (SCVS).
Between 2021 and 2022 a substantial amount of work took place to identify a core group of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who would become the “Community Commissioners”.
Lee Wenham
Head of Communications
Swansea Council