Remarks at the launch of Inaugural Knowledge Exchange Forum of the Advocacy Initiative
Dublin City Council,13th February, 2012
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin agus cneasta.
I am delighted to be here today at the launch of this Knowledge Exchange Forum of the Advocacy initiative. I would like to thank Kieran Murphy and Anna Visser for inviting me to speak to you.
I heard a story that someone once pithily described knowledge exchange as the ability to recruit smart people and then get them to talk to each other. We all know that, as well as being smart, the community and voluntary sector is full of committed and generous people. That is why they have chosen to serve the public in its widest sense. And now, through this Knowledge Exchange Forum, you have a wonderful opportunity to talk to each other in a structured and meaningful way and to explore means of sustaining the dialogue so that it delivers tangible benefits for your service users.
Most of you in this room operate on the front line of engagement with your service users. From such experience, you know better than most that people are hurting; families are really struggling to make ends meet; our young people are being lost to involuntary emigration; our society as a whole is traumatised by the collapse of an economic model that was assumed to be unbreakable and offered infinite consumer possibilities. In such an environment, the community and voluntary sector have a critical role to play in supporting social cohesion and maintaining the community fabric of our society. Absent those stabilising forces, the social consequences of austerity might be far more acute than have been experienced to date.
Unfortunately, just when we most need a dynamic and effective community and voluntary sector, its capacity is under pressure as a result of the financial resources it receives from the public and the private sectors being reduced. In this very challenging context, the Advocacy Initiative is hugely important in ensuring that the policy makers and resource allocators fully understand the critical importance of the community and voluntary sector in navigating the current turbulent seas and that the sector itself is fully joined up in its strategic thinking and priorities.
The goals of The Advocacy Initiative are admirable. It is seeking to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of social justice advocacy and stimulate informed debate on this subject within the sector itself and with the State. The initiative also seeks to strengthen capacity across the network of social justice advocates – something which I believe is very important if we are to optimise the capability of the sector to effectively engage with critical stakeholders such as government and the media.
I believe that this initiative can be very important in developing the relationship between the community and voluntary sector and the State. It aims to promote more effective and constructive advocacy strategies that have a positive and discernible impact on the lives of the service users and, in particular, of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised. There is an ongoing need to ensure that the available resources are directed in a targeted and effective manner, and that the sector’s activities are subject to objective appraisal.
In exercising our responsibility to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities, it is important that the emphasis on frontline services is maintained. Reduced financial resources mean that the priority must be to provide simplified, easy to access, quality and cost-effective services for those who require them most. The degree to which the State embraces, supports and resources the voluntary sector clearly has a major influence on its capability to constructively impact on those sections of society who are most in need. Also important, particularly in a period of austerity, is the voluntary sector’s capacity to manage its own resources, avoid duplication and fragmentation, create effective partnerships and synergies with other players and maximise the value that is being delivered to the service user.
As indicated earlier, I am very conscious of the importance of the community and voluntary sector to the well-being and development of our local communities. The economic difficulties facing the country have undoubtedly impacted greatly on both public and private funding of the not-for-profit sector, at a time when the need for services from the sector has significantly increased. No sector – public or private – should operate in isolation from others and we all have a duty of corporate care for each other. When it comes to the most in need in our society, the State and the community and voluntary sector are serving the same group of citizens. The success of our collective efforts to assist the poor and the marginalised depends on all corporate stakeholders acting with responsibility, with integrity and with due regard for the impact of their actions on others.
There is great scope to enhance the delivery and coordination of services and resources at a community level. By developing the relationship between statutory agencies, local government and local community organisations, we can together deliver better services and we can do it in a more efficient way. These organisations are natural allies – they work to the same constituents at a local level and it is in their mutual interests to work together in a more coordinated fashion.
We are fortunate in this country to have a vibrant and diverse non-profit sector – there are thousands of charities and non-profit organisations which contribute to Irish society in a myriad of ways by providing essential services in areas such as social care, childcare, eldercare, health services, education, the environment, sport and culture.
While we are aware of the social value that these organisations bring to our quality of life, perhaps we do not fully recognise the scale of the sector in terms of its economic impact. The wider non-profit sector in Ireland employs over 100,000 people - equivalent to the numbers employed in agriculture. This does not include the tens of thousands of unpaid volunteers who make an enormous difference on a daily basis in every parish in the country – from Tidy Town committees to ‘Meals on Wheels’ to GAA clubs.
The quality of life in our society, and the ultimate health of our communities, is greatly influenced by the willingness of people to become involved and be active citizens - active on behalf of themselves and their families, their communities and the more vulnerable members of society. There is a wide range of social and community initiatives operating across Ireland, all of which are only possible because radical new alliances have formed between communities, voluntary agencies, government, and business. Having travelled the length and breadth of the island during a long Presidential campaign, I have experienced at first hand the high levels of self-confidence, professionalism, skill and sense of cooperation that now exists in communities and across the voluntary sector in Ireland.
Modern society faces complex problems that cannot be simply addressed by channelling more funds - important though funding is. They require ethical and innovative thinking, as well as generous and flexible responses, by all stakeholders at national and local level. But I believe that this is where the vision, the dedication and the tireless efforts of leaders in the community and voluntary sector can make a huge difference.
I am very aware that there is a huge diversity of community and voluntary organisations represented in this room. Your areas of expertise vary. Your target groups, objectives and goals are different. However, I suspect there is a great deal of commonality in many of your needs. I am sure that you will be anxious to use this forum as a way of promoting cohesion between all organisations represented here, as well as increasing your collective capacity to influence the debate about the shape of the future economy and society that will follow the demise of the failed Celtic Tiger.
The tasks of advocacy, it is sometimes assumed, end with a success in achieving legislative initiative or change. You will know that the administrative delivery following a legislative change is often more important if more difficult.
Perhaps one of the most beneficial things you can do for each other today is simply to listen, to empathise, to encourage and to stay the course. At the best of times, it’s not easy in the voluntary and community sector to maintain one’s sense of enthusiasm and energy. The ever increasing needs of the client base, the relentless quest for the necessary financial resources, the evolving demands of more complex and more accountable administration all have an attritional impact on even the most committed soul. When the environment is one of austerity and cut-backs, it must be particularly difficult to maintain one’s resilience, to cope with the stresses and the strain and to keep the show on the road.
My message to you is that you must find the resilience and determination in yourselves, and in each other, to continue the good fight. The advocacy of the community and voluntary sector for social justice is needed now more than ever. It’s needed in the short term so that the people you work to serve – the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalised – are kept at the forefront of our collective thinking and concern during this period when difficult decisions are being made about resource allocation. It’s needed in the longer term so that the future dimensions of our economy and society, the model that will follow the speculative failure of the Celtic Tiger, has the space to fully include and enfranchise all our citizens, irrespective of their wealth, social status, gender, sexual orientation or ability and disability. The sector not only responds to existing needs, it identifies new needs.
I want to conclude by thanking you for the opportunity to address this event. I wish you well in your discussions today, and your endeavours to promote understanding of, and the quality of, social justice advocacy in Ireland.