Making Inclusion a Reality
Making Inclusion a Reality: Supporting the active participation of disabled people in development of housing policy in South Dublin County Council
Independent Living Movement Ireland (ILMI), is seeking tenders to carry out participatory training that will build the capacity of disabled people to engage with their local Housing Disability Steering Group (HDSG) in South Dublin County Council. The participatory training will be underpinned by a human rights and equality framework.
The successful tender will work with ILMI to support the development of a network of disabled people to work as a group to:
- inform the development of housing policy and provision; and
- establish models of best practice to inform South Dublin County Council’s development of their Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty in relation to disability.
The learning from this project will primarily be how to tap into the invaluable resource that is the lived experience of disabled people. The learning will be transferable to all Local Authorities and other public bodies. This will provide a model of excellence in citizen engagement for the entire country.
This project is a partnership between ILMI and South Dublin County Council (SDCC). This project is funded by the Irish Human Rights Equality Commission (IHREC) Access to Rights and Access to Justice Grants Scheme.
Who is ILMI?
ILMI’s aim is to support disabled people to achieve Independent Living, choice and control over our lives and full participation in society as equal citizens.
As a national representative Disabled Person’s Organisation (DPO). ILMI promotes the philosophy of Independent Living and works to build a truly inclusive society. Development of evidence-based social policy is essential to achieving the key objectives in our Strategic Plan 2019 – 2022. Central to the way we work is ensuring that the policy decisions that impact on our lives must be directly influenced by those with the lived experience – ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’.
Our vision is an Ireland where disabled people have freedom, choice and control over all aspects of their lives and can fully participate in an inclusive society as equals.
We are working collectively to create an Independent Living Movement in Ireland led by disabled people, promoting a rights-based social model of disability, challenging the unacceptable a charity / medical view of disability. We are working towards the removal of societal barriers that prevent active equal participation of disabled people, challenging the denial of people’s rights and the promotion of the philosophy of Independent Living.
Our core values are underpinned by the philosophy of Independent Living and all activities are aimed towards promoting: Independence, Options, Rights and Empowerment.
Aim of Making Inclusion a Reality
The project will establish a model of excellence to promote the real and effective participation of disabled people across all impairments in county and local representative structures. ILMI will also use the opportunity to ensure Statutory bodies invest in supports to ensure structures are compliant with Article 4.3 and article 29 of the UNCRPD, Goal 10.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (Reduce inequality within and among countries). The project will also be about establishing models of best practice for public bodies in how to engage with disabled people in the design, delivery, implementation and monitoring of policies that impact on their lives, including the public sector duty.
Key Objectives of Making Inclusion a Reality
1. Establish and support the development of a network of disabled people on a cross-impairment basis to work together to identify housing issues in SDCC.
2. Build the capacity of disabled people to effectively represent their community on the HDSG.
3. Build the capacity of non-disabled members of the HDSG to frame their work based on disability equality, the Public Sector Duty and the UNCRPD.
4. Establish a model of excellence for effective participation and pathways for disabled representatives to have structured support in place for them to authentically represent the views of disabled people in SDCC and feedback information to the network.
5. Document the learning from the process to act as a model of excellence for HDSGs, Local Authorities and Statutory bodies of how to resource and support disabled people to engage in policy forums and practical steps to support meaningful and authentic representation to eliminate discrimination and promote equality as per Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014).
Key project timeline:
October: Tender and recruit contract project worker.
December 2020: Establish Steering Group from partner organisations and agree terms of reference.
December: Liaise with key stakeholders to promote project among disabled people in the South Dublin area to recruit participants.
January 2021: Begin training with disabled people to establish SDCC housing network and look at roles and responsibilities of Housing Steering Group representatives and continue over course of project through combination of face to face and technology such as Zoom.
January 2021: Disability equality training sessions with Statutory members of HDSG.
February 2021: HDSG session on UNCRPD and Public Sector Duty to establish terms of reference based human rights and equality.
March to June 2021: Support representatives on a series of HDSG meetings in SDCC and ensure information flows from disabled people to committee and flows back to community.
July 2021: Qualitative evaluation with all key stakeholders.
August 2021: Publish and disseminate a report documenting model of excellence learning from process.
The successful tender for the project will produce the following reports:
- Monthly reports to the ILMI CEO.
- Evaluation of the project with participants (including members of the SDCC Housing Disability Steering Group).
- Arrange and schedule a programme of ILMI Disability Equality Training
- One-to-One supports with disabled people involved in the representative and information sharing process of the project’s key activities.
- Final report to ILMI.
The successful tender will facilitate a number of Zoom discussions to establish and support the development of a network of disabled people on a cross-impairment basis to work together to identify housing issues in SDCC. Working with ILMI, the successful tender will build the capacity of disabled people to effectively represent their community on the HDSG. The tender will gather and collect information to document the approach, successes and challenges.
The work should begin in December 2020 with a final report completed by August 2021 and be completed over a five-month period. It is anticipated that the work will be entirely completed by end of July 2021.
It is estimated that the research will take 25 days to complete, between facilitating the network, evaluation and final report.
Tenders should demonstrate:
- Relevant research experience, an understanding or experience of issues affecting disabled people.
- A proven commitment to human rights and equality.
- Proven experience of working with disabled people (or other similar groups who have experienced social exclusion).
- Commitment to the values of the ILMI and the philosophy of Independent Living.
- Evaluation and report writing experience.
- Experience that demonstrates ethical standards will be met throughout the research process, and ensuring that data protection and confidentiality provisions will be met.