Minister announces new National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities

Under the remit given to CIB under the Citizens Information Act, a pilot Programme of independent Advocacy Services for people with disabilities has been funded and supported by CIB since late 2005. Round Table Mediation and Training evaluated this programme during 2009. Their evaluation report was completed in early 2010.
The evaluators clearly stated that the pilot projects have developed advocacy services on the ground in a relatively short space of time - reaching significant numbers of people with disabilities, have built up important partnerships and stakeholder relationships and have achieved measurable outcomes for people with disabilities and improvements in their quality of life. Their research also pointed to some weaknesses in the structure of the programme which led them to suggest the need for structural change.
The key recommendation is that a National Advocacy Service for people with disabilities be set up. This service will be regionally structured, with 5 separate regional teams, each with a Regional Advocacy Manager, reporting directly into one voluntary board of a Citizens Information Service in each region. This Board will have a regional remit for Advocacy only, while maintaining its county-wide responsibility for CIS services.

View full report at http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/publications/advocacy/evaluation_...