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LGBT Diversity is looking for a part time Admin Intern based in Cork. Unfortunately we can't pay but we can offer valuable work experience! For a full job description please email info@lgbtdiversity.com.
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The tender for the LGBT Parenthood Research project is now available on Active Link: http://www.activelink.ie/node/3037
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GCN Issue 248 August 2010 pages 30, 31 & 32
THE BIG BUILD
A new programme is working beyond Ireland’s urban areas to develop, support and ultimately aim towards building a sustainable lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) sector that works together across the country. Brian Finnegan talks to the people taking up the challenge.
Two years ago, with funding from Atlantic Philantropies, a group of nine LGBT organisations came together in a Joint Working Group (JWG) to create a programme aimed at developing a sustainable LGBT sector in the Republic of Ireland. The result of the work of the JWG is the creation of LGBT Diversity, a programme that will work over the next two years in areas across Ireland that currently have few support structures for LGBT people. The programme has two parallel strands, an LGBT strand and a specific Transgender strand. The LGBT strand has employed three Development Workers, along with a Programme Manager and an Administrator, to take up the challenge. There are three Programme Regions: the North West covers West Cavan, North Roscommon, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, and Longford; the Midlands covers Galway, Laois, Offaly, South Roscommon, Tipperary North and Westmeath and the South East covers Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.
“It’s about three things,” says Derek McDonnell, LGBT Diversity’s Programme Manager. “Building the capacity of existing groups and organisations; strengthening support for LGBT people, especially in rural areas; and building the capacity of the LGBT sector nationally.
“For instance, there is some really good work happening in Kilkenny and Waterford at the moment, but they are working separately. How can Kilkenny and Waterford support each other and what kind of support can LGBT Diversity give them?”
The answer, Derek says, is networking, and LGBT Diversity has a clear programme in place whereby groups from across the country, from both the regional and urban areas, will come together to share information, skills and experience.
“We’re going to arrange regional networking meetings and every year we’re going to have national conferences,” he says. “We’re hoping that this year the regional meetings that happen in September will feed into the national conference, which will happen in November. This year’s conference will be focused on capacity building for LGBT organisations, building a strong foundation for collective LGBT work and sustainability for the sector.”
Members of the LGBT community who are often overlooked or sidelined are transgender men and women, and with this in mind LGBT Diversity is teaming up with the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) to support their Development Worker, Vanessa Lacey.
“The isolation felt by transgender people is enormous,” says Vanessa. “We’re 20 or 30 years behind lesbian and gay people in that respect. The more transgender people who come out, the more those who are in the closet will see that it //is// safe to be out. While LGBT Diversity will be supporting groups to set up or continue in existence, I will be supporting them with their understanding of the issues that affect trans members of those groups. LGBT Diversity, in turn, will be supporting me in my work across Ireland with all the groups specifically targeted towards transgender people.”
While many areas of Ireland that have little or no LGBT groups or support networks are covered, because of financial constraints, LGBT Diversity was not able to employ development workers to cover Cork, Kerry, Dublin, Limerick, Clare, Louth, North Cavan, South Tipperary and Monaghan.
“The counties that have been left out have established organisations working in their region,” says Derek, whose office is in Cork. “Cork has the Gay Community Project. It has L.Inc, which is the lesbian community organisation. Limerick has Rainbow Support Services, and what we’re hoping is that they will cover Clare, Kerry and South Tipperary. Louth, Cavan and Monaghan have Dundalk Outcomers. Dublin has its own organisations. We are, however, including all of the counties in our regional and national seminars. We won’t be leaving them out.”
Of course, money is a key part of developing sustainable community sectors, and a large part of the work to be undertaken by LGBT Diversity is around fundraising and helping groups and organisations access grant aid.
“We’re working very closely with the Community Foundation of Ireland (CFI) to establish a grant scheme specifically for the LGBT sector,” says Derek. “They are really on board and have put in €25K, while LGBT Diversity have also put in €25K, for people working on LGBT issues to apply for grassroots funding. We hope that this €50K will be available annually from October onwards.”
The Development Workers will be available to LGBT groups and organisations to support them in submitting grant applications. “We won’t be sitting down and filling in the forms for them, but we will assist them in the process.”
Along with that, a fundraising professional has been engaged by the Joint Working Group to research and access other strands of funding that may be available. “It may be about endowment funds, or it might be about funding individual pieces of work,” says Derek. “Our goal is always looking towards sustainability.”
Derek and all the LGBT Diversity workers want people in the various areas to know that, while they fully care about the issues individuals face, they are not employed to give one-to-one support for people with difficulties around their sexual orientation or gender identity. “We will refer them on to the right agencies, but we are not trained in one-to-one support and it’s not our specific job. We’re not facilitators of groups, or there to manage groups. Our job is to facilitate development and to assist groups towards sustainability,” says Derek.
“We have a motto. We’re going to work as hard as everyone else. So the groups that we’re working with will work equally as hard as us. In two years we will be winding down this programme, so we want to make sure the groups know how to do the work beyond the time we are working with them. It’s a 50/50 process...”
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LGBT Diversity would like to welcome Marriage Equality and NLGF as the newest members of the Joint Working Group (JWG). This brings the number of JWG members to 11.
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