A JOINT application to set up a Traveller support initiative has been successful, Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) has announced.
The collaborative application on behalf of CLDC, Clare Women’s Network, Clare Public Participation Network (PPN) and the HSE’s Mid-West Traveller Health Unit has been endorsed by several other community and voluntary organisations around the county. The monies will now be provided by Department of Rural and Community Development’s Pilot Project Community Development Fund.
More than 120 projects around the country applied for this funding and the Clare collaborative group are delighted to have been one of only seven successful applications to the one million euro fund.
Doirin Graham, CEO of Clare Local Development Company welcomed the news saying that this much needed funding would secure a Traveller specific initiative. “We want to ensure that Travellers are involved at every level of this project and are front and centre in the decision making roles,” she said. “With our organisations’ support we can lend the institutional and governance guidance to help to get the project up and running and to support it until it is on a solid footing.”
The application itself highlighted the urgent need for a Traveller-specific organisation in Clare and where effective methods of participation by the Traveller community in the decisions that affect their lives have not been established.
One of the issues for the Traveller community in Clare is accessing funding available for training, mentorships, social enterprises, educational and political advocacy.
Without a dedicated organisation there is no entity working with the community to support them to identify these needs and to apply for funding to respond to them.
It is their explicit aim that over the proposed three years of the scheme the Traveller Community Development Organisation will become fully independent and Traveller-led and develop a strong grass roots voice to address social exclusion, poverty, and to advocate for Traveller’s Human Rights.
She added that she hopes that this fund will be a stepping stone towards equality for the Traveller community and that it will be able to build on previous work done by Ennis Community Development Project, the Traveller community themselves and other such organisations in Clare.
It is hoped that the final details of the project will be ironed out over the coming weeks by CLDC and their collaborating partners.
Those who would like more information are invited to contact Darina Greene on 087-9086561 or dgreene@cldc.ie.