Take a deep dive into a #SicapStory – From Malawi to Wexford
In Wexford – as featured in our long read here – community workers under SICAP made people welcome during a pandemic. The same good community work is happening across the country, from Inchicore to West Mayo. It is but one of many #SicapStories. It would make for an ideal television series, as amateur film-makers are proving.
Community pub hubs should be put to work ASAP
Pat Kennedy urges Government not to allow its plans for the use of pubs as community spaces to get stalled by bureaucracy.
People new to Ireland to learn ‘an cúpla focal’ this month
Free Irish language and sean-nós dance classes are being offered to new Irish communities in Meath, Louth and Cavan this month through a collaboration by Cultúr Migrants Centre and Conradh na Gaeilge. The online classes are some of the many events taking place across the country – mostly online – during this year’s Seachtain na Gaeilge.
“Initiatives such as these, while they may seem tokenistic, actually play a very important role in helping migrants and refugees to assimilate and integrate into Irish society and culture,” says Sorcha Grisewood who interviewed those involved in the collaboration:
‘The Peoples Transition’ sings of bottom-up development
A new report signals that we are on the threshold of a possibly great era for community development, local development and social justice. It explains how we can best tackle inequality from the bottom-up. The report by social justice think-tank Tasc and colleagues in Europe puts people and local communities at the heart of the transition. ‘The Peoples Transition’ points out that if the transition is not fair it will not be made at all. Davie Philip reports:
121 Family Resource Centres looking to the future
SUMMARY: A special report was published last month to mark the 25th year of the national Family Resource Centre Programme. The 60-page visionary document is called ‘Our Story’ and it looks back but also forward as Family Resource Centres celebrate their grassroots successes. In 2020, all 121 centres played an important role in helping communities respond to the pandemic.
Social enterprise sector has a new representative body from today
CAPTION: A year ago – last July 19 – the Government’s first National Social Enterprise Policy was launched and, in November, the first National Social Enterprise Conference (run by the Department of Rural and Community Development) took place in Croke Park. Pictured among the attendees are two of the founders of a new body launched today called ‘Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland’ (Seri) – Larry O’Neill, CEO of South Dublin County Partnership and Senan Cooke, author of ‘The Enterprising Community’. They are pictured here with Bernie Walshe from Sunflower Recycling. (PHOTO BY: Changing Ireland).
One Minister, two Departments: Community in Cabinet
In 1997, “Community” became a named function of a government department for the first time. It has remained in usage ever since. So how come Minister Heather Humphreys is responsible for two departments, one including Community? Allen Meagher reports:
Tomorrow we’ll know if this is monumental, or an historic footnote
Here’s a comprehensive analysis of what the proposed Programme for Government says that should concern and interest the many people devoted to community development and social inclusion.
New Distance Travelled Tool set to begin its journey
The new My Journey: Distance Travelled Tool is set to launch, but what can be learned from its introduction event?
Are pub hubs the answer to a lack of community spaces?
There’s no doubt that community facilities are immensely useful for many reasons, but what can you do if your community can’t afford a new building? With pub hubs, Pat Kennedy may have the answer.
SICAP report calls for bottom-up approach to evaluation
A new report on the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) was published earlier this year. Here, Allen Meagher covers the main points.
Social farming: Gaining experience in the field
As the concept of social farming gains traction around the country, Changing Ireland takes a look at the overall picture.
3 co-operatives abroad that will inspire at home
On the eve of the UN and International Cooperative Alliance’s International Day of Cooperatives, we’re revisiting a spread from our June-July 2018 issue (Issue 60) drawing on cooperatives from around the world for examples of best practice.
4 SICAP success stories and the LDCs behind them
Consistently showcasing successes can give those holding the purse strings confidence in the work. Some companies are already doing this, and have been able to do so on a national stage.
Why do we still have to justify community work’s existence?
The work of community development and social inclusion organisations has a consistent track record in Ireland. So why do those organisations continually have to justify its existence?
Could social inclusion consultations have been simple tokenism?
At SIF 2019, feedback from community representatives seened to ask one big question: was consultation on the new social inclusion strategy all a sham?
What happened at the first ever meeting of the Pullough Men’s Shed?
As Men’s Sheds become more and more popular around the island, Changing Ireland attends the very first meeting of the Pullough branch.
The Big Hello: How can you get to know the neighbours?
Wish you knew more about the people living next door? Here’s your opportunity…
No job? No problem: A Terenure crash course in entrepreneurship
Often, it can be the more vulnerable people in our communities who have the most difficulty finding ways to be self-sustaining. Here, Terenure Enterprise Centre enterprise support officer Vasilena Vasileva explains what they did with Walk to change that.
Community workers share experiences at SICAP consultations
At a series of consultations that sought frontline views of SICAP, case studies and stories gave us a detailed picture.
Social farming: A closer look at the growing initiative
Following on from a successful visit to a Co Kerry social farming open day, Allen Meagher takes a closer look at what it’s all about.
Social farming open day: ‘It’s not tied to old ideas of farming’
Farming is a vocation as well as a way to make a living. Imagine sharing farming life with people who need to catch a break, but who may also not know a thing about farming… That’s social farming and it’s changing lives.
New caps on moneylending could end exorbitant interest rates
As laws come into effect to cap moneylending rates, Olive McCarthy and Noreen Byrne of the University College Cork (UCC) Centre for Co-operative Studies explain why they support it.
Horace asks: Have you been sigh-capped?
Former agony uncle Horace McDermott has come up with a new approach to help promote SICAP. To make sure everyone can pronounce it he is introducing tattoos.
Is social inclusion our best weapon in the fight against the far right?
People forced to the margins of society are far more likely to be radicalised, so why aren’t we talking more about successful social inclusion approaches?
The Secret Librarian: “What kind of society do we want?”
As a raft of new services are announced for Ireland’s libraries, we ask our Secret Librarian for their take on the upcoming changes.
330 libraries to become ‘community hubs’ under new strategy
As Minister Michael Ring launches the new library strategy, we learn more about what the library of the future might look like.
Minister Ring launches 5-year anti-poverty programme
Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring officially launched the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in Limerick on 20 April.
How to get your Mojo back
When reporter Ray Lucey spotted a poster promising ‘male spaces’, he started asking questions. He encountered Mojo, and learned all about the nationwide initiative.
Further perspectives on ‘Alignment’
– Excerpts from reports by Dr Brendan O’Keeffe, Niall Crowley, Debra Mountford, Seán O’Riordan:
2 PROGRAMMES TO BE MERGED – CURRAN IN CAVAN
The Community Development Programme, first established in 1990, is to be absorbed into a new unnamed programme that also incorporates the Local Development and Social Inclusion Programme.
