From: Patrick SCHOULLER 
Subject: CIP / Partenaire irlandais DROGHEDA construit consortium dans
  la e-inclusion


Dear All,

Please find herunder the company profile for an Irish company, Drogheda
Partnership who are interested in joining a consortium in the ICT PSP work
programme 2008, in particular in the objective (1.5) Capacity building for
eInclusion.

The contact details for the Drogheda Partnership are as follows:
Ina McCrumlish, Drogheda Partnership Company, Workspace, Mayoralty Street,
Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland.
Phone no: +353-41-9842088 E-mail: inamccrumlish@eircom.net

If you need more information :

Gerard Kennedy, National Contact Point for FP7-ICT, ICT-PSP and eContentplus
programmes.
Enterprise Ireland, 4500 Atlantic Avenue, Westpark, Shannon, Co.Clare,
Ireland.
t: +353-61-429952 m: +353-87-696-7478 f:+353-61-429-901
e:gerard.kennedy@enterprise-ireland.com

Company profile in a partner search to participate in these thematic networks
The Drogheda Partnership was formed in May 1995 and is one of 38 Partnership
Companies established in areas of high socio-economic disadvantage within the
Republic of Ireland.
Partnerships are supported under the Border, Midlands & Western Operational
Programme of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. The mission statement of
the Company is 'In partnership, and in full consultation with the people of
Drogheda, to enable and empower those who are disadvantaged to develop their
lives and achieve their full potential '

The principal aims of the Drogheda Partnership are to:
• Create a Partnership incorporating the Community, Voluntary, Statutory and
Social Partner Sectors.
• Devise and implement a dynamic local development strategy for Drogheda and
deliver the Local Development & Social Inclusion Programme.
• Target the needs of the most marginalised.
• Co-ordinate, enhance and add value to the provision of state services to the
people of Drogheda.
• Bring together the community, statutory and social partner sectors; to
draw up
a local development plan aimed at countering disadvantage; and to support and
monitor the
implementation of the agreed plan.
• Prioritise key initiatives and programmes in key areas such as services for
the unemployed, Information technology & Communications strategy; employment
and training; enterprise and job creation; community development; youth and
education. The local development plan of the Partnership details a range of
strategies within each of these action areas.

The Drogheda Partnership acknowledges that access to ICT is a critical
determinant of participation or non-participation in Ireland’s information
society and recognises the role that ICT plays in contributing to greater
equality in social, economic and political terms. A focussed strategy on using
ICT as tool of social inclusion demonstrates how ICT can be used to:
- Address the issue of the digital divide while promoting inclusion.
- Hook RAPID residents to participate and provide the platform for further
interventions.
- Promote democracy, pluralism and active citizenship.
- Forge lasting partnerships with statutory agencies.
- Support community development initiatives.
- Address literacy and self-confidence issues of the target group.
- Retain young people in the education system.
- Enhance employment prospects.
- Education the aged in emerging technologies.

Ina McCrumlish MSc Management of Education and Training Drogheda Partnership
Company

National/regional and local activities and your commitment towards concrete
implementation cases in these areas

The need for / interest in these activities among older people is
identified in
the Drogheda Partneship’s ‘Using ICT as a tool of social inclusion’
strategy. As
a learning organization we believe in ICT access for all, social inclusion and
education equality among all age groups. In our information age older people
termed ‘late adopters’ have missed out on our technological revolution. In
response to this tidal wave of technology we identified a need to provide a
practical local educational response by increasing access to ICT education
opportunities for older people.
Through the provision of this educational opportunity in emerging technologies
older people now have access to on-line, accurate, integrated information and
communication networks. A new world has unfolded for them.
To attract their interest the educational opportunity is marketed as life
enhancing, attainable and fun. The benefits of participation are communicated
in the simplest terms void of jargon. From the moment an older person lift’s
the telephone to book their place through to arriving at the class they are
dealt with in a professional, patient and understanding manner. Our focus
is to
dispel the fear at the first initial stage of contact and to project a
welcoming atmosphere.
The interest of older people is sustained by ensuring the training is
appropriately paced and is presented in an easily understood format.
Central to
this is the belief that all learning is attainable.
To communicate this message we have use the local and national media. I
co-ordinated advertising campaign using local newspapers, community bulletins,
radio, church leaflets. In our endeavours to reach out to all I spoke on radio
and invited newspapers to come to our training sessions which allowed the
trainees to speak of the benefits of this educational opportunity for
themselves.
To keep the curriculum content fresh, I contacted Meteor and explained the
benefits to them and sought their involvement. This ensured the learning was
relevant to the market place and added mobile phone and gadget training to the
expanding curriculum.
The range of courses offered are:
Getting Started Using Your Laptop
Using Your Digital Camera Editing Photographs
Making a Digital T-Shirt Making a Digital Shopping Bag
Uploading Music on your Ipod Uploading Podcasts of radio progs
How to use your mobile phone How to send a single text and group texts
How to take a photo with your ICT & Goal Setting
ICT & Personal Reflection ICT & Preparation For Work
ICT Career Information ICT & CV Building and Interview Skills
Turning Up Kickstart 18-25
The majority of ICT courses are accredited by FETAC. In the rolling out of the
ICT curricula the Drogheda Partnership are dedicated to ongoing innovative
curriculum development.

TURNING UP AWARD
Their TURNING UP programme received a special AONTAS commendation in their
annual 2007 awards. The programmes informing ethos perceives potential as the
physical, emotional, communicative, mental, social, cultural, technical,
political and spiritual dimension of the human being. The aim of the
Turning Up
programme is to progress clients to motivation and development through the
provision of a platform for interfacing agencies to collaborate and
partner in an innovative curriculum. The agencies involved are the Local
Employment Service,
The VEC, The DSFA, FAS and Community Houses. Using a three-strand approach
trainees are provided with an opportunity to:
a) Up-skill their computer literacy
b) Improve their written and oral communication
c) Reflect on their lives and adopt new behaviour routines to facilitate
change.
d) Attain recognised certification.
The target group of this programme is unemployed individuals across a spectrum
of ages, backgrounds and marginalisation. This incorporates early school
leavers, long-term and shortterm unemployed, lone parents, women returning to
work, clients struggling with addiction, homeless people, disadvantaged young
people and clients living in low-income family units.

KICKSTART 18-25
In May 2008, another innovative ICT programme was compiled and pilot by the
Drogheda Partnership in partnership with DSFA. The programme is titled
KICKSTART and is aimed at 18- 25 year olds unemployed males and females. The
trainees are targeted by the DSFA. On completion the trainees attained 5
recognised FETAC certificates.


Samples of 2008 Media Attention
Our endeavours in capacity building for eInclusion has attracted the following
attention outlined below:
29th February 2008; Irish Times visit the MMM training session to take
photographs of the Nuns using the mobile phones.
4th March 2008; Photograph of Nuns appeared in the Irish Times under the title
“Nuns the Wiser: Meteor sponsors mobile usage class.”
6th March 2008; Publication of Drogheda Partnership ICT activity in the
Digital
Section of the Irish Independent.
7th March 2008; Ireland’s Technology News Service front page feature on the
siliconRepublic.com website. A photograph of the Nuns with the headline “Holy
Smokes, it’s the silver surfers!” accompanies the article.
7th March 2008; Mary Wilson’s Drive Time Programme on RTE Radio One on the
5.00
pm news slot.
12th March 2008; Meteor film crew made a video of the programme.
14th April 2008; Meeting with Minister Kitt and officials from the
Department of
An Taoiseach. Minister Kitt congratulated the Drogheda Partnership on our ICT
activity with the over 55’s.
15th April 2008; RTE1 visited the Drogheda Partnership with their film crew.
Over 55’s programme featured on the national Six, Nine and Eleven 0’Clock TV
news.

CONCLUSION:

These ICT activities implemented by the Drogheda Partnership Company
facilitate
us to:
• Ensure that Drogheda Senior Citizens take up learning about emerging
technologies especially those who do not have the financial resources or
educational capacity to engage in our information society.
• Continue our ICT Awareness Campaign targeted at older people and people with
disabilities in conjunction with the Louth County Development Board Strategy ,
Louth County Library Services and various community and voluntary sector
players.
• Promote the use of email communications to older people and people with
disabilities that are isolated - the housebound, those living in isolated
areas
or who are lonely.
• Encourage the use of ICTs as a tool for enhancing citizenship and social
rights for our elderly through accessing government information in these
areas.
The consortium perceives this to be especially important as government
information increasingly becomes available on the Internet and paper based
documentation less available.


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Patrick SCHOULLER
Ministère de l'Economie de l'Industrie et de l'Emploi
DGE - STSI
Représentant national "Programmes européens dédiés à la société de
l'information"
www.telecom.gouv.fr