Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Community Development
• Social Inclusion
• Sustainable Development
• Equality
• Human Rights
• Climate Justice

Environmental Achievements

• Not disclosed

Social Achievements

• Supported community groups and organizations to identify and meet their training needs; implemented a formal program of training (including governance training) to meet these needs and support capacity in groups and organizations.
• Developed and supported mechanisms that capture and share good practice.
• Developed a volunteering strategy based on the White Paper on a Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity and for Developing the Relationship between the State and the Community and Voluntary Sector.
• Supported community groups and organizations to identify and meet their training needs, and implemented a formal program of training (including governance training) to meet these needs and support capacity in groups and organizations.
• Designed, promoted, and implemented a comprehensive program to support capacity among leaders, board members, and volunteers of community and voluntary organizations, including voluntary board members of local development and community development organizations.
• Supported capacity in Public Participation Network social inclusion colleges.
• Developed education and training mechanisms based on the All Ireland Standards for Community Work for those charged with implementing and monitoring community development.
• Developed and supported a continuum of education and training opportunities for those involved in community work on a voluntary basis, people employed, but not qualified, in community work to acquire qualifications, continuous professional development for qualified, employed community workers, and other staff in organizations with a community development remit.

Governance Achievements

• Developed and sustained national, regional, and local structures and policies that facilitate and promote effective local development, autonomous community development, and meaningful engagement of marginalized communities.
• Adopted an agreed set of values and principles for collaboration and ‘partnership-working’ at national and local levels.
• Developed long-term strategic community development and local development programming in partnership with national organizations and local government with greater local flexibility, ring-fenced funding streams for marginalized groups and communities, and evaluation frameworks that secure an appropriate balance between quantitative and qualitative evaluation; measure outcomes, outputs, and impacts; and are not overly burdensome.
• Supported participative and deliberative approaches for developing public policy, including establishing a Civic Forum for formal dialogue between the sector and local and central government.
• Developed values and principles, and guidelines, protocols, and benchmarks to promote good practice consultation, engagement, and participation in the relevant processes of local (e.g., Local Community Development Committees, Children and Young People’s Services Committees, Strategic Policy Committees, and Joint Policing Committees), regional, and national decision-making structures.
• Developed guidelines and protocols to ensure diverse representation and equality, including gender-balanced representation (underpinned by revised Consultation Guidelines and Principles).
• Developed mechanisms and protocols for progress reporting and feedback to communities.
• Ensured social inclusion, community and voluntary and environmental seats on local authority decision-making structures are nominated via the Public Participation Network as per Public Participation Networks User Guide, and Guidelines for the Operation of Local Community Development Committees.
• Implemented a program of process reviews to continually strengthen local engagement by communities with decision-making structures.
• Provided public information and education programs to enable people, particularly those from marginalized communities, to engage in national and local democratic processes.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Poverty and deprivation rates remain a concern.
• Challenges imposed by Brexit and Climate Change, potentially more deeply felt by those living in poverty and with social exclusion and inequality.
• Annual funding approaches are less efficient and significantly limit the effectiveness of community development, which requires long-term support and approaches to build effective local relationships between community workers and communities.
• Funding organizations for the ‘additional marginal’ service provided, rather than the actual cost of delivering the service, often requires organizations to provide public-funded services at a loss, threatening their sustainability and, ultimately, the services they deliver.

Mitigation Strategies

• Developed a long-term vision for communities in Ireland with actions to be implemented over the next five years.
• Co-produced the strategy by Government and people from the community development, local development, community and voluntary, and local government sectors.
• Developed a sustainable funding model to support the community and voluntary sector, recognizing the importance of a multi-annual funding approach as the standard for community development, local development, and community and voluntary programs, and public-funded projects and programs generally; an appropriate cost-recovery model for public-funded programs delivered by community and voluntary organizations, including costs of compliance and relevant overhead and administration costs; core funding for autonomous community development and local development at the local level, including employment of professional community workers; and supports appropriate to their mission for social and community enterprises consistent with those available to business start-ups.
• Developed appropriate compliance and monitoring arrangements and supported capacity in the community development, local development, and the broader community and voluntary sector to meet them, including reviewing the appropriateness of regulatory compliance requirements, developing and implementing a strategy to reduce, streamline, and standardize all public-funded program and regulatory monitoring, reporting, and compliance requirements, where appropriate, and resource and support organizations to fulfill compliance requirements.
• Reviewed the current national practice in relation to the commissioning model and developed a model reflecting a collaborative, partnership, and whole-of-government ethos and prioritizing societal value and community need.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Not disclosed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Not disclosed

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Null

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• Not disclosed