Partnership Agenda Autumn 2006

Second Level Schools’ Network meets Minister Hannafin

Mary Hannafin, Minister for Education and Science, met the members of the Second Level Schools’ Network on 13 September 2006. She listened attentively as the principals outlined the importance of the network in creating a climate of collaboration among schools in the inner city and the important resource they represented in terms of providing the Department with information as to what was happening on the ground and how education could be improved for students in their schools.

The principals pointed out first of all that the Junior Certificate results, which had come out that day, were excellent for all their schools and showed the huge potential there was to improve educational achievement in the inner city. They praised such initiatives as the Junior Certificate Schools Programme, Leaving Certificate Applied and the School Completion Programme.

They also pointed out that inner city schools have small numbers, and this is ideal in terms of being able to meet the needs of the pupils.

However, pupils are attempting to study in an environment that, due to underfunding, is unpleasant and poorly resourced. A student coming from a home without a tradition of formal education is doubly disadvantaged when they attend such a school. They also pointed out that inner city schools lack the social mix that helps to increase attainment all around.

They referred to the high number of foreign national students in their schools - from 10% to 50% of the school population. These students are very welcome in the schools, which are gaining increasing expertise in meeting their needs. However, they are attempting to do so with insufficient language support teachers and with no translation facilities to facilitate interaction with parents.

They outlined the chief obstacles they face as follows:

Soaring maintenance, insurance and fuel prices at a time when low numbers means that the funding paid by the Department of Education to the schools is too low (this funding is based on numbers enrolled)

Dissatisfaction with the service the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) is providing to schools. They expressed the opinion that the School Attendance Officers which the Board had replaced had achieved better results in terms of stemming poor attendance in schools
Dissatisfaction with the level of service provided to schools by the National Educational Psychology Service (NEPS). Only 2 or 3 assessments are carried out by NEPS each year in each school.
Concern at decreasing levels of funding for work on tackling early school leaving.

The Minister congratulated the principals on the existence of the network and the sharing of resources that is taking place in inner city schools. She pointed out that “Towards 2016”, the new National Partnership agreement, includes a commitment to the provision of 500 new English language support teachers in schools and extra educational psychologists and educational welfare officers. She expressed her concern at low capitation costs and said she would bring the matter up with the Department of Finance, but gave no guarantee in relation to meeting the SSN’s demand that there be a minimum level of capitation, based on an enrollment of 300 pupils.

Finally, she expressed her commitment to continued engagement with the SSN through the Department’s officials. The SSN hopes that these meetings will take place in the near future and will result in concrete improvements in the services offered to students in their schools.

NCI Confers Honorary Fellowships on Community Leaders

The National College of Ireland has conferred eleven community leaders from Dublin’s inner city with honorary fellowships. The conferring ceremony took place on September 13 and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern addressed the conferring ceremony.

The NCI wanted to recognise the contribution which each of the new Fellows has made to promoting education and building their communities. The community leaders are involved in working on promoting education, employment, social inclusion, childcare, drug rehabilitation and youth projects.

At the ceremony the Taoiseach said:

Our eleven fellows have each made unique but equally important contributions to the development of Irish society and in particular to the development of the docklands community. Each one has contributed selflessly and with distinction.

The recipients were: Betty Ashe and Dolores Wilson, St Andrews Resource Centre; Seanie Lambe, Inner City Organisations Network; Geraldine O’Driscoll, North Wall Women’s Centre; Gerry Fay, North Wall Community Association; Frances Corr, Bath Avenue and District Residents’ Association Ltd; Willie Dwyer, Mairead Ni Chiosoig and Paul Dolan, East Wall Community Council; Anne Carroll, Ringsend and Irishtown Community; and Charlie Murphy, Rinn Development Initiative.

One of the new fellows, Seanie Lambe said:

Education is critical, people cannot take advantage of our economy unless they can access education. Our work with the College has been hugely beneficial

The DICP Promoting Community-Led Regeneration in the Inner City

The Dublin Inner City Partnership very much welcomes the proposals by Dublin City Council for the regeneration of the flat complexes at O’Devaney Gardens (North West Inner City), St Teresa’s Gardens (South West Inner City) and Tom Kelly Road and Charlemont Street Flats (South East Inner City).

These complexes have been degenerating over the past two decades and suffer from a concentration of social problems including:

High unemployment and welfare dependency.
Social isolation.
Poor housing management and maintenance.
Poor physical conditions.
Poor health – including multi drug misuse and addiction.
Early school leaving and low educational attainment.
High incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Constant fear of crime.

Many of the residents living in these estates have long wanted to leave because of the conditions and have been on the Council transfer list for many years. However, with the proposed regeneration of their communities there is renewed hope by the residents that there will be a social and economic transformation of the community; residents believe that their area will finally become a place where they are proud to live and raise their families with dignity rather than stigma as is the case at present.

The Dublin Inner City Partnership has identified local authority housing estates as key areas for support. The Partnership has been working with local tenants and community organisations in these areas to ensure a community-led approach is adopted in the regeneration. There should be genuine community involvement in the planning and design of the master plan and this should ensure that the physical regeneration is accompanied by much needed vital social regeneration. This dual strategy will address the causes as well as the consequences of years of social exclusion and neglect in these areas.

In relation to the regeneration programmes mentioned above the DICP has been directly investing in O’Devaney Gardens Community Development Forum, the Environment and Employment Project in St Teresa’s Gardens and the Charlemont Street Development Group as local community-led fora to enhance the inclusive, informed and assertive community involvement in the emerging programmes.

The Partnership also provides resources to local community networks (ICON and SWICN) to provide tenant workers and it funds Community Technical Aid to employ a community planner who provides independent advice to communities undergoing redevelopment.

The Partnership also facilitates the sharing of information and experiences between communities at different stages of regeneration as a means of promoting greater understanding of the process of regeneration and its likely impact on existing residents. The Partnership has been active with Tenants First, a network that brings together people who are working on and involved in public housing issues in their communities. ‘Tenants First’ have produced ‘A Real Guide to Regeneration for Communities’; this is a useful booklet and guide to residents whose community is undergoing regeneration.

The key theme to emerge from discussions with communities that have undergone or are undergoing regeneration is that the residents/tenants of local authority communities must be the primary beneficiaries of regeneration and these benefits should be lasting. Under Public Private Partnerships, public land assets are being given away to private developers so that they can deliver benefits to the community on behalf of the state. It is essential that the state gets value for money and that the benefits that accrue to the local community are equivalent to the profits that accrue to the private developers.

Ensuring local communities receive sustainable benefits will require that regeneration programmes:

Move at a pace that supports the community to participate as equals.
Do not attempt to fast-track decisions without adequate deliberation on the part of the community on the consequences and implications of their decisions.
Provide for adequate resources to facilitate community involvement.
Facilitate the community to make informed decisions on their regeneration options including resources to secure independent technical advice in relation to planning, architecture, design, legal, community consultation etc.
Provide a cohesive and detailed physical, social and economic master plan of what is being proposed to allow the community to envisage the likely outcomes.
Provide for a legal status which holds delivery agents accountable and guarantees the delivery of agreed community economic, social and cultural benefits.

In reality the Inner City of Dublin is facing a public housing crisis. As a result, many low-income inner city families are forced to live in an unregulated private rented sector, many in appalling conditions. Social networks have been weakened as many residents have had to leave communities where their families have lived for generations. Dublin City Council officials have indicated their preference to withdraw from the public management of social housing in favour of unregulated privately managed Voluntary Housing Associations (VHA). This would close off a vital social safety net and do nothing to alleviate the current or future demands from low income residents for affordable public and social rented housing in their own community or area of choice.

Building inclusive and cohesive sustainable communities requires a holistic planning approach. Community regeneration programmes and Dublin City Council must plan for the current and future physical, social and economic requirements of all inner city residents but in particular those low income families that will be reliant on state services to ensure they have the opportunity to equally compete and equally benefit from the opportunities to enjoy the fruits of the City’s prosperity.

Copies of the Real Guide to Regeneration for Communities are available from the DICP.

Copies of Dream/Dare/Do are available from Fatima Group United

Translation services needed in schools

As Irish children are in a minority in many Junior Infant classes starting in inner city schools this year, the need for a translation service for parents of foreign national children has become urgent. The Department of Education and Science will shortly publish an explanation of the Irish education system in six languages; no African language is included. The Community Links Project of the Jesuit Refugee Service, based in Gardiner Place, has already done some work in this area in the north inner city, and will shortly produce templates in different languages of letters to parents and principals.

The North West Inner City Network and the Dublin 7 School Completion Programme are now engaged in looking at the possibility of setting up panels of translators, interpreters and intercultural links workers in the education sector.

Tenth Celebration of Local Employment Service

In late May, Partnership Chairpersons, Managers, LESN Coordinators and LES staff joined a large group of invited guests at a national celebration marking the establishment of the initial twelve Local Employment Service Networks, one of which was the DICP’s Inner City Employment Service (ICES).

The DICP-related ICES qualitative achievements since 1996 include:

The building of an inner city network of locally owned and delivered employment services.
The provision by ICES staff of professional support for people.
accessing education and training opportunities that, in many cases, have led to job placements.

ICES, like all LESNs, has often been the instigator of local support networks and inter-agency collaborative endeavors with employer groups, FÁS, CDVEC, the Probation and Welfare Service, the HSE, DES, Chambers of Commerce and the DSFA. This work has focused on the employment needs of inner city disadvantaged and unemployed clients.

One of in the ICES challenges for the future are issues connected to a possible skills deficit between those who remain unemployed in the inner city area and the needs of the current and anticipated jobs market.

The key client issues for ICES as it faces its second decade of service in the Inner City are: health issues, levels of literacy, poverty traps, childcare needs, absence of accessible part-time education and training opportunities, and an overdependence on State benefit payments.

The ICES quantitative output since 1996 includes:

Total placed in full time and part time work: 3,780
Clients referred into education and training (Includes 2,074 placed on LMIPs, and 97 placed on Apprenticeships) 6,554
Client Throughput since 1996: 19,500
Total number of guidance sessions: 11,500
Total number of clients provided - through the ICES Outreach Activities - with employment-related information: 13,000

Planet Conference

Planet, the Partnerships Network held a very well-attended conference in Dublin on September 7, 2006. The theme of the conference was 'Partnerships Post 2006: Local Solutions to Local Problems'.

The key speakers were Padraic White, Chairperson of the Northside Partnership, Professor Charles Sabel, Columbia Law School, Dr Tony Crooks, CEO (of Pobal, Dr Rory O’Donnell, Director of the National Economic and Social Council, Anna Lee, Manager of the Tallaght Partnership and Michael Bowe, Manager of the Finglas/Cabra Partnership.

The opening address was given by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O’Cuiv TD.

Crosscare Community Education Network Open Day

Crosscare’s Community Education Network hosted a very successful Open Day on June 8 in All Hallows College, Drumcondra. There were adult and community education groups from all over the Greater Dublin area represented at the Open Day. Each one displayed their work on an attractive exhibition stand.

Among the groups participating on the day were three Adult Education groups from the Inner City. Partnership Agenda spoke to the three groups and asked them about their work.

On the Francis Street Community Education Centre stand Joyce Hanlon spoke enthusiastically about her training in the centre. She is working for St Catherine’s Community Centre and taking classes in the Community Education Centre. She is learning about computers and office skills. She 'loves the classes' and is 'chuffed to be involved in education'. Joyce enjoys the 'chance to get to know people and the chance to meet foreign nationals'. She would love to see more people in her community getting involved with the Centre.

Kay Morley was on the HACE stand. HACE is the Henrietta Adult and Community Education project based in St Vincent’s Trust in Henrietta Street. Kay spoke about how much the learners had enjoyed a Personal Care course led by Celia Larkin. In all, the service had about 200 students this year and courses included English, History, Computers, Childcare, Flower-arranging and English as a Second Language The HACE centre also provides counselling, massage, shiatsu, reflexology and aromatherapy.

Sheila Smyth, the Co-ordinator of the Prussia Street Women’s Group said that art was very popular in her centre. A number of students were studying for the Leaving Certificate and doing exams on the day of the Open Day and she wished them well. Dream workshops were a new innovation in the centre and were proving very popular. The Prussia Street Women’s Group were delighted that they had some foreign nationals attending classes.

Digital Community in Action

St. Andrew’s Resource Centre, Pearse Street has continued over the past twelve months to develop its Digital Community Project. All residents in the area are eligible for membership of any number of clubs, groups and activities organised across the two IT Centres in the building.

The St. Andrews Cyber Café provides a gateway to IT for young and old alike and the IT training room provides high-end skills including ECDL and Equal Skills. The youngest clients are just 2½ years old and the eldest is a lady in her 80s. All are welcome and all receive free access and training across a whole range of Digital Issues.

Popular with the “Silver Surfers” is digital photography and using the Computer to get the best from a camera. This summer the “Silver Surfers” were given a camera in a box and they worked out how to use it with the PCs in the IT Training room under the watchful eye of our Computer Trainer, Shay Barry. Our younger clients were given the opportunity to beat Trinity College Students in an online game and battling for Pearse Street, the kids aged from 8 to 16 were victorious against the Computer Wizz students from the College. We look forward to the return match this autumn.

St. Andrew’s also provides higher end training in its IT Training Room launched last year as Training @ St. Andrews. ECDL and EQUAL Skills are the most popular courses along with the Introduction to Computers Course which is tailored to the needs of the students taking part on the course. Over the past two years St. Andrew’s has been developing a process to teach newcomers to technology by using the internet. This process has proven very successful and people in the area are now using computers in their regular day-to-day lives.

There is of course much more to do. We are in the process of developing a website that will allow members of the digital community to “upload” their own work as part of the site; this could include a photograph or a piece of writing. This new phase of the digital communities work should begin this autumn.

In all there are thirteen current groups or clubs in the digital community:

Silver Surfers: Older People accessing IT.
Computer Club: Weekly Group of children learning high end skills.
Pearse House Women’s Group: Access to IT for leisure and information purposes.
CQ Women in IT : Basic IT skills group meeting weekly.
Young Children’s Group: Youngsters from 2½ to 5 years learning computer familiarisation and counting and colouring through IT.
After Schools Group: After School Children one afternoon each week.
Homework through IT group: Junior Cert Students using IT to assist with homework.
Computer Wizz Kids: Computer club for younger children.
Literacy through IT: Using IT to read.
City Quay Women’s IT Group: Access to IT for leisure and information purposes.
CBS IT Access Group: One class from CBS Westland Row who have access to the Cyber Café one session per week.
Cyber Kids: Gaming and online fun for children of all ages (including adults).
Staff Project :Staff project to up-skill staff members with appropriate skills.

In total the St. Andrews Digital community interacts with over 238 individuals each week and keeping the whole thing in order are Shay Barry and Lisa Kelleher with support from other staff from the centre. Funding for the project has come from POBAL, Dormant Account Funds, FÁS and the DDDA.

Looking back over the past two years, the process has gone from developing an idea into a working project. In the next 2 years we hope to double the number of participants. Our original goal was to have our IT used as much as possible for as many hours a day as possible by as many people as possible and that goal is being realised.

Visit to Pen Green Children’s Centre

On Thursday, 23 March the Larkin Centre for the Unemployed organised a field trip to the Pen Green Children’s Centre in Corby, England. On the visit were people working in childcare in the Larkin Centre, the North Wall Women’s Centre, An Cosan, One Family, the Dublin City Childcare Committee and the Dublin Inner City Partnership.

Pen Green is an innovative children’s centre which works on the basis of partnership with the children’s parents. It is located in Corby, which is one of the areas of greatest disadvantage in the UK. The centre encompasses two nurseries and a baby and toddler nest, an afterschool club and an integrated holiday play scheme, as well as a community education scheme for adults and a training centre in early childhood education.

For those working in the cash-strapped childcare sector in Dublin, Pen Green was like an image of child heaven. In the nurseries, the children had huge amounts of space and equipment, a high ratio of workers, safe all-weather playgrounds (there is no such thing as bad weather, we were told, only bad clothes), and therefore real opportunities to engage in creative play. The workers observe the children at play to determine in what area their strengths lie, and draw up educational plans for them on that basis.

Children are encouraged to take decisions and also appropriate risks. There was a carpenter’s tool table in the nursery, with tools that many of us would have considered dangerous for the children. The centre explained to us the difference between a hazard – which is a danger the child cannot see – and a risk, which is an activity the child takes on knowing s/he has to be careful. There had been no problems with the children playing with the carpenter’s tools.

In the baby and toddler nest, there were no cots, but low lying baskets where the toddlers could lie down, thus leaving it up to the child to access them independently. The kitchen, where the bottles were prepared, had walls of glass, so the toddlers could at all times see their carer and know that s/he was preparing their bottle. There was also a “quiet room” in the nursery and a baby massage room in the toddler nest.

The Centre works extremely closely with parents, both fathers and mothers. The staff visit the family and get to know them; parents remain in the nursery for the first few weeks’ of the child’s attendance. Parents are involved in the centre as home visitors, members of the management board and interview panels for staff recruitment, crèche workers, researchers, members and leaders of parents’ groups and political lobbyists. Efforts are made to ensure that fathers participate along with mothers.

The centre provides parents with opportunities to continue their own learning, offering courses in Childcare, Groupwork, Baby Massage, ESOL, Numeracy, Communication Skills, First Aid, Hygiene, Counselling, Computer courses, etc. The result is that 84% of parents are directly involved in the centre beyond bringing their child into the service.

The training centre provides opportunities to study Early Childhood Education up to Masters Level. When we visited, we were struck by the innovative design of the building. Limited space was used to maximum effect, with creative use of lofts, moving partitions that also served as whiteboards, and the provision of comfortable seating for students. Most rooms were multipurpose and could be adapted at a trip of the switch for any educational activity.

The delegation came away with many ideas about how early childhood education services could be improved and enhanced. Although many changes depend on the creativity and hard work of workers, the issue of resources is, of course, paramount. The Pen Green Centre is built on evidence of what works. If it works, is it not worth investing in? For a start, is it not time that resources were put into training staff in how to work with parents to give children a better deal? This is one of many questions that the delegation came away with.

Volunteers Paint Inner City Primary School

Fifty-five employees of Deloitte and Touche spent the afternoon of Friday August 25th painting five classrooms in St. Vincent’s Boys’ Infant School, North William St. Principal Pat Courtney was delighted with the work, saying that it would have taken the school 2 to 3 years to have the work done through official channels. He said it was a shot in the arm to pupils, teachers and parents to come into newly-painted classrooms at the beginning of the school year.

Second Level Schools’ Network Pilot Professional development programme

The Second Level Schools’ Network pilot professional development programme for inner city teachers took place in the National College of Ireland from March 2005 to May 2006. About 30 teachers participated. The need for this programme was highlighted in the SSN plan of May 2004. The programme was supported by the Department of Education and Science and overseen by a steering committee made up of representatives of the SSN, the Department of Education, serving teachers, the National College of Ireland and the Dublin Inner City Partnership.

The programme took place in two rounds. The first was targeted at highly experienced teachers and the second at all other teachers. The intention of the SSN had been to provide an “inside out” programme, based on the needs of teachers, as identified by them at a consultation day in March 2003. The programme aimed to use a methodology based on sharing of experience, using teacher presenters wherever possible. Two external evaluators were assigned to evaluate the initiative.

The external evaluators identified the benefits of the programme as follows:

Most teachers appreciated the input/discussion on the inner city context in which teachers are operating. It gave them a new perspective on the challenges teachers face on a day-to-day basis.
Most of the teachers found it extremely useful to meet other teachers from inner city schools and exchange information, advice, tips and so on. This helped to break down isolation, teachers realised they were not alone in dealing with particular difficulties, and new insights arose out of discussions with their colleagues.
The participants appreciated the fact that there were external evaluators assigned to the programme and that the steering group was very responsive to what emerged from the mid-programme evaluation.
The inter-agency nature of the steering group was a strength of the programme, as it ensured the participation of the main stakeholders in the design of the programme.

The key role of the coordinator was a major advantage in the programme. She took on increasing responsibilities as the programme progressed and undertook activities not anticipated at the beginning of the programme.

Like most pilot initiatives, the programme threw up many challenges. Among the challenges outlined by the evaluators are the following:

The importance of a needs assessment: Although the consultation with teachers in 2003 constituted a general needs assessment, no detailed needs assessment took place with the first group of teachers. Although a needs assessment did take place with the second group, it was by post before the start of the programme and the response rate was low. In order to ensure that teachers’ needs are met, it is probably necessary to begin each round with a needs assessment session, the results of which will provide the basis for the design of subsequent sessions.
The difficulty of achieving a balance between inputs and participative sessions. Whereas many teachers, particularly experienced ones, valued participative sessions more, and would have liked to have seen more of them, others, generally the newer teachers, appreciated inputs from professional trainers. There are also difficulties in sourcing practicing teachers who have the skills necessary to deliver a professional development session.
The difficulty of securing teacher participation at all levels, due to the pressurised nature of their work. Teachers, particularly those with exam classes, are reluctant to absent themselves from class for professional development, however beneficial, and this can affect take-up of professional development outside of a whole-school setting. Principals and class teachers are also often too busy to leave school to attend meetings. Some meetings of the steering group took place without the participation of teachers, which impacted on the group’s effectiveness.

The SSN now faces the challenge of building on the lessons of the report to continue to provide effective professional development programmes for inner city teachers and to develop teacher networks that would facilitate sharing of practice among teachers in inner city schools.

Maire Buckley: An Appreciation

Dublin Inner City Partnership extends its sympathy to the Buckley family on the tragic death earlier this year of Maire Buckley, former Home School Liaison Co-ordinator in the Rutland St. and Marlborough St. primary schools. Maire was a tireless worker for the community and for education in the inner city. In March she played a leading role in the Education workshop of the ICON Conference in Kilkenny. So many times since she died, I have thought 'I must ask Maire about that' and remembered. She will never be forgotten, and hopefully we will continue her good work of working with schools and community to promote educational equality in Dublin’s inner city.

Molly O’Duffy

Dublin’s Intercultural Inner City

The Irresistible Rise of Sport against Racism in Ireland

In 1997, Dublin Markets Area Community activists Frank Buckley and Ken Mc Cue decided to celebrate the launch of EU Year against Racism, not with wine and cheese in Dublin Castle but by sitting in the window of their tiny office in Smithfield spotting potential footballers from pedestrians crossing the square.

They took turns to ‘buttonhole’ athletic looking recruits for their Soccer against Racism initiative.

By using a model template imported into Ireland by Ken’s brother Harry, who was a professional footballer and coach in US and Australia, they set about creating an anti racism popular front through the medium of sport. With seed funding from the Dublin Inner City Partnership and the builder Mick Wallace, they persuaded the Minister for Justice, Mervyn Taylor to part with a few hundred pounds to stage the first Soccerfest with 20 teams drawn from refugee hostels and local communities. The Incorporated Law Society provided the facility gratis and the competition was won by a team from the Congo.

Buoyed with the enthusiasm created around the event, SARI transformed into Sport against Racism Ireland, became incorporated and was granted charitable status as a ‘not for profit’ voluntary body. The strategy of the new organisation was to use the medium of sport to combat racism and work towards developing intercultural dialogue in order to build social capital.

The fledgling organisation went to Europe and found solidarity through likeminded bodies like Kick it Out in England and Fairplay in Austria and went on to form Football against Racism in Europe (FARE).

By developing into a Non Governmental Organisation, SARI became a serious key player for change by merging its anti-racism work with a strategy where Sport is a powerful medium for cultural integration and social inclusion. Despite the fact that the Government of the Irish Republic and its agencies have virtually ignored SARI, the lobbying power of FARE has resulted in strong EU Parliament policy in the area that reflects back into the domestic body politic and obliges the member states to follow suit.

Instrumental in this has been the adoption of the Union of European Football Association’s (UEFA) Ten Point Action Plan against Racism and the emergence of the United Against Racism programme that in turn motivated FIFA to declare the recent World Cup in Germany ‘A Time to Make Friends’ that included public anti-racism statements by team captains prior to the quarter-final games. For its part, FARE ran successful fan based events including ‘Streetkick’ and fan embassies along with monitoring flags, banners and chants inside and outside the German stadia.

It is clear that Football has become one of the prime movers in combatting racism throughout the world.

The Football Association of Ireland, who were once reluctant to engage, have under SARI’s influence and with funding from UEFA and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, just recently appointed its first Intercultural Officer. It is hoped that the other ‘big two’ on this island, the GAA and IRFU will copy and see their role as engines for real progress and change in a new intercultural society.

Now approaching its tenth year, SARI has embarked on a major path of reorganisation. With support from Dublin Inner City Partnership and The One Foundation, the research agency TSA has just completed a commissioned threeyear strategic plan. In the near future the main task will be to have every sporting body amend their constitutions to incorporate Equality and Anti-Racism clauses alongside other amendments already adopted on instruction from the Irish Sports Council in the areas of Child Protection and Anti-Doping.

In terms of programme, the recent ‘Soccerfest 10’ with its 54 teams that stretched the Garda and Camogie Grounds in the Phoenix Park to the limit and attracted 3,500 cultural integrators will be staged on a Provincial basis from 2007 onwards, with the finals in the Park.

The annual Sportsfest, held on the Workers Holiday of Mayday will be developed through new intercultural modules in schools and local area community networks in line with the new Dublin inner city Anti-Racism and Diversity plan being spearheaded by Dublin Inner City Partnership.

Following the refusal by the Government’s Reception and Integration Agency to fund SARI’s new ‘Football 4 Integration’ programme, the UK Football Foundation has stepped in with funding from Theiry Henry’s ‘Stand Up-Speak Up’ campaign. As a result SARI will travel the country with a Football Marketplace that will facilitate the recruitment to local clubs of players, coaches, supporters and administrators from ethnic minorities.

In the meantime SARI will continue its active membership of Integrating Ireland and the NGO Alliance against Racism and develop the Brian Kerr Intercontinental Winter and Summer Leagues. In Spring 2007 a new programme ‘Hit Racism 4/6’ in conjunction with Ireland’s participation in the Cricket World Cup will be launched. In recognition of the solidarity shown by the IABA during its formative years, SARI will assist in promoting ‘Knock Racism 4/10’ which will be a recruitment tool to attract boxers from ethnic minority backgrounds into clubs.

With the Beijing Olympics approaching, the International Officer, has been invited onto a panel with a number of experts to advise on Community Development and Education in the Olympic Cities.

At the same time, further development work will be carried out in the Sporting Equals Mentoring Programme to initiate ‘Insaka’, a new body for African Youth in Ireland. In Global partnership terms, further stregthening of the twinning with ‘Sport in Action’ of Zambia will take place while the ex Brazilian Football World Cup team captain, Socrates has been invited here to launch the SARI initiated Voter Education and Registration Campaign (VERC) as SARI’s contribution to the EU Year of Equal Opportunities 2007.

Needs Analysis of Aged-Out Separated Children Seeking Asylum (SCSAs)

There are between 90 and 110 'aged out' separated children seeking asylum living in the inner city. These are former separated children, or unaccompanied minors, who arrived in Ireland alone and subsequently sought asylum, but who are still in the asylum process when they reach the age of 18. They are then transferred from HSE care into the care of the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) and lose any entitlement to free education. Some can reach the age of 21 without a final decision on their asylum application.

The 'aged out' group are housed in four hostels: Viking Lodge in Francis St., 10 North Frederick St., The Horse and Carriage in Aungier St. and Camden Hall in Camden St. Because they do not have the right to work, or access third level education or FÁS training courses, many of them spend their days in idleness and uncertainty over their future, 'wasting our present and our future', as one young person put it.

A needs analysis of this group has just been carried out by the Transition Supports Project, an EQUAL-funded inter-agency response to the need to coordinate, integrate, activate and deliver services to this group. Many of the findings of the report had been foreshadowed at a seminar in January 2005 organised by ICON ’s Foreign National Young People at Risk group. The overall conclusion of the needs analysis is the need for a 'cohesive interagency and inter-service approach with a holistic perspective on the young persons’ needs'.

Among the major findings are:

The need for much improved individualised care to separated children. The lack of adequate care leads to depression, isolation and vulnerability to exploitation.
The need to develop an aftercare service to support 'aged out' separated children who no longer have access to project workers. Such a service is provided to Irish children leaving care settings.
The need for separated children to attend local schools. Many separated children travel to schools outside their locality which impacts on their involvement in local leisure and cultural activities. The reasons why they attend schools outside their locality range from separated children arriving late in the school year and local schools saying that they are full, separated children being allocated to new hostels but wanting to stay in the same school, or the existence of supports in distant schools which are not available locally.
The difficulty of becoming involved in local activities is exacerbated by lack of money and lack of information about local services.
There are difficulties in accommodation centres relating to lack of privacy (particularly for those studying for the Leaving Certificate), poor management, demeanour of staff, unhealthy and unvaried diet, complaints procedures not working for residents and lack of consultation with residents as to their needs. There was a call for increased presence of RIA, HSE and the Transition Supports Project in the hostels to ensure that residents’ rights were respected.

All those interviewed wished to continue their education; 98% wanted to go on to higher education. The impossibility of doing so, unless the young person is independently wealthy, not only affects the over 18s but decreases motivation among those studying for the Leaving Certificate. The project believes that a case needs to be made that those who have finished secondary education and have been in the State longer than one year should be entitled to take up mainstream FÁS or PLC courses.

Over half of those interviewed have experienced racist abuse. On the other hand, almost half had had positive experiences where they had been helped when they had difficulties.

The main source of support for the young people was from friends or church. The lack of a parentalstyle adult figure in their life was sorely felt.

There is much food for thought in this report for Government Departments and for local services in the inner city. The Transition Supports Project has committed to various steps to meet some of the needs identified. The project’s outreach youth workers are working to integrate the young people into local sporting and leisure services and there are plans to establish a mentoring service to provide parental-type support to the young people.

For a copy of the report or more information about the Transition Supports Project, call 8741414 or e-mail: itayiviriri@parnell.cdvec.ie.

Women as Leaders in Equality Programme

Many community groups working in the inner city wish to bring about an intercultural society based on interaction on an equal basis between diverse ethnic groups. However, the jury is still out on the question: How do you promote interculturalism in practice?

Organisations are piloting different methods of trying to establish intercultural relations. One such innovative project is the Women as Leaders in Equality Programme, a two year accredited programme designed to build leadership capacity among minority ethnic women and Irish women in Dublin’s North East Inner city.

The key to this project is working with local and ethnic minority women in two stages:

Firstly, training both groups of participants separately with the Irish women training in Local Global Awareness and the Ethnic women in Community Development.
Secondly, bringing the two groups together to explore the issues that unite them as women and develop leadership skills for the promotion of an intercultural society.

The programme is a collaboration between Cairde, which works with ethnic minority communities, and Lourdes Youth and Community Services, a community based education, training and development project in the north inner city.

The objectives of the Women as Leaders in Equality Programme are:

To improve the capacity of women to be a resource to the community by becoming leaders in addressing racism and accommodating diversity.
To improve employment and further education prospects of minority ethnic women and Irish women by delivering a flexible training programme with FETAC accredited awards.
To equip women with the knowledge and skills for effective leadership to address the interconnected issues of poverty, social exclusion and racism in the North East Inner City.

The Women as Leaders in Equality Programme commenced in November 2005 with thirty-two women participating in the two year Programme. Participants are drawn from ethnic minority fora such as Slavianka (Russian speaking women’s group), AKIDWA (African Women’s Network), Integration of Nour Women, Romanian Community of Ireland, Somalian Women’s Network, East Nigerian Women’s Support Group, the Cameroon Women’s Community and from local community networks in Dublin’s North East Inner City.

Year 1 (Nov 2005 – Jun 2006) saw both groups of women attend training separately for 1.5 days per week. The multi ethnic participants focussed on analysing their own experiences of poverty, social exclusion and racism in the context of community development theory leading to a FETAC Community Development Award. The Dublin Inner City women focussed on their own experiences of poverty, social exclusion, and immigration in the context of making the links between local and global issues, leading to a FETAC Local & Global Development Awareness.

Year 2 (Sept. 2006 – Mar. 2007) will see both groups of women jointly work together one day per week. Participants will have the opportunity to embed their learning in response to the needs of the North East Inner City by identifying the specific experiences of women (minority ethnic women and Irish women) and feeding these into the local community decision-making fora.

The programme is evaluated on an ongoing basis and the indications so far are that this multi-agency, staged, flexible and supported approach is successful in developing intercultural relations between indigenous women and women who have arrived in the city in recent years.

For further information on the Women as Leaders Programme, contact Programme Co-ordinator Marguerite Bourke at womenasleaders@cairde.ie or telephone Cairde 01 8552111.

Marking Difference, Making Change

Akina Dada wa Africa (AkiDwA), the Swahili for “African sisterhood” is a national network of migrant women living in Ireland. AkiDwA is a voluntary non-governmental organisation that was established in August 2001 with an aim to empower and to provide a platform for change on issues affecting migrant women. The organisation’s work focuses on development and human right issues based on a gender perspective.

Among its many achievements is the publication of “Herstory” a book with 10 migration stories of African women. The aim of this book is to highlight and enlighten Irish society on issues affecting women from the developing world and what causes them to leave their countries.

In the past few years the organisation has received tremendous support from various organisations, in particular the Dublin Inner City Partnership. Early this year AkiDwA was asked by DICP to deliver Anti-Racism training to the four networks with which the Partnership works closely.

AkiDwA has also received support from DICP that will enable the organisation work on one of its key objectives, “delivering capacity building training” to migrant women living within the Dublin area.

To mark our fifth anniversary AkiDwA and the Africa Centre are organising a conference entitled “Five years of making a difference” to take place at the Royal Dublin Hotel on Thursday 26th October 2006. The overall theme for this conference will be based on participation reflecting on the last five years and the future. We salute you Dublin Inner City Partnership for your support all these years and hope to continue working with you.

For further information contact AkiDwA:

9c Lower Abbey Street, Dublin Central Mission, Dublin 1
Tel; 01 8148582
Email:info@akidwa.ie
Website: www.akidwa.ie

Dublin Inner City Partnership Anti-Racism and Diversity Plan

The Dublin Inner City Partnership received funding from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to develop a local Anti-Racism and Diversity Plan. The Irish Government developed the National Action Plan against Racism in 2005 with the aim of providing 'strategic direction to combat racism and to develop a more inclusive, intercultural society in Ireland'.

The aim of the DICP’s Anti-Racism and Diversity Plan was to translate the objectives of the National Plan into the local context of Dublin’s inner city. The DICP commissioned a specialist consultant, Dr Anthony Finn, to develop the plan. A steering group composed of representatives of community groups in the inner city worked closely with Dr Finn. A series of consultation seminars around the inner city were held with local groups including with ethnic-led groups.

Following a lengthy process, an Anti-Racism and Diversity Plan was produced. The Plan included the following declaration by the Dublin Inner City Partnership:

Dublin Inner City Partnership welcomes diversity, pledges to work to eliminate racism and to promote interculturalism. Dublin Inner City Partnership will work to create the conditions for diversity to be recognised as a positive element at the heart of a vibrant city. Dublin Inner City Partnership will work to create the conditions for the prevention of racism and for the encouragement of interculturalism based on inclusivity for all residents regardless of indicators of identity such as nationality, ethnicity, age, gender and sexual orientation. Dublin Inner City Partnership will work to ensure:

Effective protection and redress against racism.
Economic and social inclusion and equality of opportunity for all inner city Dublin residents experiencing poverty and exclusion.
Accomodation of diversity in all service provision.
Recognition, awareness and embracing of diversity.
Full participation of all communities in inner city Dublin.

Our vision is for an inner city free of racism, where communities are built on the principles of inclusion and the celebration of diversity.

This declaration was formally approved by the DICP Board at its meeting in June 2006.

The resource document which was produced by Dr Finn includes an overview of the international, the European, the national and the local contexts; this section includes summaries of some of the key legal documents pertaining to racism and interculturalism. The resource document also provides details of the demographic changes in Ireland’s population in recent years including the growth of immigration. The final section of the Plan translates the five thematic strands of the National Action Plan Against Racism into possible or indicative actions at local level.

The next stage will involve the preparation of a specific implementation plan with costings, targeted actions and outcomes. The production of this action plan is now underway with the involvement of a wide range of local and community development organisations and representitives of the minority ethnic groups in the inner city.

Exploring Local Strategies for the Integration of Migrant Workers & Their Families

On June 21st 2006 the DICP participated in a workshop that focused on the outcomes and recommendations of the publication: An Exploration of Local Strategies for the Integration of Migrant Workers & Their Families (Pobal, 2006)

The publication was the final element of the work of a Steering Group. The group was established in the early part of 2005. Its task was to oversee a research project. The project was intended to inform the future development of local strategies in response to the integration needs of migrant workers and their families.

Along with the DICP, the other members of the Steering Group were: The Dublin Employment Pact, Pobal and the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, who collectively commissioned the research. The Tallaght Partnership and Ballyhoura Development (LEADER Partnership) were also part of the Steering Group.

The Steering Group remained focused at all times on the role Partnerships can play in leading work intended to support migrant workers and their families. The emphasis was on those who are vulnerable to social exclusion and poverty.

The Steering Group was aware of how Partnerships can draw together agencies to strategically respond to existing and emerging social trends. The research project set about documenting practice lessons from three local strategies.

The practice lesson presented by the DICP was linked to the provision by the DICP Board of additional, limited, financial resources to the Inner City Employment Service (ICES). This money was intended to assist ICES enhance its staff training requirements, and also its information, interpretation and translation services in response to the emerging employment progression needs of inner city migrant workers. (The financial allocation to ICES was approved at the June 2006 DICP Board Meeting).

The genesis of this development was informed by research conducted by DICP staff. The staff considered the practical recommendations contained in a series of reports by Dublin-based organisations that were already committed to working with migrants and their families. The DICP staff identified a lacuna in the available support services that the pilot practice lesson is intended to fill. This DICP pilot will operate in collaboration with ICES until June 2007. It will then be evaluated to gauge its effectiveness. Should ICES report a level of added value in its services as a consequence of this development, then the DICP will consider incorporating this practice lesson as part of its future strategic action.

Note: Copies of An Exploration of Local Strategies for the Integration of Migrant Workers & Their Families are available from: Pobal (Tel: 01 240 0700)

For further information contact: Peter Nolan, Employment & Enterprise Coordinator at pnolan@dicp.ie.

Barriers to Further and Higher Education of Non-EU Nationals Resident in Ireland

A report will shortly be launched by Pobal and the Network of Education Personnel on the barriers to further and higher education of non-EU nationals resident in Ireland. The report, which arose in part from pioneering work by the Foreign National Young People at Risk working group of ICON /YPAR in the North Inner City, highlights the myriad of difficulties faced by foreign national residents in their attempts to access third level education. The report is based on interviews with representatives of government departments, education providers and others working in the field. There are also nine case studies of foreign national students, which illustrate the difficulties they experience in attempting to make their way through the maze of the system.

The issues raised in the report include:

The lack of data in relation to the participation of non-EU third level students resident in Ireland; this makes it difficult to plan strategies to improve practice.
The absence of an integrated approach to policy; Government departments tend to make policy in isolation from each other and policy is, as a result, 'fragmented, confusing and poorly communicated'. Students have to find their way through the resulting labyrinth of ad hoc and sometimes contradictory policies.
The lack of adequate supports for the acquisition of English and the absence of a standardised system for assessment of language levels.
The information deficit for students, their advocates and service providers. Students are frequently given contradictory and incorrect information.
The absence of a functioning system for recognition of qualifications acquired overseas. Universities and Institutes of Technology generally make their own assessments of such qualifications, and this results in an inconsistency in decisions.
Cultural problems, racism and discrimination and the absence of a concerted approach in the higher and further education sectors to drawing up policies and procedures to combat them.

In many cases these barriers are additional to barriers that face many Irish students, for example, the requirement to be unemployed for 12 months before being eligible for the Back to Education Allowance.

However, the impact of these barriers on foreign national students can be particularly dramatic. For example, Sebastian, whose situation is highlighted in one of the case studies, came to Ireland without his parents and is under 21. In spite of the fact that he has refugee status and is therefore entitled to free fees, he does not have any income support because he went to college straight from school and has no family network to support him. He therefore has to work three full days a week to pay his way through college. This has huge implications for his ability to study and pass his exams.

The report concludes that the government and service providers need to adopt three interlinking approaches to the issue:

A rights-based approach, accepting that immigrants have rights under the EU Convention on Human Rights, passed into Irish law in 2003.
A long-term cost-benefit approach, acknowledging the positive contribution that migrants can make to the Irish economy if they are enabled to access and complete third level education.
An integrated approach, ending the situation whereby it is a matter of chance whether students obtain correct information, meet service providers who understand their entitlements, and do not fall into one of the many traps highlighted in the report.

Bunmi, one of those interviewed for a case study who finds herself in one such trap, declares that 'I want to go to school, at the end of the day to be able to contribute into the society. But they didn’t see any sense in that'. 'They' for Bunmi are all the different officials and education providers, each of whom approaches her situation from the limited perspective of their own mandate. This report makes an urgent call for a change in mindset so as to prioritise this issue and begin to take the coordinated actions necessary to resolve it.

Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre

The Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre (DMRC) was set up in 2003 to help promote a multicultural society by means of activities aimed at integrating established and new communities in Dublin’s inner city. A library with information, books and other resources has been set up for local groups and organisations at Mandela House, 44 Lower Gardiner Street. The centre is also a drop–in facility where people have space to hold meetings and workshops. An initiative being planned is to set up a computer network providing internet access and English; from October computer classes will be offered to refugees, asylum seekers on direct provision and other new immigrants.

A special intercultural festival will be held on 21st October in St. Agatha’s Hall on Dunne Street. There will be a number of bands playing different cultural music, a DJ, children’s activities, food from different cultures and a stall providing information on different organisations. Currently a booklet in Polish with information on Dublin has been developed for distribution to new arrivals from Poland to the city. We are also working on translating it into Russian and other languages. The DMRC employs a development worker and four volunteers at present and is overseen by a management committee.

For more information contact Awa Keenan, Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre, Mandela House, 44 Lower Gardiner Street. Tel: (01) 873 0684

Young People at Risk Strategic Plan Launch

On May 29, the Young People at Risk (YPAR) Strategic Plan was formally launched by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern in Ozanam House. YPAR has been in operation in the North East Inner City since January 2004. YPAR is an interagency initiative which emerged from the work of ICON ; it is made up of representatives of community groups, voluntary agencies, statutory services and local young people. Built on the experience of previous integrated initiatives in the North East Inner City, YPAR has the aim of the delivery of an integrated response to the needs of young people at risk. Another key element is the involvement of young people in the process.

Local young people Noel Reilly, Kellie Harrington and Gerard O’Neill welcomed the Taoiseach to the launch venue on behalf of YPAR. In his speech, An Taoiseach supported the approach of YPAR in coordinating existing efforts and resources strategically in order to achieve improved outcomes for young people at risk. Joe Lucey, Co-chair of YPAR gave details of the plan and what YPAR wished to achieve: ‘high quality, effective, coordinated services to young people at risk through integration’. He stated that YPAR, in line with stated Government policies, wished to promote ‘a joined-up approach’ to delivery of services at local level. This approach would have ‘young people at its heart’, and would be characterised by ‘empowering young people’; ‘building on previous initiatives’ and ‘developing cohesive and strategic solutions’. Ultimately YPAR represented ‘a new opportunity to agencies, young people and families’ to create a ‘community where the needs of young people are served and their dreams are realised’.

Peter Evans of the OECD, which is committed to the External Evaluation of the Europe-wide Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme (YEPP), of which YPAR is a part, gave an input which fully endorsed the YPAR approach. He recommended that;

‘approaches to meet the needs of at risk youth and their families need to be cross-sectoral, locally developed, flexible, [and] sustained ...’

Over 100 invited Government, agency and NGO representatives alongside local service providers attended the event.

Noel Reilly and Kellie Harrington, representatives of local young people involved in the Youth Participation Working Group of YPAR spoke to the meeting. They strongly stressed the need for young people to be fully involved in the process. They took the opportunity to request direct representation of young people on the Steering Committee of YPAR. Fergus McCabe ably chaired the event.

The event was also the opportunity to launch the Mapping Report of services for young people at risk conducted by researcher John Weafer. The research was completed in December 2005. The aim of the Mapping exercise was: to audit existing local services for young people at risk; to identify any gaps and overlap in service provision; to establish the needs and difficulties facing service providers and to explore opportunities for interagency co-operation. The findings of the Mapping Research informed the Strategic plan.

The goals of the Strategic Plan are:

To map existing services for young people at risk in the NEIC and identify gaps in service provision.
To develop, promote, advocate and evaluate the YPAR plan.
To develop responses to the identified and emerging needs of young people at risk.
To facilitate the participation of young people and their families in the development of services in the community.
To develop common protocols to facilitate the integration of service provision.
To document and disseminate examples of best practice of interagency service delivery for young people at risk.
To participate in YEPP trans-national initiatives focused on promoting youth empowerment.

Although a number of specific actions under the seven Goals have been achieved and significant progress has been made in others, a number of other actions will be further developed and timeframes have been set for these. Each Working Group will feed into the Plan by prioritising specific gaps and issues to be addressed in the short and medium term and what supports they might need to achieve their aims.

Each working Group will identify specific areas where interagency protocols exist or might be developed. They will also document case histories illustrating positive interagency cooperation in the North East Inner City. YPAR plans to engage a researcher to research, document and study these two keys areas, in conjunction with Working Group members.

Other actions will include:

Arrange ongoing meetings with key policy makers and Government Agencies, such as the Office of the Minister for Children, to seek support for YPAR.
Regular progress reports to key stakeholders.
Developing better information and communication at local level including Directory and Website.

A ‘Plain English’ edition of the Plan has been produced and will also be published at a later date.

If you want a copy of the Strategic Plan or the Mapping Report; or if you want more information about YPAR and its activities contact:

Coordinator David Little
Address YPAR, c/o 22 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1
Phone 0863837201
Emaildavid.little@mailc.hse.ie

Proposed Changes in the Lone Parents Payment

On March 20 this year Minister Seamus Brennan launched a Government Discussion Paper: Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents which outlined proposed changes in the social welfare payments to lone parents.

The key proposals as currently outlined are complex, and will have far reaching affects but basically they include:

The removal of the One Parent Family Payment and replacing it with a Parental Allowance which will be paid up until the youngest child reaches eight years of age.
Whether parents are cohabiting or not will no longer be an issue while this payment is made.
Parents will be expected to be seeking employment when applying for unemployment benefit (or another appropriate social welfare payment) from the time the youngest child reaches eight.

These changes will affect almost all women with children who are claiming social welfare, as women who are claiming as dependents, (married or cohabiting) will also receive this proposed new payment, with the same terms and conditions.

It is clear that there is a need to reform the social welfare system and to support lone parents to find routes and ways out of poverty and into good quality training and employment. However, it is essential that the proposed changes are implemented sensitively and not carried out in a manner which will increase the risk of poverty for women and children.

In particular, it is crucial that significant changes, such as the stipulation to return to work and/or be seeking employment, cannot be implemented without improvements in other services that could support lone parents into employment. These services would include childcare supports, family friendly work practices, good quality appropriate education and training and quality employment. Knock on affects of secondary benefits such as rent supplement or medical cards, must also be considered to ensure that families at risk of poverty are not further disadvantaged by removing the basic supports that they currently have and need to survive.

On a practical level it is important that we are all aware of the proposed changes and the implications that they may have, so that women involved in communities, community groups and organisations can be accurately informed of impending developments. We also have a role to monitor and challenge, where appropriate, changes that could have a radical affect on the lives of women, children and families in our communities and ensure that appropriate and funded supports are available for these women and families.

Further Information: The Government’s Discussion Document, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents is available on the Department of Social and Family Affairs’ website www.welfare.ie or by telephoning the Department at 7043000 or www.cta.ie

Unemployment in the Inner City…. a thing of the past

This is a phrase that is often bandied about Dublin’s inner city in these days of ongoing economic development. Another question that is often asked of the DICP is: ‘Why the need for a specially focused (and funded) local employment service for the inner city, in this time of plenty?’ The other misnomer that frequently raises its head within our affluent society is the notion that those who are now in receipt of benefit payments are all ‘a lazy lot who don’t want to work’.

This brief article, while not attempting to comprehensively answer the above questions, was however triggered off by them. We often hear on ‘Morning Ireland’ and other current affairs programmes that Ireland still has almost 150,000 people ‘on the dole’. So what’s wrong? After fifteen years of Area-based Partnership-type interventions, and ten years of Local Employment Service-type activities, why aren’t all ‘those people’ working? However, what follows is an argument for the continuing need for a specially focused employment service, a service systemically, yet sympathetically delivered, that caters for inner city unemployed people living within our community.

In 1996 ICES was established by the DICP in collaboration with a network of communityowned organisations. The over-riding task of ICES is to provide a range of progression opportunities that forms an individual gateway out of poverty and into work. ICES is intended to assist those people within our community who, for social, personal or vocational reasons find themselves unemployed and living with the chaos of poverty.

The progression opportunities that ICES enables permit its clients to ultimately join or rejoin the workforce. The backbone of ICES is job placement, training and access to a range of personal support services. This service is now delivered with the financial support of the DICP and FÁS, by small teams of locally employed professional workers based in four community service locations.

Within the past ten years ICES has had to change to meet the needs of the changing economy and society. ICES staff have been front-runners in adapting its local service provision to mirror the needs of its everchanging client ‘target groups”.

Currently the dual-stranded employment services of FÁS and ICES working in collaboration, are exploring ways to support new client target groups. These groups include: homeless people, ex-prisoners, offenders, Travellers, drug users and migrant workers. Additionally a recent policy to encourage inner city lone parents to progress into the workforce is being promoted by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

FÁS and ICES have been asked by the DSFA to explore, and possibly operate a pilot support initiative to assist people within this specialised target group.

It is obvious that to progress individuals who have been unable to progress themselves from their current social or personal situation into the world of work, major ongoing investment is required. Dedicated investment is needed to update infrastructure, operational systems, staff training and staff development as a means of enabling ICES to respond to the future needs of its inner city clients. Such challenges are now being addressed by the DICP working in harmony with FÁS and the ICES service provider organisations.

DICP Website

Visit our new website at www.dicp.ie!

Partnership Agenda is produced by the Dublin Inner city Partnership.

Dublin Inner City Partnership,
Equity House,16 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7.
Tel: (01) 872 1321
Email: office@dicp.ie
Fax: (01) 872 1330
Web: www.dicp.ie

ISSN:1393-9068

last updated: November 02, 2006

created & designed by