Iain Duncan Smith has overlooked a key force in fighting poverty -

Iain Duncan Smith has overlooked a key force in fighting poverty – the gift of time

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Chris Chivers, vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill, London and Canon Emeritus of Blackburn writes:

“The self-styled “quiet man“, the secretary of state for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, is proving himself a passionate man when it comes to tackling poverty in our communities.

…”People like me, following Harvard professor Robert Putnam and David Campbell’s recent study of the contribution that faith communities make to societies, American Grace, are wondering why there hasn’t been more dialogue with a faith sector, which reaches the most disadvantaged in every community in a way few networks can. Having said that, the secretary of state’s attention is at least focused on the right area.

“What’s needed now however is not more thinktank, top-down work on what we should do for “the poor”, but rather a sea change in our approach to how citizens engage in their own redemption.

“… My experience of living alongside the disadvantaged in Blackburn, Cape Town and London’s Burnt Oak teaches me that what people want to contribute most is their creativity.

“This month a young American, Rye Barcott, has been in London to launch his already well-received non-fiction title, It Happened on the Way to War. … “Barcott made one strategic intervention of $26 – given to a nurse to set up a vegetable-selling business – that within a year was funding a small clinic, now a leading health-care facility.

“More crucially what he gave was time. Time to listen to citizens’ ideas, time to help them work out for themselves how to unlock the support they needed.

“At one end of the parish I serve there’s a part of Burnt Oak with very high levels of deprivation, but with a creativity and energy that its citizens want to be harnessed.

“They deserve the “participatory development” found in Kibera. Duncan Smith is right, though not in the way he supposes. It’s not all about money. No, it’s about listening and giving people the gift that costs the most: time.”

Full Article: The Guardian