On review of successful initiatives completed in the Louth region, there are a set of core collaborative components that reappear repeatedly.
How are services to the communities apportioned?
Each action is clearly assigned a timeline, lead-organisation in charge of the objective, support agencies, a metric and status. All the team members are identifiable to each other and the council through the Local Community and Economic Plan (LCEP). This technique uses an iterative spreadsheet approach finally resulting in the published LECP plan which is open to all, both service users and service providers.
How can the separate policy management agents identify where their policies impact beneficially on other policies.
With reference to the LECP and through the weekly “Friday Communique” the different policy administrators are made aware of how their policy instruments have synergy with other instruments.
What is the driving force that energises this cross cutting practice?
The appointment of a person in the role of a “Social and Community Officer” within the region who acts as an architect to coordinate all of these activities of the stakeholders.
How is consistency between service providers ensured?
A fundamental component relating to the professionals offering services is that they must be accurate and consistent. Institutes of technology and universities in Ireland offering NFQ 6 to 10, rely heavily on accreditation by external professional bodies, such as Engineers Ireland.
Resources needed
The resources needed to support the above mentioned come from:
- Good local government leadership
- A cross collaboration of public and private stakeholders
- The provision of a renewed national government suite of funding opportunities
- Etc.
Evidence of success
Some evidence of the cross cutting practice:
-For exampe, when a home complies with sustainable energy guidelines, that home is cheaper to run on an annual basis. In addition the aged population would traditionally stay at home for longer periods during the day than other occupants. This is a direct result of implementing the sustainable energy and education sectors policies through the LECP framework.
There are many other examples, but we are limited by space.
Potential for learning or transfer
Louth has proven with the success of their Tool Kit that it is possible to ensure that other counties in Ireland can become SHAFE-Friendly. Even though these counties are fundamentally different in their demographics, it highlights the resilience of the Tool Kit and the core collaborative components.
Tags: Ageing, Cluster, Policy, Safety, Sustainable
