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INSP aims to alleviate poverty & build a just civil society in the world - one street paper at a time.
Street papers are independent newspapers & magazines that provide employment & training opportunities for people experiencing poverty & homelessness. Sustainability is built into the street paper model: vendors buy copies of the street paper at 50% or lower than the cover price, then sell the papers, keeping the proceeds. In addition to employment, many street papers offer vendors ongoing support and access to practical training resources & social services.
INSP is a non-governmental, membership organisation based in the UK. INSP works to alleviate poverty & promote independent media globally through the enterprising street paper concept. INSP connects & supports 114 street papers in 40 countries, across 6 continents. INSP strengthens and builds the capacity of its members by providing valuable support, advice, training & access to best-practice resources. Members also benefit from partnering & mentoring opportunities facilitated by INSP.
Since being established in 1994, INSP has assisted over 200,000 poor & vulnerable people (street paper vendors) to improve their lives and move back into society. Since 2006, INSP has had a focus on supporting communities in Africa, working with local groups to set up new street papers in Kenya, Zambia, Malawi & Burundi. Since then, these projects have provided employment & hope to over 4,800 slum-dwelling people & their families.
As an international media organisation, INSP also acts as a united voice against poverty & injustice. Street papers are an important media resource with a combined readership of 5-7 million per edition. Through INSP’s strong network & its independent online news agency (Street News Service - SNS) INSP acts as a global platform for unheard voices and advocates for the needs & rights of people living in poverty.
The SNS is a cornerstone of INSP’s work to foster a strong and united street paper movement. It provides a multi-lingual web-based platform (www.streetnewsservice.org) for the world’s street papers to exchange quality independent journalism. The SNS uses INSP’s unique position to harness its 100+ members to build the editorial capacity of individual street papers and to bring diverse local on-the-ground perspectives on poverty and social & economic injustice to a global audience. At the same time, it features life stories of remarkable individuals from all ranges of society, inspiring readers worldwide to create positive change. SNS content is free to INSP members for republication and is supported by 75+ volunteer translators, who help to service the network’s 24 languages. The SNS is also backed by media partners, Reuters& Inter Press Service. The SNS has recently had a major website redesign and employed its first editor, with support from the EU, allowing the project to develop its capacity and launch the public face of its new-look website. This has been a major development for the SNS. However, in order to meet the growing needs being placed upon the service by INSP’s growing membership and external organisations & individuals, further development is needed to maximise its potential.