Travellers and Family Resource Centres National Needs Assessment

Pavee Point National non-governmental organisation committed to improving the quality of life, living conditions and status of Irish Travellers. Partnership of Travellers and members of the majority population working together to address the needs of Travellers as a minority ethnic group experiencing exclusion, marginalisation and racism. Our work involves research, local action, national resourcing and policy advocacy, involves a community work approach based on the principles of human rights, equality, cultural diversity and interculturalism.

Pavee Point Specialist Support Agency The appropriate inclusion of Travellers and the Traveller agenda in the focus and work of Family Resource Centres and other initiatives. Promoting a community development approach to working with Travellers. Support the emergence and development of Traveller groups and to clearly place the link between national policy development and local and regional implementation of those policies. Respond to the issue of racism within an Irish and European context

Our work Pavee Point provides relevant information, education and training on a range of areas relating to the meaningful inclusion of Travellers including: Cultural awareness Anti racism Issues affecting Travellers (Racism/discrimination, health, accommodation, drugs, conflict, etc) Group facilitation Capacity building Policy/Research Collaboration Exclusion

Travellers in Ireland

Population and Distribution 22,435 Travellers 62% under 25, 42% under % over 65 Only 25 Travellers over 85 years

Health Infant mortality rate 18.1 per 1000 live births (National figure is 7.4) At birth Traveller men can expect to live 9.9 years less than settled men Women 11.9 years less than settled women Source: Health Board Research 1987

Health Traveller life expectancy is now that of the general population in 1940s SIDS rate (cot death) among Traveller families is more than 3.7 times higher than national figure Health Board Research 1987 & Sudden Infant Death Society.

Accommodation Over 750 families live on side of the road without access to water or electricity Forced to live in appalling overcrowded conditions – many illnesses reported are directly related to living or environmental conditions Local authorities fail to implement their own plans for suitable accommodation Objections by local residents to the development of Traveller sites or to Traveller neighbours

Acommodation 40.6% Travellers live in 'temporary housing units', of which: 91% are without central heating 38% are without piped water 35% are without sewerage Source Census 2006

Education Participation in Higher Education among Travellers was 0.8% Higher education participation was 30.2% nationally. Source Census 2006

Education Among children whose age was known, 63.4% of Traveller children dropped out of full time education before they were 15 years old National rate was 13.3% Source: Census 2006

Employment

What are the challenges? Exclusion at local / community level Widespread Racism / Discrimination Lack of recognition of Traveller identity Fear, prejudice, myths, misconceptions among both communities Engaging with local services

Behaviour & Attitudes, 2000 Travellers are most hated group on the island of Ireland 97% of Irish people would not accept a Traveller as a member of their family 80% would not accept a Traveller friend 44% would not want a Traveller as a member of their community

Needs Assessment Survey of 101 FRCs nationwide Conducted during September/ October 2008 Response Rate – 68 percent

Aims to look at the level of contact between FRCs and members of the Traveller Community in the local area to explore any barriers that may prevent Travellers from using FRC services to identify information and training deficits which, if addressed, would assist FRCs in working with Travellers.

Findings Questionnaire - 40 Items Sections Profile of FRCs Working with Travellers Training Needs Assessment

Profile of FRCs FRCs were asked to identify their locality by choosing from one of six options. Majority of respondents were located in rural areas with 44 per cent located in either small or large villages. Three quarters of FRCs who identified themselves as urban were located in the greater Dublin area.

Results Travellers living in the area 44 percent (30) – None or not aware of Travellers in the area Travellers more likely identified in large villages or towns Lower levels of identification in Greater Dublin area

Service Provision FRCs provide a range of services to the community Focus on Information Community Development Education Support / Social Activities

Service Provision

FRCs and Travellers While more than half of FRCs reported Travellers using their services, use of FRC services by Travellers was still relatively low compared to other target groups.

FRCs and Travellers

Accessing Services Travellers most frequently make use of FRC facilities and resources and to engage information services relating to particular issues. Travellers were also likely to access community development services.

Social inclusion policies Almost all FRCs indicated that they operated under guidelines or policies in relation to the promotion of social inclusion Two thirds had written guidelines One quarter had unwritten / informal guidelines Two thirds of FRCs surveyed believed that guidelines specifically relating to the inclusion of Travellers would be of benefit to their organisation.

Strategic Planning Although many FRCs believe that Travellers were not living in their area this did not appear to effect their inclusion in strategic plans one way or another. In areas where Travellers were acknowledged, FRCs were approximately 50 percent more likely to include Travellers in their Strategic plan.

Traveller Engagement with FRCs 70 percent (48) of respondents felt that Travellers could engage more 22 percent (15) were not sure. 7 percent (5) felt that Travellers could not engage more

Barriers to participation 45 percent of respondents indicated that there were barriers to participation 30 percent did not know either way. Approx one quarter of FRCs believed there were no barriers to Traveller participation.

Barriers to participation

Rank FRCs ranked which barriers they felt had the strongest impact on Traveller participation: 1) Not aware of service 2) Literacy issues 3) Lack of confidence

Rank Issues perceived to have least impact as barrier Health issues Poverty or financial exclusion Accommodation Age

Interaction with Travellers Significant number (16) reported no contact 90 percent of remaining respondents reported their experience to be either very good or generally good. 5 respondents admitted to having both good and bad experiences 1 respondent felt that their experience was generally bad.

Increase in Traveller Usage 66 per cent (45) felt that they would have no difficulty A third (21) believed that some difficulty would be encountered.

Difficulty for existing service users 54 percent believed that there would be some difficulty for non Traveller users 22 percent felt that there would be no difficulty. No FRC felt that they could not adapt either way.

Training Needs Assessment FRCs who received training to assist them in providing services to Travellers

Obstacles to Working with Travellers 54 per cent of respondents expressed concern that there were obstacles preventing their FRC from working more closely with Travellers 18 percent were not sure Over a quarter of respondents (28 percent) believed that there were no obstacles

Obstacles to working with Travellers

Rank FRCs ranked the obstacles in order of strongest impact 1) Lack of resources 2) Lack of capacity of skills / training 3) Lack of capacity on Traveller issues were listed in the overall top three.

Understanding of Traveller Issues In relation to Traveller issues, respondents were asked to identify their level of understanding on specific Traveller related issues. Apart from Anti Racism, FRCs feel ill equipped to deal with Traveller related issues.

Information and Training Needs on Traveller issues A high number of respondents listed both information and training requirements in each of the issues listed. Of particular note were: conflict mediation within and between communities, cultural awareness and anti racism / diversity.

Working with Pavee Point Pavee Point provides information and training in all of these areas to local and regional organisations. When asked if the FRC would be interested in working with Pavee Point to address information and training needs, 77 per cent (52) of respondents said yes while a further 16 percent (11) were unsure.

Links with other organisations A perception that local Traveller representative organisations or the local Traveller CDP will look after all issues relating to Travellers is pervasive. FRCs were asked if they knew of any local Traveller organisation or CDP in the area. The results found that two thrids of FRCs were aware of other organisations.

Strength of those Links 53 per cent said they had links 32 per cent did not. 38 per cent said they had strong or somewhat strong links. In contrast, 24 percent said they experienced somewhat weak or very weak links with the local CDP

Challenges Access Relevance of services for Travellers Prioritising Traveller issues How to meet Traveller needs

Opportunities SPEAK System Research (Needs Analysis, AITHS, etc) General good will of FRC staff and participants Leadership of the Forum and the FSA

Emerging Issues Older Travellers Traveller women AITHS Traveller Family

Pilot Pavee Point hoping to run a pilot initiative with a participating FRC Workshop Roll out on a national basis

Thank You!!!