Our Strategy

In spite of being one of the UK’s most economically important, diverse and vibrant city regions, Greater Manchester is home to some of the highest concentrations of poverty and deprivation in the country. There are 620,000 people, out of a population of 2.8m, living below the poverty line in our city region. This is neither inevitable nor necessary.

GMPA exists to support local efforts to prevent and reduce poverty by working with stakeholders from across public, private and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sectors and people with lived experience of socio-economic disadvantage, to affect change. Whilst the main levers for addressing poverty sit with central government, there is more that we can do collectively to tackle poverty locally.

In order to focus GMPA’s activities, and to reflect the context in which the organisation operates, we have identified three key areas that must be addressed in order to make progress in towards our vision of a Greater Manchester free from poverty in which all residents can access the benefits of living in a diverse and vibrant city region over the next three years. These are:

  1. Boosting household income and financial resilience.
  2. Ensuring stakeholders in GM embed a strong strategic approach to tackling poverty.
  3. Embedding the voices of people with lived experience in the decision-making structures and systems of GM.

These priorities are at the heart of our three year (September 2021 to September 2024) strategy. Our primary objective is to influence strategic responses to poverty and policies and practices which address poverty. To realise this, and achieve against these priorities and secure the outcomes detailed in our strategy, there are three strands to our work: Advocacy, policy and research, Programmes and Network support.

Figure 1: Key components of the strategy summarised

Strategy on a page for GM Poverty ActionOur strategy is underpinned by a number of principles. These principles set out how GMPA understands and approaches poverty. You can read these here

i3oz9sOur Strategy