COLLABORATIVE WORKING TOWARDS THE CREATION OF SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY NETWORKS

1. COLLABORATIVE WORKING TOWARDS THE CREATION OF SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY NETWORKS Vanessa Clarke Muintir na Tire Community Alert Development Officer Email veeceeze@hotmail.com

2. MUINTIR NA TIRE • Founded in 1937 By John Canon Hayes. • Based on the philosophy of good neighbour. • People are the building blocks of communities • Communities had capacity to respond to issues directly affecting them • Long history of community development • Parish halls, rural electrification, group water schemes, parish plans ,citizens info centres, • Numerous policy documents and lobbying on behalf of people of rural Ireland • Community Alert

3. COMMUNITY ALERT • Brainchild of Johnny Murray Cork • Response to vicious attacks on older rural dwellers • Approached Muintir na Tire • Muintir na Tire in discussion with An Garda Siochana agreed to an informal partnership • Partnership formalised in April 2002 with signing of Memorandum of Understanding first official state voluntary partnership

4. COLLABORATIVE WORKINGCOMMUNITY ALERT IN ACTION • Garda Siochana provides the services of a liaison member locally and of all ranks up to Community Relations HQ • Muintir na Tire provides services of a Regional Development Officers and supporting resources • Community provides volunteer committees and agrees extent of activity at local level based on human resources available to address prioritised community needs. • All partners engage with outside support agencies and service providers using community development process to provide the best community safety model possible in a defined area

5. SAFER COMMUNITIES ARE HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES Health is defined as a state of “complete physical, mental and social well being”. This definition was formulated in 1946 by the WHO • Determinants of community health and well being • Social and economic circumstances • Housing • Ethnicity • Stress • Gender • Early life Development • Social Exclusion • Work and Unemployment • Social Supports • RESILIENCE

6. COMMUNITY RESILIENCE • The ability to deal with stress and challenges • The ability to bounce back after taking a thump • It also is about adapting and changing our situations in challenging times so as not to be left with lasting consequences.. .physical, emotional or psychological.. Being perceptive • Developing a greater level of self resilience will not stop stressful happenings but we can reduce the extent of disruption to our communities and accordingly the length of time taken to recover after an event. • Community Development to build networks

7. SKILLS TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN A COMMUNITY • Recognising feelings.. Fear, loneliness, isolation, lack of information • Reaching out... Active citizens, caring neighbours... Listening ear.. Shoulder to cry on • Empathy... Sharing a concern is halving the problem. • Believing in your own and the community’s ability to self help.... • Community development .. Identifying problems ..analysing to find the cause .. Facilitating responses and availing of support networks, encouraging people to participate in social activity • Optimism.. Always a solution ..may not always be what one expects ...NB clear picture comes from consultation...

8. TAKING A PICTURE OF THE COMMUNITY • MAPPING ..... AUDITING • BENEFITS • Clear snapshot of resources, gaps , immediate and long term needs • Also provides the answers to many of the key ???? In a defined area. • Who are the key leaders or drivers? Are there other people in the community with potential who may be willing to become involved as activists? Are there experts in development or planning living in the community ?... Should the community be looking for partners? Is the community making key connections? • What resources are available to assist progress? • Models of best practice, • Mentors • Investment • Financial backers /Fundraising • Local support • How activity fits in with local, county and national planning and provision • NETWORKING

9. WHAT DOES YOUR COMMUNITY PICTURE DO? • Signals the start of a journey fro a community from the now • Provides a talking document, encourages conversations around possibilities • Identifies existing links and elements Links show relationships, information flows ,interactions and the directions all of these travel Elements are the people, groups, organisation, businesses, service providers and agencies knowing where the connections are, and are not, allows a community to influence all interactions. A community map pictures the existing ties within a defined area and is a useful tool to build strategies and to design new networks at all levels

10. What does a vibrant, effective community network look like? Five general patterns are observed in all effective networks: • Birds of a feather flock together!... Common goals, similar set up.. • Diversity leads to innovative thinking • There are several connections between any two elements direct and indirect... e.g. if any one element is removed there are other flows that will remain uninterrupted • The more flows there are between elements the more vibrant the network • Some elements are more prominent t than others ... Hubs and spokes

11. STEPS TO BUILDING EFFECTIVE NETWORKS Networks, are usually left to grow without a plan. Unmanaged, networks follow two simple, but what can be powerful forces. Birds of a feather flock together. 2. Those close by, form a tie. Result... Small groups with little diversity Typical of isolated rural communities that are resistant to change but yet for specific projects such groups can be very successful

12. ... SUCCESSFUL NETWORKS... • Experience shows that most communities start as small clusters organized around common interests or cause • Usually these clusters are isolated from each other. They are very small groups of 1-5 people or organizations that have connected out of necessity, • If these fragments do not organize further, the community structure remains weak and the groups f fall apart. • Mapping/ auditing in association with community development principles to action priorities is the sustainable route forward.

13. VIBRANT SUSTAINABLE GROUPS

14. LEADERSHIP Without active leaders or community drivers who takes responsibility for building a network, spontaneous connections between groups emerge very slowly, or not at all. This individual is the community knitter or weaver Instead of allowing small groups to drift in the hope of making a lucky connection, network weavers actively create new interactions between them.

15. Weaving Knitting Fabricating... • Network weavers or knitters4 begin with a hub and spoke network, where the crafter is the hub • The weaver the visionary The Canon Hayes has the picture the energy, and the social skills to connect to diverse individuals and groups and start information flowing to and from them. The weavers usually have external links outside of the community to bring in information and ideas. • This is a critical phase for community building because everything depends on the weaver who is the hub in the network. and should he or she leave the group may fall away. • Building relationships at this point is crucial to the success of the network formation • It is also possible that if multiple weavers are working in the same community that several hubs emerge start to overlap ,and duplication of provision occurs hence the need for collaborative discussions

16. GROWING THE NETWORK As the overall network grows, the role of the weaver changes from being the central weaver, the hub to being a facilitator of network weaving in the community – coordinating with, and mentoring of other network weavers. Network Weaving has two strands. relationship building, particularly across traditional divides, so that people have access to innovation and important information learning how to facilitate collaborations for mutual benefit.

17. COLLABORATION • Collaborations can be • simple and short term— local entrepreneurs purchasing supplies together community groups sharing resources , facilities, merging to avail of mentoring.... Bartering sharing expertise • complex and long term • such as a major policy initiative or creation of a venture fund. This culture of collaboration creates a state of emergence, where the outcome—a healthy community—is much more than the sum of the many collaborations. • The local interactions create a global outcome that no one group could achieve working alone.

18. Barriers to Collaboration • A multi-hub network may be not be conducive to collaboration where political and ‘turf’ issues are to the fore in the network. • If two or more community development organizations start battling over power and control of the community then the result may be two or more competing, single hub networks that ignore the larger community needs and just focus on survival of their own network.

19. Ultimate goal for network builders Using similarity to build trust and diversity to introduce new ideas • To build a network within a defined area • To foster collaboration at all levels for mutual benefit • To empower the elements of the network to become weavers themselves and create further and greater networks Together we are better

20. Thank you for your listening

21. BASIC COMMUNITY ALERT MODEL Community Alert based on the good neighbour ethos Set up with a committee structure Committee agrees area boundary and erects signs to define area Co-operation with agencies and other voluntary groups encouraged to avoid duplication of activities. Core activity of group to Compile and maintain a list of vulnerable community members , keep in regular contact with those living alone or in isolation, increase awareness within the community of safety issues

22. COMMUNITY ALERT PROJECTS • Visitation of isolated persons • Information events • Good morning call services • Social event organisation • Text alert cascade system for all community members • Ur nvr 2 lte 2 lrn 2 txt for older persons. • Be Safe Be Seen • Bottle in the fridge • I CE Card • Community Smoke Alarm installation • Warmer Homes Attic Insulation • Small scale home improvements

23. Working Together we not only create safer communities we create better communities AGENCIES ME SERVICE PROVIDERS YOU