Funding of €29,655 has been made available to Westmeath County Council to support the work of the Community and Voluntary Forum in Westmeath.
The allocation was announced this week by Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Michael Kitt, and is part of an expenditure package of €1.305 million to
support the work of local community and voluntary fora across the
country and their national representative body, the Irish National
Community and Voluntary Forum in 2009.
The local fora were established in each of the 34 county and city councils in 2000, as part of a Government commitment to promote partnership between the State and community and voluntary sectors at local level. As part of the funding package, an allocation of €29,655 for 2009 will be made to Westmeath County Council in respect of the Westmeath Forum. In addition to this financial support, the 34 county and city councils are also actively involved in supporting the work of their fora locally.
The fora facilitate the involvement of community and voluntary
organisations in local authority decision-making. They nominate members onto various local government structures such as County/City Development Boards and Strategic Policy Committees. The fora are also actively involved in providing training and support for people involved in voluntary activity.
“Local community and voluntary organisation participation and input
is important to the development and implementation of effective and
inclusive local authority policy,” said Minister Kitt. “Right across
the county, the Community and Voluntary Fora facilitate enhanced
involvement by local communities in local authority decision-making and help to ensure that local strategies are responsive to the need of the communities. In addition the Fora also provide an excellent opportunity to harness the collective talents and skills of local people to better their local communities, which is particularly important in these
challenging economic times.”
