Dashboard > Team > Tech Tribe Our Idea
Why did your team choose to focus on this challenge?The challenge we focused on is challenge 3, hidden poverty. We were learning about the SDG’s in another subject GCE and SD1 NO POVERTY interested us. Almost one in five Irish people in Ireland are living in poverty that's 20% of the population and we never realised this. We never had to think about it. Many people are unable to afford rent or to move out of their family home and many are going into debt just to get by. Often poverty is hidden from view, we don't know the difficult choices that have to be made.
What have you learned about the challenge that you didn't know before?
People's reactions and understanding of poverty are different. We never thought before if any of us in the class would need the help of the SVP in the future. People might have very little but all people should be entitled to hope, a way forward, a future. It was sad to think that many people are experiencing hidden poverty. We never realised the extent of the problem until we started researching. The number of children accessing emergency accommodation now stands at 3,895, the highest ever level since records began. Society creates poverty and poverty puts stress on families.
Outline the specific problem you would like to solve for your Hero and two or three solutions you think would help.
The word “marginalised” has come up a few times for us when we are talking about our hero. Our Hero is somebody living in poverty and finding it difficult to make ends meet. Our Hero needs support, needs us to empathise with them and not sympathise with them. We have learned that there are various factors which can trigger financial difficulty and hidden poverty, and it can happen to anyone. This is a reality every day for those experiencing hidden poverty and it impacts every area of a family's life.
Ask your Mentor anything.
To give them a sense of hope. People need hope and expectations Sometimes people experiencing poverty are stripped of their dignity. They are at a low point in their lives and can sometimes feel humiliated trying to access help and some services- standing in a queue for the one hot meal they might get that day. They must know they are supported and that they are not a failure. Hidden poverty has a stigma. society has created this stigma. Some people in our society blame those living in poverty.