POOR Wee County children are set to benefit from a project looking to improve their circumstances in the long-run.

Clackmannanshire Council has successfully attracted grant funding to combat poverty around local communities in innovative ways, it was announced last week.

The focus will be on areas in Alloa South and East, Sauchie and Tullibody with the programme looking to deliver a package of community led, co-ordinated support.

There will be an emphasis on connecting people together into opportunities and with routes out of poverty.

Women will also be encouraged and supported into business, employment and volunteering as the council looks to invest in financial capability through social entrepreneurship and enterprise.

The £93,600 project will follow a broad staged approach from Swindon Council dubbed the Life Programme.

It looks to support individuals and families through four key stages of invitation to change; development of aspirations; activities to develop as well as practice capabilities and opportunities to grow; sustain independence and build social support networks.

Council leader Cllr Ellen Forson said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to change the experience of real poverty that many of our families have been living with, sometimes for generations.

“I’m delighted that we’ve successfully accessed this funding to help the council and our partners to work in partnership to bring forward a new way of working with those communities, inviting them to make a change and then supporting them in activities that can help them to develop practical capabilities.

“Our plans closely follow the ambitions of our Local Outcomes Improvement Plan, and we hope to promote opportunities for people to sustain their independence and help them improve their lives, so they and their children can enjoy improved futures and make a positive impact in their own communities.”

Money for the project comes from the Innovation Fund, a collaboration between the Scottish Government and the Hunter Foundation.

A wide range of partners will be involved, including Action for Children, Home-Start Clackmannanshire, Community House Alloa, Clackmannanshire Citizens Advice Bureau, Clackmannanshire Credit Union, The Gate, Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface and NHS Forth Valley.

The project comes off the back of a poverty and economic baseline assessment from last year, which confirmed some Wee County communities experience persistent levels of poverty.

Some of that has existed for generations due to the decline of industries, lower proportions of women in employment compared to the national average, lowest earnings for women compared to the rest of the country with 27 per cent of Clacks children living in relative poverty.