| Get Heard |
The Get Heard Scotland project helped hundreds of people with experience of poverty and social exclusion to hold discussions about Government policy, and have their voices heard by the UK Government.
These views were collected by the project and put together in a report for the 2006 National Action Plan on Social Inclusion. Get Heard Scotland was part of the UK wide Get Heard project, which was originally set up by the SPTF.
Get Heard Scotland ran between November 2004 and September 2006 and was the largest project undertaken in the UK to involve people with first hand experience of poverty and social exclusion to give their views on Government policies on social exclusion. In Scotland we organized around 50 workshops and group discussions with people with direct experience of poverty and held three national seminars to collate these views and feed them into Scottish policy makers.
The GH Scotland report highlighted a whole range of issues that affect the lives of people in Scotland, from low pay and debt, to lack of services and failing community regeneration. The findings from this project have been used by the Alliance to lobby Scottish Government and others. A copy of the final report from the project is below. A number of participants in the project gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament in early 2007. A transcript of their evidence is available at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/communities/or-06/co06-1802.htm#Col3589