Community engagement in Irelands Developmental Welfare State: a study of the life cycle approach.

The idea that people matter in modern democracies, often referred to as civic engagement isrecognised at the highest international level (United Nations 2008: 9). Civic or communityengagement is essential to how budgets are decided, policy is developed and public servicesdelivered. Significantly, community engagement is crucial in developing policy for sustainedeconomic and social development. In Ireland the idea of the Developmental Welfare State (DWS)is based on the premise that the social policy system should support citizens so as to reach their fullpotential. Such a system comprises three overlapping elements: tax and welfare transfers, the provisionof services and activist initiatives (National Economic and Social Council, 2005: ix-xviii). Civil SocietyOrganisations have been challenged to operationalise the DWS using a life cycle framework as of Irelands corporatist partnership model (Department of Taoiseach, 2006: 40).This study assessed the impact of the life cycle approach on policy-making for Civil SocietyOrganisations (CSO) participating in the Community and Voluntary Pillar (CVP) of socialpartnership. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology was used with members of theCVP, with five broad research aims in mind:1. To demonstrate how the process of community engagement in policy-making works,and how this process can yield results in terms of policy outcomes for groups potentiallyvulnerable to deprivation.2. To make a contribution to international understanding of civic engagement within anextended life course concerned with social policy development.3. To establish policy priorities for children, older people, people with disabilities, and people ofworking age in Ireland.4. To engage Civil Society Organisations as collaborators in a project adhering to the ethos ofparticipatory action research.5. To disseminate research findings to the widest possible audience of policy-makers, nongovernmentalorganisations (NGOs) and academics at a national and international level.