Fife Gingerbread said there must be focus on achieved systemic change
A Fife charity working with lone parents and families has launched its new strategy, outlining the need for multi-year funding settlements for charities.
Fife Gingerbread, a grassroots organisation providing support to lone parents and families in need all over the Kingdom, published its Stargazing Strategy last week.
The manifesto is centred around the commitment to tackle child poverty, support lone parents and vulnerable families and be change-makers on behalf of the community.
Fife Gingerbread developed immediate priorities which they say they have already begun to take action on, alongside longer-term goals to increase the impact and stability of the organisation.
The new strategy focuses on delivering five Manifesto Commitments in the coming years where they want to see transformational change to support families and the next generation.
These are multi-year funding for the voluntary sector, lone parent positive workplaces, transforming child maintenance, improving housing for families, and the cost of the school day.
The calls come as the Scottish Government announced a small-scale change to funding in Scotland, with some charities across the country now received two-year funding settlements in 2025-26, and 2026-27.
Laura Millar, CEO of Fife Gingerbread, said: “This new strategy reflects our commitment to continuing to provide vital support to families in Fife to ensure children and young people can flourish.
“Poverty and trauma are the common threads connecting families we work with, and a recent snapshot survey told us that 74% of families were surviving below low-income thresholds and two-thirds had experienced trauma. By focusing on the systemic challenges facing families we will have a greater impact.
“It is critical that we not only deliver services to meet the needs of families, but we also shift some of our focus to transforming the systems that hold families stuck in place.
“We will be relentless in our pursuit of creating better todays and brighter tomorrows for lone parents and families in need. It is a really exciting time for us as we might be a small grassroots charity but we have big ambitions to be change-makers in Scotland.”
