Prevention & Early Intervention Programme

youngballymun is one of three projects established through the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme, jointly supported and resourced by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Atlantic Philanthropies.

The Prevention and Early Intervention Programme for Children was established by Government in February 2006 to support and promote better outcomes for children in areas designated as disadvantaged, through more innovation, effective planning, integration and delivery of services.

The Programme targets three geographic areas in which there is evidence of the need for early intervention - Ballymun, Tallaght West and Darndale. The purpose of the programme is to support the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies for children at local level drawn up by the statutory, voluntary and community agencies operating in the areas concerned. The Programme provides for the introduction and evaluation of a range of integrated interventions for children and their families and test if they make a positive difference to children.

The focus of the programme is on supporting interventions which fit with national policy objectives and have been developed in conjunction
with the local community.  Learning and evaluation are important components of the programme and individual services, area projects
and the overall programme will be subject to ongoing and robust review and evaluation. 

The OMCYA has partnered with the Atlantic Philanthropies in funding this programme and a total fund of up to €36,000,000 is available across the three projects. Government and the Atlantic Philanthropies will provide €18 million each in funding.

youngballymun, the Childhood Development Initiative Tallaght and Preparing for Life Northside Partnership together are the projects that make up the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme. Research and planning on prevention and early intervention measures sponsored by Atlantic Philanthropies, had been undertaken in these areas and they were considered to be in an excellent position to test new models of service delivery. If these models prove successful, the results of these projects may provide the basis for enhanced resource allocation processes and policy changes.

The overall programme is being managed by the Office of the Minster for Children and Youth Affairs on behalf of the Government. Approval has been
given to fund all three projects 2007-2011/12.