Case Studies   Urban Regeneration in the City of Dublin: Partnership structures and integrated area planning

Area based partnerships

In all three neighbourhoods, area based approaches had already been developed through other initiatives. Kilmainham-Inchicore provides a good example of the area based approach in practice. One is the development of a local partnership, which is called the Canal Communities Partnership (Brennan, 1998). Local area partnerships are government inspired local organisation framework designed to mobilise local interest and stakeholders around a common agenda designed to combat poverty and social exclusion (Walsh et al. 1998). They are intended in other words, to inspire bottom-up rather than top-down responses to local social problems (though paradoxically, the initial impetus to the formation of such partnerships came from central government and was therefore top down). The Board of the Canal Community Partnership consists of 16 members and they are drawn from the Community Sector, the Social partners, Statutory agencies, and two elected representatives from Dublin City Council. The Canal Community Partnership has a remit in the following areas:

• Community Development

The Community development team works in partnership with community interests in enhancing their capacity to address problems of disadvantage and exclusion.

• Childcare

A key aim is to provide support to new and existing community childcare projects within the partnership area.

• Education

The partnership seeks to address education disadvantage and underachievement through for example its support for a small number of complementary education programmes for primary school children, and adult education programmes.

• Local Employment Service (LES)

Provision of services to long term unemployed job-seekers that live in the partnership area.

• Enterprise

Provides the necessary supports to unemployed people who want to become self employed.

Integrated Area Planning    Integrated Services Project