Work done by Combat Poverty in the past has significant resonance in the current social and economic climate. Among our previous anti-poverty programmes were:

• Having Your Say Programme (2005-2007)
• Mainstreaming Social Inclusion Programme (2003-2006)
• Local Authorities and Social Inclusion Programme (2002-2005)
• National Anti-Poverty Networks Programme 1992-2003
• Demonstration Programme on Educational Disadvantage 1996-1999
• Community Arts Pilot Programme 1993-1994
• Third European Poverty Programme 1989-1994
• Women's Networks Programme 1993-1995

Having Your Say Programme

The underlying philosophy of Having Your Say was that policies intended to tackle poverty are more likely to be successful if the people and communities for whom they are designed are involved in their planning and implementation. The programme ran from 2005 to 2007 and had four objectives:

• To promote awareness and knowledge amongst anti-poverty groups, public officials and elected representatives of the right of people in poverty and their representatives to be actively involved in policy decision making processes
• To initiate and support work that enhances the policy skills and capacities of groups of people experiencing poverty, their representatives or organisations supporting them
• To work in partnership with policy-makers to increase their understanding of the issues related to and implications of involving people in poverty in policy making
• To strengthen the integration of anti-poverty practice by community and voluntary organisations into the policy advice role of Combat Poverty.

Publications

Having Your Say programme guide:

Programme summary:

Catalogue of Having Your Say Programme publications:

Mainstreaming Social Inclusion Programme

Mainstreaming social inclusion is the integration of poverty and social inclusion objectives, including an equality perspective, into all areas and levels of policy-making. The MSI Programme was a three-year research project to advance the understanding of mainstreaming as a policy tool in social inclusion. It was funded by the European Commission through the Transnational Exchange Programme (TEP), DG Employment and Social Affairs. The Programme had three objectives:

• To contribute to a wider understanding of how mainstreaming social inclusion might be integrated into national policies
• To develop the concept
• To provide operational tools for those involved in the formulation of policies, in decision-making, for administrators and service providers responsible for the implementation of these policies and for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that represent people experiencing social exclusion and poverty.

More information and documentation on Mainstreaming Social Inclusion is available on the Programme's website www.europemsi.org.

Local Authorities and Social Inclusion Programme

The overall aim of this project was to exchange information and build on good practice on local government in addressing social exclusion. The project had partners in Sweden and the UK. The programme had two key themes, which were explored within the context of integrated local development initiatives to regenerate disadvantaged urban and rural communities.

• The role of mainstream services in promoting social inclusion, especially in relationship to cross cutting themes
  • Political leadership – the role of local elected representatives
  • Cross-service areas e.g. child poverty, gender issues, disability, refugees
  • Organisational and cultural change

• Involving and engaging all social partners in the policies and initiatives needed to promote social inclusion
  • Strategic Partnerships which include partners including other local public service providers, business, communities and excluded groups
  • The role of NGOs at local level
  • Involving the excluded in policy development and implementation

Publications

Introduction to the LASI Programme:

Report of the Local Government and Social Inclusion Transnational Conference, Dublin Castle, June 2003:

LASI Country Report:

National Anti-Poverty Networks Programme

The aims of the Programme were to assist the National Anti-Poverty Networks to develop their capacity to contribute to policy development at national level and to draw policy lessons from their experiences at local and national levels. Combat Poverty provided support through core funding to the network activities, advice and support to networks and facilitated partnership and policy development between networks. Member Networks included:

• The Community Workers Co-operative (CWC)
• Irish Traveller Movement(ITM)
• Forum of People with Disabilities
• One Parent Exchange Network (OPEN)
• Irish Refugee Council (IRC)
• Irish Rural Link (IRL)
• Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU)
• Children's Rights Alliance (CRA)
• Older Women's Network (OWN)
• European Anti-Poverty Network - Ireland (EAPN)

For further information on the Programme, see the Networks Brochure:

Demonstration Programme on Educational Disadvantage

Educational disadvantage has been an area of concern to Combat Poverty since the early 1990s when it was recognised that interactions between home, school and the community can result in young people deriving less benefit from formal education than their peers. Many young people leave the formal education system with few or no qualifications. They are then at a disadvantage in the labour market, their personal and social development may be stunted and it may lead to poverty and social exclusion. Combat Poverty, through the Demonstration Programme on Educational Disadvantage, established and supported local networks that developed integrated responses to the problem in their areas. Combat Poverty developed structures that influenced policy at national level through drawing from these local experiences. Three strands existed in the programme: local network structures, research & evaluation, and policy formation.

Publications:

Educational Disadvantage in Ireland (out of print - download only):
Integrated Services and Children at Risk (out of print - download only):
Policy Responses to Educational Disadvantage: see our Publications Catalogue
Educational Disadvantage and Early School Leaving: see our Publications Catalogue

Community Arts Pilot Programme

Community arts are a creative a powerful way to tackle poverty, social exclusion and disadvantage. The Pilot Programme enhanced community arts practice and developed imaginative and wide-ranging policies and programmes to address poverty at local, regional and national level. As well as training and improving resources for community arts practitioners, it provided a forum for developing policy from the experiences in community arts including visual arts, crafts, oral history, music and drama. The Programme was an initiative of CAFÉ (Creative Activity for Everyone) and Combat Poverty Agency supported by the European Horizon Programme.

Projects included:

• Women's drama group the Balcony Belles, North Wall Women's Centre, North Wall, Dublin 1
• Community arts for older people, women in the home and young school leavers: Pléaráca Teo, Rosmuc, Co Galway
• Drama and art in community development: Parents Alone (now known as Doras Buí), Parents Alone Resource Centre, Bunratty Drive, Coolock, Dublin 17, 01 848 1872
• Traveller culture with emphasis on music: Pavee Point, www.paveepoint.ie
• Knocknaheeney/Hollyhill Community Action Project, Cork (no longer operational)
  

Third European Poverty Programme

Poverty 3 was built on the experience of the previous EU poverty programmes focusing on social exclusion and economic/social integration. It aimed to contribute to the development of preventative measures for groups at risk of becoming economically and socially marginalised and to develop corrective measures to meet the needs of people who were disadvantaged. It was a test bed for new organisational and strategic approaches to tackling poverty at local level. The European dimension to the programme supported the transference of methods, know-how and identification of good practice.

Combat Poverty played a role in establishing three projects in Ireland and supporting community sector involvement in them:

• Paul (People Action Against Unemployment Limited) now the Paul Partnership, Unit 25, The Tait Centre, Dominic Street, Limerick, 061 419 388
• Forum, Northwest Connemara Rural Project, Connemara West Centre, Letterfrack, Co Galway, 095 41116
• Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group (DTEDG - now known as Pavee Point), 46 North Great Charles Street, Dublin 1, 01 878 0255 www.paveepoint.ie
• The Brownlow Community Trust was established in Craigavon in Northern Ireland as part of the UK programme
  

Women's Networks Programme

Women's Networks Pilot Programme supported five regional networks in Waterford, Clare, Tallaght, Clondalkin and Galway. It explored the types of supports appropriate to women's groups in disadvantaged areas and how best to highlight women's poverty at a national level. The five networks were:

• Clare Women's Network, 2 Bank Road, Ennis, Co Clare, 065 682 8731
• Clondalkin Women's Network, Westwood House, Main Street Clondalkin, Dublin 22, 01 405 6796
• Waterford Women's Network (no longer operational)
• Western Women's Link, 091 770 4111
• Women Together Tallaght, Brookfield Enterprise Centre, Brookfield, Tallaght, Dublin 24, 01 462 7741

Further Information

For further information on programmes now concluded, please contact our Library & Information Service on 01 602 6643 or library@combatpoverty.ie.

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