Community Development
GRD has Community Development Officers based in Ballinasloe, Tuam and Rosmuc. Officers engage with community groups in their own areas and offer support for groups to develop their skills through advice, mentoring, training and small grants. Training needs analysis conducted in disadvantaged areas and other community consultations and surveys have identified issues that groups want assistance with and GRD Officers work closely with other agencies to help address these.
GRD has a range of online training courses for community groups covering topics such as; Data Protection, Corporate Governance (Including BoardPASS – a governance management system), Human Resources and Marketing. The data protection training, for example, would be very useful for members of groups as a new Data Protection Regulation Law was introduced in Ireland in May 2018. Courses are free and members of groups can be issued with a username and password to access these courses. These courses usually take about an hour to two hours to complete online and you receive a certificate after you complete the assessment.
Social Enterprise
GRD also supports the development of new and existing social enterprises. A Social Enterprise is an enterprise whose objective is to achieve a social, societal or environmental impact, rather than maximising profit for its owners or shareholders. It pursues its objectives by trading on an ongoing basis through the provision of goods and/or services, and by reinvesting surpluses into achieving social objectives. It is governed in a fully accountable and transparent manner and is independent of the public sector. If dissolved, it should transfer its assets to another organisation with a similar mission. (Government of Ireland, 2019, National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019-2022) Supports include training / mentoring (including access to the GRD on-line training suite), small scale grants and networking opportunities.
Karyn Gavin
Community Development Officer
- Ballinasloe
- 090 9645111
- 087 6217917
- kgavin@grd.ie
Melinda Coen Ryan
Community Development Officer
- Tuam
- 093 26211
- 087 6467879
- melindacoenryan@grd.ie
Steve Dolan
Chief Executive Officer
- Athenry
- 091 844335
- sdolan@grd.ie
Mícheál Mac Donnchadha
oifigeach forbartha pobail
- Ros Muc
- 091 574858
- 087 1946890
- mmacdonnchadha@grd.ie
Patricia Kelly
Social EnterprisE OFFICER
- Athenry
- 091 844335
- 087 9131379
- patriciakelly@grd.ie
Anne Cassidy
SICAP Team Leader
- Athenry
- 091 844335
- 087 7685711
- acassidy@grd.ie
iGaillimh
The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018 – 2022 is funded by the Irish Government through the Department of Rural and Community Development and co-funded by the European Social Fund under the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014 – 2020.
Tá an Clár Gníomhachtúcháin Pobail agus Cuimsiú Sóisialta (SICAP) 2018 – 2022 maoinithe ag rialtas na hÉireann trí an Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail agus arna chómhaoiniú ag Ciste Sóisialta na hEorpa faoi an Clár um Infhostaitheacht, Cuimsiú agus Foghlaim (PEIL) 2014-2020.