Poverty in Europe is more than a statistic. It is a daily reality for millions of people struggling to meet basic needs, access essential services, and participate fully in society.
Tackling poverty requires more than income support, housing, or healthcare alone. The success of any anti-poverty strategy depends on the systems, professionals and governance structures that turn policy into action.
As the European Union prepares its first-ever comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy, cities are proving that solutions can be locally driven, innovative and effective. But to scale these solutions, Europe must invest in the foundations that make them work: a strong social and care workforce, coordinated governance, capacity building, accessible funding and robust monitoring.
Strengthening the social and care workforce
A skilled, well-supported workforce is the backbone of poverty reduction. Across Europe, social workers, educators and care professionals face low pay, insecure contracts and high workloads, sometimes leaving them at risk of poverty themselves.
Investing in fair wages, training, career development and manageable workloads is not just fair but essential for ensuring high-quality support reaches those who need it most.
The Ungheni Socio-Health Day Centre in Moldova offers a powerful example. Staff provide holistic care for elderly residents, people with disabilities, and displaced individuals, integrating medical monitoring, home-based support and personal assistance into a single coordinated programme.
Making place-based governance work
Poverty is multi-dimensional, which means tackling it demands coordinated action. Fragmented policies and siloed governance often leave gaps in support.
Cities like Milan show the power of locally driven collaboration. Through its Networks with Welfare programme, Milan connects public institutions and NGOs across every district, providing financial tools, healthcare, child welfare services, and more. By doing so, Milan ensures that local knowledge and public resources combine to create real impact.
The EU anti-poverty strategy should reinforce cross-level coordination, support local partnerships, and include people with lived experience of poverty in the design, implementation and evaluation of measures.
Capacity building and knowledge exchange
Innovative solutions are happening in cities across Europe, but they often remain local. Structured capacity building, peer learning and collaborative innovation can help scale these solutions, creating a network of cities committed to ambitious anti-poverty goals.
The proposed EU Mission for Cities against Poverty, inspired by the Mission for Climate-Neutral Cities, could provide the tools, funding and recognition needed to turn local success into European-wide impact.
Ensuring access and sustainability
Ambitious strategies require resources. Cities must have direct access to EU funding instruments, with dedicated support for prevention, social inclusion, and early intervention.
Lessons from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) show that overly centralised funds can miss those who need them most. Earmarked resources for child poverty, vulnerable neighbourhoods and early intervention services are critical to achieving tangible results.
Setting ambitious goals and measuring progress
Clear targets, robust monitoring, and evidence-based policymaking are essential to track progress. Expanding indicators to cover multi-dimensional poverty – including in-work poverty, housing, access to services and digital inclusion – ensures policies reach those most in need.
Glasgow’s school-based municipal services project illustrates the power of data-driven, locally tailored approaches: families accessed over £7.5M in benefits more efficiently after municipal services were re-designed based on their needs.
Building resilient systems for lasting impact
Fighting poverty requires more than direct support. It demands investing in professionals, governance, city networks, funding, and data.
As outlined in the latest Eurocities paper, ‘From crisis to action: A call for an integrated EU Anti-Poverty Strategy led by cities’, a holistic approach is essential.
With the right support, European cities can contribute better to a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, and poverty is not just addressed but prevented.
