merrion street

Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne today (24 February, 2017), encouraged all stakeholders to have their say on the new programme to address poverty, long term unemployment and social exclusion. The Minister was speaking at the first of the consultation events by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government on the next iteration of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme, SICAP.
SICAP aims is to address poverty, long term unemployment and social exclusion, through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies.
Speaking at the consultation event today Minister Byrne said: “The thing that strikes me most about the current SICAP programme is its diversity, the huge variety of work being done in communities and its capacity in addressing real problems and in assisting real people who are experiencing sometimes very challenging difficulties. Some of what I experienced at the front-line, especially during my time working as a volunteer in my own community, was the need for people to be heard, to be supported, and to be put on course to making the right decisions for themselves and their families.”
Over €100 million has been invested in communities through SICAP since it commenced in April 2015. This includes an allocation of €19 million under the European Social Fund (ESF) Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020 and the Youth Employment Initiative. SICAP has helped provide building blocks for local and community development in Ireland and part of its vision is to improve the life chances and opportunities of those who are marginalised in society or living in poverty. SICAP comes to an end in December 2017 and the Department has now commenced a consultation process, involving key stakeholders, to help inform the next iteration of the programme, which is due to commence in 2018.
Minister Byrne said “I witnessed, first hand, the care, sensitivity and commitment shown to the harder to reach through SICAP services. SICAP is a vital support for communities and today is the start of a process to ensure that it remains so into the future. While no major overhaul of SICAP is on the cards there is a need for fresh thinking and innovation. The tried and tested method or the ‘safe’ approach is not always the right one. We always have to look at what can be improved and strengthened. I would encourage everyone to have their say on this very important issue."

Note to the Editor

SICAP is a key intervention for the harder to reach whose delivery in each Lot is being overseen and managed by the relevant Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) in each Local Authority area. LCDC’s bring a more joined-up and coherent approach to the local management of public-funded programmes in the areas of economic, social and community development, including SICAP. The primary means through which this will be achieved will be the development and implementation of the community elements of the Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP).These plans look to coordinate the delivery of community supports within the area of operation of the LCDC. Whilst complying with the programme’s aims, objectives and requirements, Programme Implementers (PIs) are expected to ensure that actions set out under SICAP reflect the priorities and needs identified in the community aspect of the LECP, which emerged from extensive local consultation processes.
Pobal, acting on behalf of the Department, supports and assists the LCDCs in managing and overseeing the SICAP contracts, and uses its national oversight role to provide Programme progress reports to the Department on a county, regional and national basis.
SICAP 2 Consultation
SICAP will end on 31 December 2017 and the Department is committed to providing a successor programme to provide for the continued delivery of local development and social inclusion services. While a large scale re-design of SICAP is not envisaged, rather a fine tuning of the current programme, the Department has undertaken to consult with a broad range of stakeholders on the design of the successor programme.
Minister Byrne is leading out on the consultation with her attendance at the national event today. A further series of events and focus groups will be held in the first half of 2017 at regional and national level, and all interested parties will be invited to participate. Crowe Horwath has been engaged to run the consultation process on behalf of the Department.
The new programme will also be influenced by the results of a series of SICAP evaluations planned. These include a DPER Value for Money Policy Review of the programme in 2017 and an in-depth evaluation by the Department in collaboration with Pobal and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The programme is also subject to evaluation as it receives co-funding under the European Social Fund Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020. The results of these evaluations, as well as the Department’s consultations with relevant stakeholders over the coming months, will also help inform the shape of the next programme.