Letters / At the margins of the margins
Jonathan Wills identifies the difficulty Shetland Charitable Trust has in “targeting need where it exists”… “by funding other organisations” whilst not seeking to do the work of the welfare state (Grossly Unfair; SN, 14/12/14).
The bodies the trust supports, he says, “have the specialist knowledge and expertise to provide services to those who need them – not just the elderly, but also the disabled and others in difficult personal circumstances”.
This does not equate to the problem being solved.
The reality of being poor in Shetland, particularly rural Shetland, can be different in sometimes subtle but important ways from being poor in other parts of the UK. The welfare state may never develop sufficient assistance for those at the margins of the margins.
Much of the hardship in Shetland results directly or indirectly from the disturbance of the arrival and ongoing presence of a massive oil terminal in a rural community.
Helping folk make the best of it can be complex. Some of the specialist knowledge of what is needed is only held by those who are living in difficult circumstances – yet their input is not gathered.
Do the organisations SCT funds adequately address the diverse and distinctive needs of Shetland’s poor and marginalised? How could this be known?
Some years ago Shetland faced a similar question. Did Shetland’s statutory housing agencies adequately respond to the needs of their tenants? In response Shetland Tenant’s Forum was established. It went on to work in partnership to close the gap between provider and tenant.
Shetland Charitable Trust could support a transformative anti-deprivation approach to community development and establish user groups that would provide a voice to, for example, the rural poor, in order that their needs can better be voiced and understood.
Such groups could help to ensure effective targeting of support in the face of ever changing arrangements from national government.
This could help to achieve a fairer proportion of disbursement to those in need.
It could result in efforts to reduce cultural inequalities in Shetland and help to level the playing field between those who are able to influence community decision making and those who are not.
The task of how to achieve effective targeting of funds to those in need cannot be avoided just because existing funding arrangements are in place. It should not be avoided simply because the discussion is complex.
There is, in fact (thanks to Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen), now a clearer way of thinking about how to fairly use the charitable support Shetland would wish to see in place for those in need.
This involves agreeing on those basic capabilities we would wish everyone to enjoy and to target support towards enabling everyone to achieve these.
For example, ought everyone now be able to get the advantages that flow from being able to access the internet? Folk in Motherwell can use their public libraries for this. This can help them to manage their lives even if they cannot afford to have a computer at home. Getting to the local library for this is not so easy in much of Shetland.
Would assisting IT access really help those at the margins in Shetland? Why not ask them and if it looks like it would be worthwhile trying, see what can be learned along the way.
Doing something different from what went before would not be replacing the welfare state. It would be using charitable funds for the charitable ends they were laid up for.
Shetland Charitable Trust needs to work with those it ought to be serving if it is to improve “the quality of life for those living in Shetland” fairly.
Peter Hamilton
Berlin
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