“Boldly and without taboos” - A case study of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness awareness-raising program
Authors
-
Katalin Gyöngyösi
AffiliationKatalin GYÖNGYÖSI is a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Education of ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, after an initial training in French Language and Francophone Cultures, Nationalism Studies, and Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation. She has volunteered for 10 years at the homeless service provider Menhely (Shelter) Foundation in Budapest, has professional experience working with youth and adults facing various disadvantages, and in project management in the NGO, higher education and public sectors. Her current research focuses on the intersections of disability and homelessness, and the possible uses of lived experience.
-
Gyula Balog
AffiliationGyula BALOG (1959-2025) was an expert by experience in poverty and homelessness, activist, trainer and actor, member of Hungarian “The City is for All” (A Város Mindenkié) housing advocacy group, founding member of the Street Lawyers Association (Utcajogász Egyesület), board member of The School of Public Life Foundation (Közélet Iskolája Alapítvány), peer mentor at From Streets to Home Association (Utcáról Lakásba Egyesület), founder and leader of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness Awareness-Raising Programme.
-
Péter Lukács
AffiliationPéter LUKÁCS: A long road led me from law school to the streets, and an even longer one from the streets to working from home. I experienced poverty in London and the harshness of the night shelter back home, in Hungary. I have been a dishwasher and a web developer, a laborer and a graphic designer, the center of social circles and a hermit withdrawn behind walls. Now I work, I shape perspectives, and drawing on these experiences, I offer my expertise whenever I can.
Abstract
Homelessness has continued to affect many people across Hungary since the 1990s. Common perceptions of homeless people are still often based on the sole sight of people living in the streets in extremely poor physical and mental condition, and the complexity of the causes of homelessness and the diversity of homeless people and their lifestyles are not widely known. The First-Hand Information on Homelessness awareness-raising program was created to address this gap. It was established and is run by people with experience of homelessness who aim to provide nuanced information on homelessness, draw attention to prejudices, and reduce them. The program has been operating for more than 15 years and remains the only awareness-raising initiative in Hungary run by homeless people, supported by Roofless street paper at the Menhely (Shelter) Foundation. Experts by experience in the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme reach their audiences, students and adults, by delivering interactive sessions developed by themselves, sharing personal stories and facts about homelessness, and cooperating in artistic and higher education projects using their lived experience. The study presents the origins, principles, and organisation of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness program. It discusses learning opportunities for experts by experience within the programme, and the non-formal methods used with the programme’s target groups. Reflections from experts by experience on their work and feedback from higher education students in a course co-taught with experts by experience from the programme are also presented, followed by a few practical conclusions. The aim of this study is to contribute to the body of knowledge on awareness-raising programs in Hungary and share experiences gathered over the program’s fifteen years of operation with anyone planning awareness-raising initiatives.
Keywords:
awareness-raising, homelessness, experiential knowledge, expers by experienceCitation data from Crossref and Scopus
