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Advocacy Initiative Survey Underway

The first element of the Advocacy Initiative's inquiry into the challenges facing civil society organisations (CSOs) in undertaking advocacy - an online survey - has now been circulated to hundreds of CSOs around the country.  If you would like your organisation to be included in this survey please send your contact details, including your email address, to advocacy@middlequarter.com.

The Advocacy Initiative (for more information on the Initiative click on this link http://www.montaguecomms.ie/clients/23) has been established by a broadly-based group of CSOs in Ireland to inquire into challenges facing the sector in relation to advocacy.  These organisations (see Steering Group member organisations below) consider that a developed and robust civil society sector is critical to contemporary forms of participative democracy.  The Initiative is funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

The Advocacy Initiative's functions are to:
a) Contribute to the body of knowledge on the question of advocacy at a sectoral level
b) Generate informed debate within the sector, and between the sector and the State
c) Enhance capacity in exercising advocacy within the sector through a range of measures, for example, through the promotion of best practice "Rules of Engagement".

The Initiative's Steering Group includes representatives of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, OPEN, Disability Federation of Ireland, ICTR, FLAC, Focus Ireland, Carmichael Centre, Amnesty, Irish Cancer Society, Simon Communities of Ireland, Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation, Barnardos, 54 Degrees, Centre for Nonprofit Management.  

The Steering Group has appointed Montague Communications Limited (www.montaguecomms.ie) and Middlequarter Limited (www.middlequarter.com) to jointly manage the Initiative.  This survey is the first stage in activities planned for 2010.  Further activities will include an Advocacy Forum (25th March) and Conference (10th June) over the coming months.  Further information on these activities will be provided in due course.

Older & Bolder Campaign Success

Montague Communications have just completed our latest successful campaign with Older & Bolder culminating in the Government’s decision not to further cut the State Pension and other supports for older people.

This phase of Older & Bolder’s campaign (www.olderandbolder.ie) was aimed at protecting the income supports for older people against the cuts proposed in the McCarthy Report. It began in the autumn and involved a huge amount of work by a large team including Older & Bolder’s staff, member organisations and hundreds of volunteers around the country as well as the Montague team. Activities included:

• Petition signing campaign – leading to the signing of nearly 20,000 petitions;
• Nationwide lobby of Oireachtas members;
• Billboard and newspaper advertising campaign;
• Publication of research on the impact of the recession on older people as well as the outcome of a nationwide consultation with older people;
• National and local media campaign.

Standing Up for Education

One of our most recent campaigns is the Stand Up For Education (www.standupforeducation.ie) campaign which was successfully launched in late October. This long-term campaign is sponsored by the Teachers Union of Ireland and supported by the National Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges and its aims are:

Since its launch, the campaign has focused on lobbying Oireachtas members in support of its aims and building up a list of important endorsers. To date those who have agreed to endorse the campaign include:

• National Parents Council – Post Primnary;
• Aontas;
• Barnardos;
• National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals;
• Irish Second-Level Students Union;
• OPEN;
• Irish Traveller Movement;
• Irish Congress of Trade Unions;
• Mandate;

• SIPTU.

Montague help Launch New Liberty Hall

The country’s largest trade union, SIPTU, unveiled their plans – with the assistance of Montague Communications – for the redevelopment of Liberty Hall on its unique historic site on Dublin’s quays at the union’s Centenary Conference last October.

The ‘New’ Liberty Hall – which will become one of the premier attractions in the city – will include:

• Welcoming public entrance area;
• 16 storeys of offices and meeting rooms;
• Unique Heritage Centre on the history of the labour movement and a Sky Deck with a panoramic view of the city;
• Theatre and conference centre.

It’s expected that an application for planning permission will be made win the coming weeks.

• To increase the level of investment in education in Ireland to 7% of GDP over a period of time to be agreed;
• To reverse cuts imposed over the past year as soon as possible; and
• To provide additional places in education for the government's employment activation programme by the removal of artificial limits on enrolment in Post Leaving Cert and other courses designed for this process.

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