Review of Community Services Programme


CSP

In Issue 35 of the INOU e-bulletin, published in November 2018, we wrote about the submission the organisation made to the review of the Community Services Programme (CSP). On September 30th 2020, Minister of State for Community Development and Charities at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Joe O’Brien T.D. published the review, which was undertaken by Indecon International Economic Consultants.

The report notes that “CSP is divided into a number of categories which are termed strands. Strand 1 involves funding for large community halls and there is a separate strand (Strand 1s) for small community halls.   Strand 2 involves services for disadvantaged areas and Strand 3 supports services employing disadvantaged groups.” Over the period of 2014-2019 Strand 3 accounted for 10.3%-12.7% of the programme’s expenditure, which ranged between €41.7m and €43.1m. Budget 2021 increased the CSP’s funding by €2m to €49m.

In answer to one of the questions posed by the researchers to the organisations funded through the CSP: What Would Have Occurred in Absence Of CSP Funding? 57.2% said that “The project would not have proceeded in any way”.

The researchers go on to note that “New survey evidence gathered for the purpose of this review suggests that an important result of the Programme is the provision of community-based services for marginalised groups which would not otherwise have been provided.”

Later on, the report says that “survey research undertaken for this review suggests a significant positive impact on the provision of job opportunities for marginalised groups.” Though, they also note that “Those most distant from the labour market have higher levels of unemployment and the Programme has not significantly impacted on this group.”

Amongst the eleven recommendations is one that says “the existing strands should be replaced with sub-programmes focussed on three strategic objectives. Indecon recommends the sub-programmes should be designed to:

  1. Improve utilisation of community infrastructure to support sustainable communities.
  2. Provide targeted services in marginalised, socially disadvantaged communities. 
  3. Initiate and develop potentially viable social enterprises.”

It is welcome that the report also says: “It should be noted that it is not proposed to change the current requirement whereby individuals from targeted disadvantaged groups must make up at least 70% of CSP funded FTE positions.”

Another recommendation deals with “rates of funding and eligibility criteria should be tailored to reflect variance in each sub-programme area” and under the heading notes “as a horizontal theme across the CSP, there is a need to provide a greater level of financial support to organisations employing individuals from disadvantaged or marginalised groups who are more distant from the labour market, such as people with criminal convictions, people with a disability and members of the Traveller Community.”

On the day the review was published the Minister also published, a High Level Action Plan written by the Department of Rural and Community Development and Pobal, who administer the programme. The Action Plan outlines when action will be taken on the recommendations in Indecon’s report, including that phase one of the new programme should be launched in the second half of 2021.

The Review and High Level Action Plan are available here https://www.gov.ie/en/service/f8f93d-apply-for-community-service-programme/#review-of-the-community-services-programme