A newly established monitoring framework will help the Galway City Partnership to ensure that its work succeeds in reaching out to the most highly excluded groups in its catchment area.

The formal monitoring and review framework – the first of its kind within the country’s local development sector – has been produced in collaboration with the University of Galway.

A key objective of the framework is to assist GCP’s Community Development Workers in the evaluation of their work whist an additional focus is to reach and promote the participation of highly excluded groups.

Galway City Partnership is a local development company dedicated to promoting social inclusion, community development, and equal access to opportunities for all residents of Galway City.

One of its main programmes is SICAP – the Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme which is managed by the Galway City Local Community Development Committee and funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development.

SICAP provides funding to tackle poverty, social exclusion and long-term unemployment through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies.

SICAP has recently won the United Nations ‘Institutional Resilience and Innovation Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic’ award and has been positively evaluated by the ESRI.

The new framework has been facilitated by the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (UCFRC) at the University of Galway. Its mission is to help create the conditions for excellent policies, services and practices that improve the lives of children, youth and families through research, education and service development.

CEO of GCP, Linda Sice Brogan told the report launch that the framework will be an essential tool in ensuring the effectiveness of community development and social inclusion work in the city,

“It is important to use our funders’ money well but most importantly, we need to get the best impacts for the target groups in the community, especially those who are experiencing or are at risk of social exclusion,” she said.

“Galway City Partnership has deep links into all communities in the city but funding is always limited and so we welcome this framework which will help us increase impact even further.”

“We have a uniquely skilled community development staff team and together with our partners at the University of Galway, they have been key to ensuring that this Framework has been developed so effectively,” she added.

She paid tribute to her predecessor, Declan Brassil, who led GCP for two decades and who had initiated the project.

Professor John Canavan of the Child and Family Research Centre at University of Galway, working with the Galway City Partnership, devised a draft framework of practice monitoring and review based on the core values of Collectivity, Community Empowerment, Social Justice and Sustainable Development, Human Rights, Equality and Antidiscrimination.

At the launch event, he outlined how the process has opened great conversation and challenged groups to reflect.

“I am confident this process and the investment that staff and community groups have put into it will lead to even greater impact from community development work in Galway City not alone here but also in how it can be applied right across the country,” he said.

The report launch was attended by members of the Galway City LCDC, staff from Galway City Council, state agency Pobal and many community groups across the city.

Pictured: CEO of Galway City Partnership, Linda Sice Brogan with GCP Chair Tommy Flaherty and  Professor John Canavan of University of Galway at the launch of the new Community Development Framework.