The lens of inequality has been considered by many as the vantage point to examine the negative impacts of poverty on individual outcomes. As children are one of the groups most likely to be poor, this programme focussed on inequalities as experienced by them. The programme aimed to voice to their experiences, identifying remaining challenges in tackling deprivation and reviewing the evidence on possible new solutions to increasing equality in Scotland. Although inequality has been a central aspect of ongoing debates, its implications for young people’s lived experiences and long-term opportunities and the implications for policy and practice, in Scotland and beyond, are in much need of evidence on ‘what works’. This programme focussed on an equality-based argument and poverty as a human rights issue, linked to the characteristics of the social contexts in which individuals find themselves, and also examined policies aimed at tackling socio-economic inequalities and their effectiveness.

The programme aimed to:

• Facilitate a range of knowledge exchange activities to engage diverse groups of young people, policy makers, practitioners and researchers from education, social work, social policy, children’s rights, social justice, in debates about the current disadvantages people experience in Scotland and beyond and best approaches to increasing equality;
• Generate new knowledge and inform national and international debates on approaches to tackling inequalities through four policy briefings which summarise the evidence on ‘what works’ and two events with international participation;
• Create opportunities for networking and sustained collaborations across disciplines and between practitioners from a range of services and engage them in discussions about best approaches to tackle unequal opportunities through effective service provision;
• Raise awareness of the multiple inequalities experienced by children and young people and help tackle social stigmas around poverty and inequality by engaging with the general public through an ‘arts exhibition’.