The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Dr Katherine Zappone, has today announced the awarding of over €2m to 51 organisations across the country implementing diverse and innovative projects aimed at improving the lives of children, young people and their families in local communities and nationally.
Each of the organisations successfully applied to the Quality and Capacity Building (QCBI) Innovation Funding Measure launched by the Minister on the 4th of April this year. The funding measure attracted a high volume of applications. It should also be noted that the measure is supported by funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund, which is overseen by the Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Seán Kyne, T.D. The funding exemplifies the objectives of the Dormant Accounts legislation, which is to assist the development of people who are socially, economically or educationally disadvantaged and help those with a disability.
The measure being administered by Tusla, is providing once-off financial support for two types of projects proposed by organisations until the end of December 2018. SEED projects are receiving a minimum of €10,000 to try out new approaches or programmes in their communities to address unmet needs of children and young people facing disadvantage. SCALE projects are being supported to build on existing programmes, models, or approaches that have shown promising outcomes for children and young people by increasing the scale or spread of the approach in their communities, organisations or areas of work.
Central to each of the successful projects is a commitment to curiosity about what works in improving the lives of children, young people and their families. Each organisation is expected to support the staff working on the successful project to critically examine the work and impact of their project or service. They are being encouraged to ask questions such as ‘Is this improving the lives of children? How do we know? Are we doing the right things? Can we improve our service? What can we do differently?
In awarding the funding under the QCBI Innovation Fund, Minister Zappone stated:
“Young people can be trapped in disadvantaged based on their background, location and family circumstance.
We need to ensure people working with these children, young people and their families are given an opportunity to take a step back and look at the work they are doing. I recognise that frontline workers are fundamental in improving children’s lives.
We have learnt so much over the past couple of decades about how to improve our services for children and young people. This once off funding will give many organisations an opportunity to implement some of that learning for the first time. For others, it’ll give them the space to think differently about the services they are delivering.
I have been heartened by the interest in this funding opportunity and the commitment shown across the country to ensure the services provided by local communities and national organisations can have the greatest impact possible on children’s lives.”
Tusla as administrators of this fund will be in contact with all applicants to the scheme over the coming days and will liaise with successful applicants to advance the processing of funding. Further details on the application process are available on the DCYA and Tusla websites.