This report documents qualitative research that was carried out with national anti-poverty networks who are members of the European Anti-Poverty Network. It examines the overall capacity of networks to engage in policy and advocacy work, the policy priorities of members at a national level and the advocacy tactics used to achieve change. The purpose of this inquiry is to gain an understanding of how the policy work of EAPN Europe can be better tailored to the needs of the members. Between March and April 2022, online interviews were carried out with 18 EAPN national networks by Participation and Development Officer Magda Tancau and intern Krystal Brogaard. In April 2023, an additional 5 interviews were conducted by Magda Tancau and intern Aoife Burke. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings show a large variation between the 23 networks interviewed, both in terms of their overall capacity and the scale of their policy and advocacy work. Multiple networks have core funding and permanent paid staff, which enables them to produce substantial policy outputs independent of the work led by the secretariat. Moreover, several of these networks reported consistent advocacy efforts which at times yielded concrete results such as legislative change. However, a substantial majority of networks are operating on a fully or mostly voluntary basis and have extremely limited capacity. In most cases, the Poverty Watch is the main policy output for these networks, with some also engaging in small scale activities such as policy events or social media campaigns. Overall, a lack of resources means the vast majority of networks are not able to engage in policy and advocacy work to the level they see as necessary. Based on the findings of the research, this report is structured as follows. Section One looks at the capacity of national members, focusing in particular on funding and human resources. Section Two investigates the policy work of the networks, including policy strategy, priorities and deliverables, as well as engagement with the policy work of EAPN Europe. Section Three focuses on advocacy, including the advocacy tactics used, the relationship between national networks and their government and the achievements of advocacy work. Lastly, Section Four outlines recommendations for how EAPN Europe can better support the policy and advocacy work of members.
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