Get Vocal Projects

The Older Women’s Network gives older women a voice and aims to ensure their social inclusion. Their Get Vocal project involves developing their network in the West of Ireland as the network membership is poorly represented in the areas outside of Dublin, surrounding counties, and the border area.
 
The O50 Network is an established representative network of older people’s groups in Co. Cavan emphasising the positive aspects of ageing together with the rights of older people in society. Having identified issues of concern for older people in Cavan, their Get Vocal project, supported by Breffni Integrated Ltd. aims at providing a foundation for the necessary changes and action.
 
Community Connections is a Community Development Project (CDP) working in the North Leitrim, West Cavan and West Fermanagh area. They are developing a county wide network of older people in Leitrim. This will be achieved through an advocacy training programme incorporating ageism awareness and leadership training. An advocacy training model will be created and offered by Age & Opportunity to other Get Vocal grantees.
 
The Voice of Older People Donegal (VOPD) is actively involved in supporting and developing seven older people’s network structures throughout County Donegal. Through Get Vocal they plan to strengthen the network and provide training for the network members, so that working together, they can address issues affecting older people. You can read some of their media coverage in the Donegal Democrat here.
 
GLEN works to achieve full equality and inclusion for lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Ireland and protection from all forms of discrimination. Their project aims to carry out a comprehensive study of older LGBT people in Ireland, highlighting the needs of older LGBT people in Ireland. Read more about it here.
 
South Kerry Development Partnership promotes and assists the development of sustainable, vibrant communities in South Kerry. Their Get Vocal project, ‘Kerry Connecting’ aims to ensure that the voices of older people are heard and fully represented by decision-making bodies and agencies.
 
Project West CDP are a community development project based in Finglas. Their project involves running an Advocacy for Leadership course. Skills learned during this course will enable the older people in Finglas to be more effective within a new community forum currently being created. 
 
Tolka Area Partnership Company is a newly integrated partnership company. They plan to run the Ageing with Confidence programme to groups of older people in preparation for an Advocacy for Leadership course (the Get Vocal project being run by Project West CDP).
 
Co Wexford Age Equality Network is supported in their application by Wexford Local Development. The project aims to promote age equality by supporting the development of an independent network of older people that will be a resource to the community.
 
Co. Wicklow Network for Older People is a relatively new older people’s network supported in this application by Co. Wicklow Community Partnership. In this project they aim to build the capacity of the network by increasing their membership and by facilitating and supporting older people to develop and manage the growth of the network. 
 
SIMON Ireland provides care, accommodation and support for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk. Through this project they aim to influence policy and practice responses to the needs of older homeless people as they age and are faced with the issues of serious ill heath, death and dying.
 
Tearmann Eanna provides and promotes quality services for mostly Irish speaking older people in the South Connemara Region and Islands. This project will provide Irish speaking older people in South Connemara Gaeltacht, the Islands and the Donegal Gaeltacht with the opportunity to undertake the Ageing with Confidence Course in Irish. It is hoped that this will lead to the development of further skills in the areas of advocacy and leadership.
 
Meath Partnership, in collaboration with the Third Age Foundation in Summerhill will establish two pilot Men’s Senior Help and Engagement Depots (SHEDs) in Co. Meath, providing a dedicated meeting place for older men. Anticipated activities include woodwork, metalwork, maintenance work, digital photography, IT training, gardening, health promotion and nutrition and informal training activities. The aim of the SHED is to engage with older men and enhance their skills, knowledge and attitudes by creating an environment for positive social relationships with other men as well as fostering a sense of belonging and identity within their communities.