Comhlámh and the Centre for Global Education are delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding through the Shared Island Civic Society Fund to deepen our partnership and develop new approaches to cross-border community work and public engagement.
This new phase of collaboration, through our project Creating Communities of Care, builds on our previous work together through Solidarity Beyond Borders: Cultivating a Community of Practice across Ireland and Beyond. It offers an opportunity to take our partnership to a deeper strategic level, strengthening the connections between two organisations working in an all-island capacity with a commitment to global justice, solidarity and active citizenship.
Comhlámh and the Centre for Global Education bring different experiences, expertise, relationships and networks to this partnership. The Shared Island funding creates an opportunity to share and pool these resources more strategically, learn from each other and build our collective capacity to support solidarity-based engagement across the island.
For us, this is about more than delivering a series of activities together. It is about strengthening how our organisations work together, developing shared approaches and building relationships and capacity that can continue beyond the lifetime of this particular project. In a changing and challenging environment for civil society, stronger all-island collaboration can help us respond more collectively and sustain the work of solidarity and social change.
Creating Communities of Care
Our project responds to the growing pressures facing people and organisations working in areas such as integration, migrant solidarity and social justice. Across civil society, volunteers and community workers are navigating increasing polarisation, racism, burnout and the emotional demands of supporting communities and challenging injustice.
Both Comhlámh and the Centre for Global Education are working with people and groups navigating polarisation, racism, burnout and the emotional demands of solidarity and community work. Creating Communities of Care is about strengthening the relationships and practices that help sustain this work. The project will explore how we can strengthen the resilience and capacity of people and organisations doing this work. It recognises that care is not simply an individual responsibility, but something that needs to be built collectively through relationships, shared learning, supportive spaces and organisational practice.
Activities will draw on creative and participatory approaches, including storytelling, zine-making and human libraries, creating opportunities for people to share experiences, build connections and explore what collective care means in practice.
Building a stronger all-island partnership
A central purpose of this project is to strengthen the strategic relationship between Comhlámh and the Centre for Global Education. By sharing expertise, resources and networks, we can build on what each organisation brings while developing new ways of working together.
We see this as an important contribution to the wider Shared Island ambition: strengthening connections, cooperation and understanding across the island, and supporting civil society organisations to work together in response to shared challenges.
Ultimately, Creating Communities of Care is about strengthening the relationships, networks and shared capacity that enable solidarity to be sustained. It recognises that building a more inclusive and just society requires us not only to work together, but to invest in how we work together.
We look forward to developing this next phase of our partnership and working with volunteers, community workers and organisations across the island to create spaces for learning, connection and collective action.
Find out more about our previous collaboration: Solidarity Beyond Borders: Cultivating a Community of Practice across Ireland and Beyond.