The Dublin City Community Co-operative, formally known as Dublin Inner City Community Alliance, was established in November 2014. We are an alliance of 13 grassroots, Dublin inner city, community development organisations which have come together to ensure the much needed development and delivery of social, economic and cultural services continues within our communities. All 13 members receive fun
ding under the Social Inclusion Community Activation Program (SICAP) and operate in the most disadvantaged areas of the inner city. In the last five years a number of factors have contributed to Dublin’s inner city communities becoming increasingly less visible and without a voice at a time when the country was in austerity, community development funding was being slashed and services were most needed. We formed the Dublin Inner City Community Alliance which, in 2014, became the legal entity it is known today. The Coop operates to community development principles and a social inclusion ethos forms the basis for all communication with stakeholders. The following principles are key to our way of working:
Collective action: Community work is based on working with and supporting groups of people. It enables them to develop knowledge; skills and confidence so that they can develop an analysis, identify priority needs and issues and address these through collective action. Empowerment: Community work is about the empowerment of individuals and communities, and addressing the unequal distribution of power. Social Justice: Community work is based on a belief that every person and every community can play an active role in creating conditions for a just and equal society where human rights are promoted and all forms of oppression and discrimination are challenged. Equality & Anti-Discrimination: Community work challenges the oppression and exclusion of individuals and groups by institutions and society that leads to discrimination against people based on ability, age, culture, gender, marital status, socioeconomic status, nationality, skin colour, racial or ethnic group, and sexual orientation, political or religious beliefs. Participation: Participation is about the involvement of groups who experience social exclusion, marginalisation and discrimination in decision making, planning and action at all levels, from the local to the global. Participation can be viewed as a continuum of activity that can start from information sharing through capacity building and empowerment to active engagement and meaningful participation in democratic processes. A critical element of the Coop's work is with ‘hard to reach’ target groups. The ‘hard-to-reach’ are those perceived as difficult to engage due to their social circumstances, characteristics and behaviours, and their institutional relationships, such as not using health or other services. Hard to reach communities and individuals are diverse but they include those who face barriers to participation, including economic and social barriers, such as, but not limited to class, income/wealth, geographic location, language, age, gender, ethnicity, education, residential status, health and religion. Successful interventions respond to the needs, characteristics, and local circumstances of the hard to reach group. The 13 Coop member organisations are based and work specifically with these target groups, and are acutely aware of the impact of disadvantage in these communities; we are committed to working towards a more inclusive society, and targeting scarce resources at disadvantaged communities.
