In 2018, 25 organisations were awarded funding for projects under the Commission’s Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme 2018.
The grant awards include support for research, education and training on human rights and equality, activities for promoting the integration of migrants and other minorities, equality including gender equality, and respect for diversity and cultural difference. The Commission welcomed over 100 applications for the awards from across the country.
Now in its third year, the Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme 2018 was open to Irish based groups working to further human rights and equality in communities and nationally, including local groups, civil society groups, and public bodies.
The Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme is part of the Commission’s statutory power to provide grants to promote human rights and equality under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014.
In awarding the 2018 grants the Commission focused on two overarching themes, in line with its strategic focus:
The successful projects are outlined below:
Theme A – Intercultural Understanding and Diversity
with Stoneybatter Youth Services/Bradog Youth Services.
The ‘TeenZone’ project is a fine arts and collaborative workshop programme which aims to foster intercultural community integration among youth groups from 13 – 18 years old.
with Carlow Community Development Project and Rohingya Action Ireland.
Led by third level students from Carlow College, this project will record the stories of ethnic minority women (including Traveller women) living in the Carlow area to create a secondary school resource which aims to raise awareness and visibility of cultural diversity in the community.
with Maynooth University’s Department of Learning, Society and Religious Education, Heritec and NI Intercultural Education Services.
This project aims to promote intercultural understanding and diversity through a new innovative onsite Intercultural School Programme as well as digital learning resources designed to contribute to social cohesion and the individual and collective wellbeing of every child in Ireland, irrespective of geographical restrictions. The project aims to raise awareness, provide training for teachers and deliver sustainable learning resources that can be shared with schools to inspire and support intercultural learning as reflected in the cultural diverse populations that now exist in Irish schools and communities.
Following Ireland’s recent recognition of Traveller Ethnicity, this project will undertake a legal review of the appropriateness and adequacy of the Caravan Loan Scheme.
Focused on the Co. Donegal Roma Community, this project aims to develop an approach and strategy to promote and enhance effective, positive intercultural relations and awareness.
with ENAR.
This project aims to develop an interfaith Hate Crime reporting, recording and responding initiative to augment and encourage social cohesion in an intercultural & multi-faith Ireland.
with the Humanist Association of Ireland.
This project will develop a set of guidelines for Religious Education teachers who work with minority faith and other students in Irish Post Primary schools, aiming to build research evidence and raise awareness and understanding of challenges and opportunities impacting on the provision of equality and respect for the human right to freedom of minority beliefs.
This project will deliver rights-based training sessions to staff and service users to ensure women, children and families in emergency accommodation and associated projects receive an appropriate, equitable and quality service and are empowered to engage effectively with other social service providers.
This research project aims to investigate whether Ireland is compliant with the right to education as set forth in the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
This research project aims to promote greater integration and inclusion of refugees and their families into Irish society by highlighting the need to provide additional supports and services to families arriving through family reunification.
An Cosán Virtual Community College (VCC) will partner with International Protection Applicants (IPAs) in Direct Provision to co-create a blended learning programme to address participants’ employment rights, civic participation, and social inclusion.
The Young Travellers Programme aims to empower young Travellers to build a better future for themselves by creating with them a space where they can come together to unlock their potential, come up with solutions to their challenges, and develop their own unique voices.
Theme B – Supporting Implementation of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty
This project will collect stories from people with lived experience of poverty to illustrate the ways in which respect, dignity, participation, inclusion and equality are experienced as they avail of public services. The stories will form the base of a process that helps participants to voice the need for change within public service provision.
This project aims to promote awareness and understanding among service users of their human and equality rights and of Public Sector Duty, supporting this vulnerable group of rights holders to know how to use the complaints system and to address the issues they have named to be of concern to them.
This project will provide training to local authorities on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and how it relates to the Public Sector Duty.
with Trinity College Dublin.
This project will provide a detailed report to support the implementation of the Public Sector Duty in a number of public bodies which play a central role in the Irish justice system.
This project will build on work done to date by the LCDC on the Public Sector Duty, aiming to strengthen a culture across the public sector that is committed to proactively promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect human rights.
This project aims to deliver awareness and capacity building training to staff in Local Authorities on their obligations under the Public Sector Duty. Training will also be delivered to persons with disabilities and their supporters on understanding and vindicating their rights under the Duty. These sessions will inform a report which will be created for use by other public bodies on how they can meet their obligations under the Duty.
The project will examine how the Public Sector Duty can be used to ensure that the human rights are
respected within the Coroner system, with resulting activities, training and recommendations for legislative reform.
This project aims to put the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty into practice through advancing a rights-based and patient-centred approach to the provision of abortion care in Ireland.
This project aims to raise awareness of intersectional discrimination and human rights breaches against people with disabilities in detention, build capacity among civil society organisations and state bodies to recognise and address challenges and eliminate discrimination, and ensure individuals with severe disabilities receive appropriate care in alternative rehabilitative settings.
This project aims to develop awareness and training materials for providers of public, private and voluntary services that promote the principles and practices of rights-based care provision.
Theme AB
This project aims to provide a Certificate in Building Capacity and Enhancing Leadership in Intercultural Understanding and Diversity programme to public bodies in order to support them to identify and address specific or multiple human rights and/or equality issues of relevance to their work for people accessing their services and for staff.
with Louth County Council.
This project will see the preparation of a joint Migrant Integration Strategy by Meath and Louth County Councils to support and promote integration and be responsive to the needs of migrants and ethnic minority communities.
with Cork Deaf Association and Kerry Deaf Resource Centre.
This project will design an auditing template for use by public sector bodies, for the purposes of identifying deficiencies in Deaf cultural awareness and exposing audist systems and practices. Use of the templates will allow public sector bodies to assess their capacity to fulfil their duties as set out in the IHREC Act 2014 (Section 42) and to support the effective and meaningful implementation of the Irish Sign Language Act 2017.