Inishowen Development Partnership (IDP) are hosting a virtual event on Thursday 1^st July 2021 at 11am to launch the organisations new Strategy Document plus the highly anticipated report from the EnVision consultation held with communities across Inishowen in 2020.

The event, which will be held online, will be presented by renowned freelance Journalist and Inishowen dweller, Kathy Donaghy, with music by special guests “The Henry Girls”.

Helen Nolan, Chairperson of the Voluntary Board of IDP, welcomed the launch event noting, “This is a great opportunity for our various stakeholders to learn about our future vision and to hear about emerging themes and areas of work across our 14 programmes for our busy team at IDP.”

Shauna McClenaghan, Joint CEO said “We are delighted to host this event and it is open to anyone who would like to come along and find out about our strategic vision and what development themes are emerging in communities in Inishowen – for all communities within the peninsula.  We started an extensive consultation in 2019 and continuing the dialogue over the past 12 months, IDP presents both our own company’s Strategic Vision, which will guide the future of the organisation over the next six years, taking into consideration possible organisational and external factors during that time, as well as outlining what our communities across the peninsula have told us about their project ideas and priorities as emerged from the Envision Series. We feel our vision aligns very well with many of the themes being presented in the “Our Rural Future” – Rural Development Policy 2021-25, such as advocating for an integrated place-based approach to rural development and maximising the impact, coherence and effectiveness of resources into local communities,” she added.

Denise McCool, Project Officer said “the Envision series is part of the core work of IDP, so it is fitting that we launch our report alongside the IDP Strategic Vision Report as it fits within our strategic vision.  The emphasis throughout was on People Place and Progress to focus on Inishowen and tell the story from 10 localities across the peninsula.  (People; supporting and connecting individuals and communities to engage in and lead local development and training initiatives; Place; working towards a sustainable, regenerative place to live, work and play, while protecting our environment and supporting innovation and Progress; aiming to address poverty and disadvantage through working collectively for the common good, as well as ensuring our most marginalised are included and empowered through this process of community development). 

The approach taken by IDP when EnVision Inishowen was developed and delivered in 2018 and 2019 with EnVision Carndonagh was based on the World Café approach. This approach is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue.  A number of actions and initiatives were identified over the course of the Envision series and some are already up and running, led by community and/or organisations. Mary McCallion, Community Links Officer said that feedback from participants was very positive, “Many stated that it was a great opportunity to connect at a local area level, and afforded them the opportunity to hear about ideas, challenges, and opportunities.”

There were several cross-cutting themes emerging from the discussions including environmental protection, eco-tourism, training, heritage, community collaboration and sustainable development.  Andrew Ward, Joint CEO noted that this series of workshops was very timely in seeking areas of interest within our community. “The recently announced transitional LEADER programme”, he added “may be able to help to get some of those seed projects off to a good start and pave the way for the future projects in areas of climate change, digital transformation, remote working, and enterprise development to meet the expectations of the EU in terms of the requirements of its Recovery funding criteria. This new programme will bridge gap between EU LEADER programming period”.

We are extending this invitation to all our stakeholders across the sector.  The event is expected to last no longer than 90minutes, and we believe it will be a great way to hear how IDP are planning ahead for the future.