Development Work

In response to shootings and the activities of crime gangs in Darndale in Dublin and Drogheda in Co. Louth, a new place-based Leadership Development Programme was launched recently. It has high aspirations in areas beset by gang crime.

Lantern festivals are popular the world over - from Hong Kong to Banjul to the Rhineland - and now they’ve seen the light in West Limerick! Askeaton’s ‘Féile Laindéir’  brought the River Deel to life in ways never before seen.

Published on behalf of the Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) the new magazine focuses on LEADER projects and work by the 49 not-for-profit Local Development Companies in the State.

“The violence and anti-social behaviour that was endemic in Garryowen last summer stands as a bleak testament to the need for substantial investment in community space and community services” - John Buttery, Garryowen Community Development Project co-ordinator.

Humour should be recognised by academia as a tool in non-formal education settings and for engaging youth. It should be part of the curriculum on courses purporting to teach youthwork and related subjects, say the organisers of a comedy festival with a difference, held in June.

Remote working in the extreme: From Germany to Inishturk, Co. Mayo

In Wexford - as  featured in our long read here -  community workers under SICAP made people welcome during a pandemic. The same good community work is happening across the country, from Inchicore to West Mayo. It is but one of many #SicapStories. It would make for an ideal television series, as amateur film-makers are proving.

The pandemic has shown us more than ever the importance of self-care, writes Nicola Browne. She asks - why are social justice organisations so slow to practice what they preach when it comes to wellbeing?