The new Empowering Communities Programme aims to empower local communities to craft their own responses to area based poverty, social exclusion and the resulting consequences. This programme will initially be targeted in the Ballinasloe region.

The aim is to enhance the Citizens’ voices in Ballinasloe and allow others to have their voice heard for the first time. We hope to identify areas of overlap and gaps in services that we can then try to close collectively. This will be a people-focused, capacity building and collaborative effort.

Having the voice of the community both empowered and engaged will help to ensure this initiative has a sustainable future. There is a significant body of work to be done in developing and facilitating relationships between the local community and other relevant stakeholders.