How can the expertise of people with experience of poverty inform Swiss poverty policy in the long term and have an impact on it? Foundations and concept for a permanent participation structure, which was developed on the basis of research conducted with people who have experience of poverty.

People affected by poverty are a large group in Switzerland, and they have little lobbying in the federal parliament and in cantonal and municipal governments. As a result, they are insufficiently able to exercise their political rights in Switzerland's direct democracy. This is where the ‘Council for Poverty Issues in Switzerland’ comes in, which people with experience of poverty, organizations of people affected, and experts from various federal areas of Switzerland, together with the research team from the Bern University of Applied Sciences, have developed on behalf of the National Platform against Poverty (FISO) in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland Fribourg from 2022 to 2024. With the proposal of a council, people with experience of poverty are given a voice and continuous opportunities to identify their concerns and bring them into political processes. At the same time, the council's opinion can be used by decision-makers in politics, administration, business, the media and social services to uncover blind spots in poverty policy measures, for example. With the approval of the Federal Council in December 2024, the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) will take the next steps in 2025 to establish the “Poverty Council” in the future.