Roscommon Women’s Network – Roscommon Intercultural Women’s Group
Name / Title | Roscommon Women’s Network – Roscommon Intercultural Women’s Group |
Case Study Region | West of Ireland |
Geographical coverage | Roscommon |
Type | Project; advice service |
Main activity / focus
| Roscommon Women’s Network (RWN) is a community development project and is funded by the Department of Community Rural and Gaelic Affairs. Advice centre that set up a specific intercultural project for the women of Roscommon. |
Target beneficiaries / market | Female immigrants living in County Roscommon |
Year established | 2007 |
Current Funding source(s) | Department of Community Rural and Gaelic Affairs and the Combat Poverty Agency |
Participants | The Roscommon Women’s Network |
Website | No website |
Description
| Roscommon Women’s Network (RWN) is a Community Development Project and is funded by the Department of Community Rural and Gaelic Affairs – RWN in existence since 1998 but the voluntary group sought and was successful in getting funding to be a Community Development Project in 2005. Nora Fahy is the project leader. In 2007 RWN received money from the Combat Poverty Agency to initiate a women’s integration project. As a result RWN successfully started a Women’s Intercultural Group. It is this segment of the RWN that is relevant to the Work Package. In 2007, the Women’s Network brought a group of 28 women together to initiate a project to commemorate UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The women were selected following a series of informal networking and the Roscommon Intercultural Action Group was unofficially formed. The largest project undertaken by the women was the designing and making of an Intercultural Quilt. The women involved were from Ireland, UK, Pakistan, America, Russia, Brazil, Germany and a number of women from Africa. The making of the quilt was a huge success and provided an opportunity for many immigrant women to come together on a regular basis to meet and complete the quilt. The quilt was launched by the RWN and was such a success that in 2008, Jim Higgins (Irish MEP) organised for a number of the Intercultural Action Group to attend an Intercultural Action Conference in Brussels and to display their Quilt. The project was part of the Roscommon Women’s Network involvement in the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008. The group were guests of Mr Higgins in Brussels during a once off celebration of Irish and African Music in the Institute for Ireland in Europe, in Leuven, Belgium on the 4th of November and a conference in the Committee of the Regions on the 5th of November. Following on from the Intercultural Quilt Project the Group under the auspices of the Women’s Network the Intercultural Action Group designed and sold a postcard displaying the quilt and a book recounting the lives of the immigrant and Irish women involved in the group. The project was hugely beneficial to local immigrant women as it involved them in the local community and allowed them to interact with local Irish women while completing the quilt. The development of the group and the completion of the Intercultural quilt were highly successful for the Irish women involved as well as the immigrants. It afforded them the opportunity to get to know immigrant women in their community and they were considerably enriched as a result of the experience. The Intercultural Group still meet on a regular basis, however there is considerably financial difficulties attached to transporting the women to Castlerea. At present the funding situation of Women’s Network centre does not allow them to fund the group on a regular basis or indefinitely. This was a simple project initiated by the Roscommon’s Women’s Network but it had considerable intercultural benefits for many members of the Roscommon community not just the immigrant women. The project provided an opportunity for Irish and immigrant women to interact in addition the project was a confidence ‘boast’ for many immigrant women and it propelled them into joining other organisations in addition to seeking further training and information that was relevant to their lives in Ireland.
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Contact details
| Mrs Nora Fahy, |