€350,000 support for 25 projects supporting intercultural relations and the implementation of the public-sector equality and human rights duty
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (“the Commission”) has today announced the 25 organisations awarded a total of €350,000 in funding for projects under its 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:
- Intercultural understanding and diversity – activities which promote awareness and understanding of interculturalism and support effective, positive intercultural relations.
- Supporting implementation of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty – activities which support implementation of the Public Sector Duty. The legal obligation all public bodies have to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and protect human rights. This obligation is set out within Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014.
Emily Logan, Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission stated today:
“The Human Rights and Equality Grant Scheme 2018 sees the Commission using its statutory role as Ireland’s national human rights and equality body to support nationwide activities to promote human rights and equality.
“The grant scheme empowers a broad range of human rights and equality initiatives taking place across the country. Nearly all of the awarded projects are already underway, directly supporting communities to become stronger in practical ways.”
ENDS/
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Notes to editor:
The Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme 2018
The full list of organisations receiving the Human Rights and Equality Grants Scheme 2018 are:
Theme A: (Intercultural Understanding and Diversity)
| Organisation | County | Project |
|---|---|---|
| BlueFire | Dublin | 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. |
| Carlow College – St Patrick’s (Collaborative Project) | Carlow | 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. |
| Chester Beatty Library | Dublin | 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. |
| Community Law & Mediation | Dublin | Following Ireland’s recognition of Traveller Ethnicity, this project will undertake a legal review of the appropriateness and adequacy of the Caravan Loan Scheme. |
| Donegal Travellers Project | Donegal | 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. |
| Dublin City Interfaith Forum | Dublin | 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. |
| Dublin City University, Anti-Bullying Center (ABC) | Dublin | 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. |
| Good Shepherd Cork | Cork | 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. |
| Maynooth University Department of Law | Kildare | 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). |
| Nasc the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre | Cork | 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. |
| The Shanty Educational Project Limited | Dublin | 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. |
| Tipperary Rural Traveller Project | Tipperary | 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)
| Organisation | County | Project |
|---|---|---|
| ATD Fourth World Ireland CLG |
Dublin | 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. |
| Community Action Network CAN | Dublin | 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. |
| Disability Federation of Ireland | Dublin | 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. |
| Free Legal Advice Centres | 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. |
| Galway City Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) | Galway | 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. |
| Inclusion Ireland | Dublin | 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. |
| Irish Council for Civil Liberties | Dublin | 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. |
| Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) | Dublin | 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. |
| Irish Penal Reform Trust | Dublin | 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. |
| National Safeguarding Committee/ HIQA | Dublin | 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. |
Combination theme (incorporating elements of both A and B)
| Organisation | County | Project |
|---|---|---|
| Institute of Technology Carlow | Carlow | 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. |
| Meath County Council | Meath & Louth | 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. |
| University College Cork – School of Applied Social Studies | Cork | 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. |