Literacivic

Our sixth service – Literacivic – has now been developed through the creativity, engagement and reflections of the Literacivic Working Group who are:

Chair: 

Catherine Byrne – Atlantic Philanthropies

Members:

Alison Gilliand - INTO
Barry Fitzgerald - Barrister
Catherine Joyce -  Barnardos
Charlie O`Neill - PCC
Helen Barry - Artist / BRYR
Mark O`Brien - Axis Arts Centre
Maura White - CAN
Paula McCann - Ballymun Law Centre
Susan McKay – NWCI

The brief to the working group was in the context of

• youngballymun’s overall mission and strategy
• discussions and analysis across the design and implementation of our other services
• reflections from national and international gatherings such as the Barnardo’s Conference ‘Tomorrow’s Child, the Children’s Rights Alliance Conference ‘Are We There Yet ‘ and the 2009 World Forum on Early Care and Education 

to develop a community-wide awareness raising strategy encompassing the themes of communications, community, civil society and the rights of the child.

Developing Literacivic

The working group conducted three workshops  in the Spring of 2010 -
March 9th, April 14th and April 21st.

For the April 21st workshop on Civic Literacy the Chair invited three key figures from the world of education and the arts – Bernie Brady, the Director of AONTAS, Fiach Mac Conghail, the Director of the Abbey and Professor Tom Collins, Department of Education, NUI Maynooth, who shared their reflections on civic literacy and its significance for community, for learning and for civil society.

In May 2010 the working group tested the plan for moving Literacivic from design into implementation with a range of community interests in Ballymun.

There was enthusiastic endorsement of the Literacivic plan and a recommendation to move to implementation.

Literacivic – an exploration of Civic Literacy

Literacivic defines ‘civic literacy’ as

• our capacity to read our systems and our world
• our ability to shape and influence systems to serve our needs
• our communication and celebration of our story, our challenges and our vision to improve learning and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people

It broadly speaking encompasses the fields of the arts, community education- leadership - learning, child health, literacy and development and the rights of the child.

How does Literacivic work?

A Literacivic bursary committee will oversee the granting of funds to residents groups, children’s, youth and community groups in Ballymun that wish to develop a Literacivic project in the course of the period 2010 – 2012.

The focus of the project will be to 

• communicate and celebrate our stories, our challenges, our vision
• generate energy, creativity, participation, dialogue and debate
• enhance capacity to engage with, shape and challenge systems

Literacivic will be embedded in the local community, interwoven into current systems, projects and activities across Ballymun with significant local engagement and leadership evident across its work.

There will be a public or civic dimension to each Literacivic project.

Literacivic Action Areas: 

• awareness raising, addressing issues, advocacy
• capacity-building and leadership
• public events, communication and celebration

3 Levels of Work:

Literacivic will support local projects (work at street and neighbourhood level), it will support local coalitions (where groups of projects in Ballymun come together to build civic literacy capacity) and it will support national coalitions where local organisations seek to engage with a national or international organisation with expertise for example in children’s rights, the arts, literacy and learning.

Evaluation: 

Literacivic will be evaluated as part of the evaluation of youngballymun.