From Department of Rural and Community Development
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Minister for Community Development and Charities, Joe O’Brien, has today, (Wednesday 19 October), officially launched an agreed set of Values and Principles for collaboration and partnership with the Community and Voluntary Sector.
The launch took place at Outhouse Resource Centre, Capel St in Dublin, a community and voluntary organisation supporting the LGBT+ Community, their friends, families and allies.
The publication of these Values and Principles copper-fastens the renewed relationship and partnership between Government and the Community and Voluntary sector, which has been central in addressing the crises of recent times.
Developed by the sector, in partnership with Government, the aim is to support values such as social justice, and active participation along with principles like respect, collaboration and value for money.
The Values and Principles will be used by central and local government, as well as state bodies, as a basis for their interactions with the community and voluntary sector in pursuit of the best outcomes for all communities.
Minister O’Brien said:
“I am really pleased to launch these shared Values and Principles today. They will form the bedrock of engagement and collaboration going forward. I am very proud of our record in working with the community and voluntary sector, but I know we can always go further. Our mutual objective to support and empower communities and the individuals within those communities has allowed us to come to a shared understanding and to articulate the values and principles that bind and drive both the sector and state.
“These Values and Principles will support consultation, inclusion and participation of communities, particularly disadvantaged communities, in public policy and decision-making at all levels and forms a foundation for collective approaches to local and national issues. The success of this initiative will ultimately be in the realisation and embedding of these Values and Principles, and I look forward to championing them.”
The values and principles were warmly welcomed by all government departments and will now be championed by the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The document is now available and the Department of Rural and Community Development will issue information to each department and local authority in the coming weeks.
This initiative forms part of a range of measures being undertaken by the department to support the community and voluntary sector, and to empower thriving, sustainable communities across Ireland.
Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, the 5-year strategy to support the community and voluntary sector in Ireland, sets out a long-term vision for our communities in Ireland. It sets a general direction of travel for government policy in relation to the community development, local development and the community and voluntary sectors for the coming decade.
One of the commitments in the five-year strategy is the adoption of an agreed set of values and principles for collaboration and partnership working at national and local level.
Values:
Principles: