An Exploration for the Impact of Rural Isolation on Poverty & Disadvantage in Families with Children in the Southern Investing for Health (IfH) Partnership Area
| Description | A two phase project to identify factors contributing to poverty and disadvantage in families with young children in rural communities, and to help agencies deliver services for them. |
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| Setting | District Council areas of Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon, Dungannon & South Tyrone and Newry & Mourne |
| Populationting | Families living in rural areas with at least one child under the age of five years |
| Intervention summary | The needs assessment and mapping exercise has identified factors contributing to poverty and disadvantage in families with children in rural communities; mapped current initiatives within this area which seek to tackle rural isolation; and carried out a review of current practice. |
| Outcome Summary | The production of a report in phase 1 to highlight issues and identify potential action and the implementation of this action in phase 2 of the project. |
| Startup Cost | £15 000 to carry out phase 1 (needs assessment and mapping exercise) and this level of funding as a minimum will be available for the intervention phase 2 |
| Running Cost | |
| Funding | The project is funded by Poverty & Disadvantage Issue Group |
| Started | Phase 1: Needs Assessment/Mapping Exercise started September 2005 and finished November 2006 Phase 2: Intervention started February 2007 |
| Ended | A long term action plan for the intervention has been agreed – potentially until 2009-10. |
| Location | Armagh, Northern Ireland; Banbridge, Northern Ireland; Craigavon, Northern Ireland; Dungannon & South Tyrone, Northern Ireland; Newry & Mourne, Northern Ireland. |
| Contact |
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Background
This is a two phase project. In phase 1 we carry out a needs assessment and mapping exercise to identify factors contributing to poverty and disadvantage in families with young children in rural communities. Phase 2 will take forward a process to help agencies and organisations plan and deliver services for such rural dwelling families.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Look at the impact of rural isolation on the experiences of poverty and disadvantage for families with children and examine the value and relevance to rural areas of accepted measures of deprivation as indicators for the allocation of statutory and other resources.
What local organisations are involved?
The project is managed by the Poverty & Disadvantage Issue Group of the Southern Investing for Health Partnership (SIHP). The partnership comprises members from the statutory (health, education, housing, environmental health) community and public (elected members and council officers).
How many people are running this project and who are they?
The project is being taken forward by the Poverty & Disadvantage Issue Group of the SIHP which comprises 12 individuals representing the statutory, public, community and voluntary sectors.
What local population are you targeting?
The target population is families living in rural areas with at least one child under the age of five years.
The project is based in the District Council areas of Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon, Dungannon & South Tyrone and Newry & Mourne.
How many people are you targeting?
We are targeting all those families with young children who live in rural areas within the five District Council areas in the Southern area.
Interventions
What interventions are you using to address the problem?
The needs assessment and mapping exercise has identified factors contributing to poverty & disadvantage in families with children in identified rural communities in the SIHP area; mapped current initiatives within this area which seek to tackle rural isolation; and carried out a review of current practice.
Following the needs assessment and mapping exercise, the intention is to identify an appropriate action plan. One aspect of the intervention will be the development of a rural poverty proofing tool, which is a set of criteria against which agencies can assess if they are adequately taking rural issues and factors into consideration when delivering their services. This tool can be then used to assist in the planning and delivery of appropriate and accessible services for families with young children in rural areas.
Is the project design based on evidence? If so, please state reference.
The project was based on the concerns of the members of the Poverty & Disadvantage Issue Group as evidenced to them by individuals and families living in rural areas who felt disadvantaged by the lack of information and evidence to support these concerns. It is intended that the report in phase 1 will contribute to the evidence base for this issue.
Outcome
What outcomes or planned outcomes are you measuring?
We are reviewing existing services which target rural isolation and consulting with key stakeholders on their views as to future service provision in their areas.
Do you have any outcomes or results yet? If so, what are they?
The needs assessment and mapping exercise report has been published in February 2007 and is available on our website. The Poverty & Disadvantage Issue Group will be taking forward action to address the findings and recommendations of the report by Spring 2007.
Is your project relevant to a government target or guideline?
One of the overarching aims of the regional public health strategy for Northern Ireland Investing for Health – is to improve the health status of all our people and to reduce inequalities in health.
One of the targets of the Investing for Health strategy is to reduce poverty in families with children.
Feedback
What obstacles did you have to overcome to set up this project?
We had to:
- Agree basic definitions such as "poverty” and “disadvantage”
- Identify suitable families for case studies (24 were included in the final report)
- Source information on all existing work in rural areas.
What have you learned about the project so far?
Collecting the information, including 24 individual family case studies, for the needs assessment and mapping exercise took longer than anticipated.
What would you do differently?
Nothing within phase 1 but we area now at the planning stage for phase 2 and this phase will be more challenging.