'Changing Ireland' in the media

Changing Ireland is being talked and written about in blogs, radio shows and the press. Here's a sample of what they're saying:

RTE Radio One's 'THE BUSINESS' featured 'Changing Ireland' on April 12th, '09
(Skip to just shy of half-way through the PODCAST if you want to get straight to our 7 mins)

'THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST' is charmed by our going green and also by “the magazine’s quality, optimism and can do mentality” – Stephen Price, SBP

RTE's 'MORNING IRELAND' goes walkabout with 'Changing Ireland' in Moyross

THE LIMERICK BLOGGER on 'Changing Ireland' marking its 25th issue

About 'Changing Ireland'

In a Nutshell: 'Changing Ireland' is the national magazine of the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) which was set up in 2010 and is the Government's main community-focused anti-poverty programme. The magazine focuses on issues of interest to communities and those volunteering and working in them. For instance, it highlights proven solutions to supposedly impossible social problems.

It champions Community Development as a key tool to challenge the causes and lessen effects of poverty and disadvantage in Ireland today. It focuses on 'participation', 'empowerment' and 'best practice' because it's been proven that taking the long approach of Community Development is usually more effective, better value and better for communities than trying to change people and behaviour by, for example, buying more police cars.

'Changing Ireland' is based in Moyross, Limerick. It began publication in 2001 (as part of the Community Development Programme, a predecessor to the LCDP).

The magazine is independently run, managed by adult volunteers, packed by local teenagers, run by a staff of one-and-a-half, yet involves up to 30 people in production (not including printers). It's got a sense of humour (since most of the work we focus on is deadly serious) and is intended to be readable, to-the-point and of practical use to readers.

Our funders are the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.

It is available online (including our news blog), through Eason newsagents, and by post. ‘Changing Ireland’ publishes near-daily online (starting June '09) and is published in print on a quarterly basis.

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Contact 'Changing Ireland'

Editor: Allen Meagher. Administrator : Tim Hourigan.

Postal Address: 'Changing Ireland', c/o CDN, Community Enterprise Centre, Moyross, Limerick

Office site: Unit 3, Sarsfield Business Centre, Moyross, Limerick

Tel.: 061-458011 (editor) and 061-458090 (administrator).

Fax: 061-325300

Editor's e-mail: editor@changingireland.ie
Administrator's e-mail: admin@changingireland.ie

Comment on NEWS BLOG: www.changingireland.blogspot.com

Mission Statement:

‘Changing Ireland’ champions Community Development. It enables over 24,000 readers (via print and online) to network more effectively and learn from each other as it promotes Community Development in Ireland. It focuses in each issue on work by the projects in the Local and Community Development Programme. It is intended to be readable and interesting and is written by community workers in various parts of the country - so that it reflects the experience of tackling poverty and exclusion at community level.

The numbers shows how Community Development works.

Numbers help show how State-funding for Community Development work achieves results. Here's a sample set of figures measuring work carried out under the Community Development Programme which ran from 1990 to 2009 and is now (2010) being absorbed into the new Local and Community Development Programme.

The figures relate to 2006, the last year for which figures were made available:
• 153,660 hours contributed by volunteers (equaling 4390 weeks’ work or approximately 94 years’ work).
• Over 6,000 groups received information/advice.
• 367 new groups were started up.
• 30,697 people were in education and training through CDPs.
• 257,704 people received resources/services
• 240,174 people received information/advice.
• 1,400 additional staff were employed through CDPs.
• €35 million in additional funds was generated by CDPs (on top of the Programme budget).
The statistics were quoted in a background paper on the Community Development Programme prepared by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in 2007.

'Changing Ireland' is located in Moyross
- the only magazine on sale in Easons that originates from a housing estate.

Who produces 'Changing Ireland'?

The bulk of the articles are written by community development workers or volunteers. Production is overseen by an editor and part-time administrator, by voluntary management from the Community Development Network Ltd, Moyross, and by an editorial team representing projects and the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. The magazine is printed using vegetable inks and on 100% recycled paper (excepting the cover).
The project is funded, as previously outlined, by the Department.
Finally, and most importantly, the magazine is packed in Moyross by local teenagers.

When does 'Changing Ireland' publish?

Quarterly, usually in January, April, July and October.

Who gets 'Changing Ireland'?

The printed edition of ‘Changing Ireland’ goes out to 5000 people.

2009 stats:

While 11% of our readers work in CDPs and they are the most avid readers, the remaining 89% of readers are drawn from the wider world of community policing, local development, elected TDs, Senators and MEPs, students of community development, university libraries, city and county enterprise boards, disability organisations, NGOs, trade unions, national umbrella bodies, state agencies such as the NESC, the media, RAPID, CLAR, LEADER and other programmes, Pobal.
The magazine is distributed to senior civil servants and other staff working in community-related positions. The magazine also goes directly to the homes of a couple of hundred Community Development workers and volunteers who have subscribed independently over the years.
We print 5000 copies of each edition, most of which are distributed by post, while up to 2,200 more people download the magazine from our website.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, contact the administrator by email at admin@changingireland.ie or phone 061-458090 to talk to Tim directly. The editor’s number is 061-458011.

Editorial Team Members

Members:

• Viv Sadd, Mahon CDP, Cork.
• Allen Meagher, 'Changing Ireland' editor.
• Juan Carlos Azzopardi, Community Development Network, Moyross, Limerick
• Gearoid Fitzgibbon, Development Worker, North Tipperary Leader Partnership
• One representative, Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.

 

 

 

The story behind 'Changing Ireland' - 25 editions: cause for celebration

On April 24th, 2008, the 25th edition of the magazine was officially launched by the then Minister of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív.
‘Changing Ireland’ began life in 2001 with a front-cover photo of a real-life nun dressed as a man (part of a campaign by a community group to challenge stereotypes). Seven years later and the magazine was well-established. By then, the magazine was regularly making national headlines each time it was published.
Over 25 editions, the magazine has focused on every social issue effecting people in Ireland and the positive work being done, often beneath the mainstream media’s radar, on these issues.

Up to and including 2010, there were around 2,000 volunteers and 400 staff working in the Community Development Programme to fight the causes and effects of poverty and disadvantage in urban and rural parts of Ireland. The new Local and Community Development Programme will see the merging of CDPs with Local Development Companies (aka Partnerships) during 2010. Here's a little about CDPs, up to the time when the LCDP was announced.

The projects, managed by the volunteers, also work to improve local services in their communities. The volunteers themselves know best – they are often the ones who suffered from the lack of services, or from discrimination or disadvantage and their personal experience of tough times mean that the projects really ‘belong’ to the community.
CDPs are autonomous in that the volunteers locally decide what the work priorities are and they receive Government funding subject to a number of conditions, including that they respect community development principles such as inclusion and equality. The funding pays for up to two staff, office rent and basic expenses.
Most projects employ a development worker (whose official title is project co-ordinator) and an administrator. Some have more staff, usually funded through other programmes.
‘Changing Ireland’ is managed on behalf of the projects in the Programme and on behalf of the Department by the Community Development Network Moyross Ltd (the local CDP).

Changing Ireland's Editorial Review Meeting 2008.

‘Changing Ireland's work in Moyross

‘Changing Ireland’ is part of Moyross. It is important to the ‘Changing Ireland’ project to be involved in the community in which it is based.
In one month in early 2008, for example, ‘Changing Ireland’ brought journalists from the New York Times, RTE’s Morning Ireland programme and the Sunday Tribune around Moyross to see and hear what the community is doing to better itself.
Moyross has been in the media spotlight and journalists have sometimes written about the area without visiting and meeting residents or people from the community. For example, a photograph showing the street where the ‘Changing Ireland’ office is based also showed the dashboard of the photographer’s car – he had been too nervous to step out of his car to take the photograph.
‘Changing Ireland’ plays its part in countering the stereotyped view of the area, along with other groups in the community.
The media often focus on the visible dereliction, but rarely highlight key ingredients in the community’s difficulties such as the high number of lone-parent families housed in the area by the local authority. Latest figures show that two-thirds of households here are headed by a lone-parent.
In our tours, we have been able to show there are over 40 active local community groups and most (though not all) residents like or indeed love the area. We highlight the positives while acknowledging the challenges and the number of positives is on the increase.
In 2007, Moyross was included as part of a major regeneration scheme for the city’s disadvantaged areas.
On a practical level, ‘Changing Ireland’ also provides regular paid work for some local teenagers. The magazine’s packing and distribution could have been subbed out to a company outside the area, but instead we employ local teenagers to work on the Packing and Distribution Team. For most of them, it is their first experience of paid work. The magazine is packed in Unit 3, The Bays, Moyross, with the co-operation of the local enterprise company.
Also, the magazine’s editor and administrator are involved in local initiatives (as 'Horse School' below demonstrates).

Horse School

‘Changing Ireland’ is based in Moyross and being part of the community means being involved locally. The following story comes from the pupils of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross:

The most educated young people in Ireland about horses are the pupils of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross.
“There are more horses in Moyross than anywhere else,” said Jeffrey Payne. “We had a farrier and specialists about horses here from the Curragh in Kildare to teach us how to care better for our horses, how to tie good knots, how to clean a saddle and soften it up,” explained Jeffrey, ably assisted by his class-mates, Tony Stanners, Conor and Colm Cantillon, Christopher Higgins, Eric Ryan, Martin Payne, Lee Quinn, John Stanners, Evan O’Keefe and Paddy Llewellyn.

There is some debate among the pupils over whether saddles are really useful. The Irish Horse Welfare Trust ran the course after home-school liason officer, Tiernan O’Neill, set it all up.
“I was so happy when I got my certificate,” said Martin Payne.
Twelve pupils completed the course, including Ger and Christopher Walsh and Danielle Tuite. It took place in February and March over six weeks and the pupils range in age from 8 to 12.
“We’ve even taught our teachers about horses. They were clueless before they met us,” said the class. “For example, they now know that horses like to eat oats, grass, nuts, potato skins and apples. We knew this even before the experts from the Curragh came down.”

• This report was written by the boys named above as part of a ‘Changing Ireland’ local media project. In May, the editor will work with the senior classes to produce the school’s first magazine.

‘Changing Ireland’ saved Programme up to €50,000

The ‘Changing Ireland’ project has saved the Community Development Programme up to €50,000 between 2001 and 2008 by providing media workshops without charge for CDPs and sister organisations. The project provides free media skills training to CDPs and has done so dozens of times around the country. The workshops are usually held for a number of CDPs at one time, for example, for all the CDPs in Co. Wexford.

The EDITOR

In 2001, Allen Meagher was recruited by the Community Development Network Moyross and together they founded ‘Changing Ireland’. In recent years, the editor has seen the project go green, go online and win mainstream publicity for those engaged in Community Development.

His work involves collaborating with local and national volunteer managers and Community Development workers and people in the Community and Voluntary Sector.

From 1995-'98, Allen lived and worked in The Gambia, West Africa, as a volunteer with APSO. He worked in a civil service position as a journalist/publications officer for the National Council for Arts and Culture and as a trainer with the Gambia Press Union. He has since worked as a City & Guilds course leader/lecturer, running the company's journalism courses in Limerick for three years.

Internationally, Allen has reported on development issues from Albania, Brazil and The Philippines.

He got his start in journalism as editor of a student union magazine in his native Cork. From 1990-'95, Allen worked as a journalist in provincial newspapers in Mayo, Tyrone, Wexford and in the Midlands. He also freelanced occasionally for RTE and for BBC Northern Ireland and was part of an award-winning BBC 'Spotlight' investigation.