South Kerry Development Partnership CLG
Community Connection Project
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Community Connection Project
The Community Connection Project (CCP) is an 18-month project funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht delivered in partnership with the Local Development Companies Network (LDCN) and Local Development Companies (LDCs). The CCP will support the recruitment of up to 26 Community Link Workers, employed by Local Development Companies, who will engage and work with local communities across Ireland over an 18-month period with a view to helping communities respond to the arrival of International Protection Applicants (IPAs), to support the importance of addressing community concerns and tackling misinformation on migrant integration.
The aim of the project is to directly engage with local communities (residents already living in the local community as the primary focus) to understand and tackle challenges and concerns in the context of community integration locally.
The objectives of the CCP are to:
collate the multitude of approaches, challenges and relevant information to inform policy decisions,
develop practice on positive community led approaches to integration that can be shared and adapted for use, and
provide an evidence base for any potential expansions of the project
The Community Connection Project (CCP) uses a community development and inclusion approach to address concerns of communities and assist them in developing constructive responses to numbers of International Protection Applicants in their local area.
The Community Link Workers (CLWs) will engage and work with local communities across Ireland over an 18-month period, helping build community resilience against misinformation and prejudice by working with the local community before, during and after the arrival of IPAs and where IPA Centres are already in use.
The Community Link Worker will work with communities, in accordance with community development practice, to understand the facts and realities of the International Protection System and the challenges faced by people seeking asylum, in the context of communities with their own needs and challenges.
Kerry was identified as one of the areas housing substantial numbers of International Protection Applicants and consequently allocated funding for 1 Community Link Worker on a full-time or part-time basis as required. This funding was allocated to SKDP. SKDP recruited a full-time community link worker, who commenced employment in early June 2025.
For further details, please contact the relevant officer for your area listed below:
Area | Contact Name/Title | Office Location | Contact No. | |
All | Michelle Hand Community Link Worker | 37 High Street, 2nd Floor, Killarney, Co. Kerry | 064 6636572 087 3363849 |