Tánaiste and Minister Cannon announce funding of €5 million for civil society organisations
Press release
09 May 2019
Tánaiste Simon Coveney and Minister Ciarán Cannon announce funding of €5 million for civil society organisations.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, TD, and Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciarán Cannon, TD, today announced funding of €5 million to 13 civil society organisations to carry out development projects overseas, including some €3.4 million in grants to Irish organisations.
Announcing the funding, the Tánaiste said:
“Ireland has a long tradition of support for civil society. We know from our experience at home the valuable role civil society plays in shaping our social and economic development. Our new policy for international development, ‘A Better World’, recognises that partnerships with civil society should remain at the heart of Ireland’s work addressing global development and human rights challenges around the world.”
Highlighting the essential work of civil society, Minister of State Cannon added:
“Ireland provides a higher proportion of official development assistance to, and through, civil society organisations than most other international donors. This is because an active civil society helps achieve the development we all want, and which so many people need if their lives are to improve.
Today’s allocation complements Ireland’s larger multi-annual programme grants, together demonstrating our continued commitment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and, in particular the SDG target of reaching ‘the furthest behind first’.”
The work of the organisations which receive the funding announced today enhances the work of the Government’s aid programme, Irish Aid, in delivering essential services such as health and education and improving human rights and governance.
ENDS
Press Office
9 May 2019
Notes to the Editor:
- Ireland’s Overseas Development Assistance Programme is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. For further information see www.irishaid.ie
- Amongst OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, Ireland has the second highest proportion of bilateral Overseas Development Assistance channelled through and to Civil Society Organisations.
- The Civil Society Fund (CSF) primarily supports Irish NGOs to carry out development projects overseas of between one and three years duration. A small number of foreign NGOs are also invited to apply. The maximum available grant is €400,000 per annum.
- The organisations which have been approved for funding under the 2019 CSF Round are: ECPAT International, Fields of Life, Global Witness Trust, Haven Community Foundation, Health Poverty Action, The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), Martin Ennals Foundation, Meningitis Research Foundation, Nurture Africa, Orbis Ireland, The Leprosy Mission Northern Ireland (TLMNI), University College Cork, and War on Want Northern Ireland.