News Release Page Title

22 June 2000

MINISTER LAUNCHES ACTIVE COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

A £600,000 action plan to encourage more volunteering and community involvement throughout Northern Ireland was launched for consultation by Nigel Dodds, Minister for Social Development, today.

The Active Community Initiative aims to help rebuild a sense of community by encouraging a greater degree of volunteering and community activity locally. It will be supported by the Department for Social Development with annual funding of £200,000 over the next three years

Speaking to an audience representing the public and private sectors and voluntary and community groups, the Minister launched a consultation document entitled "Active Community Initiative – Draft Northern Ireland Action Plan".

The Minister said: "The aim of the Active Community Initiative is ambitious – to help rebuild a sense of community, by encouraging and supporting all forms of community involvement particularly through volunteering. Because the aim is ambitious, it needs the commitment and input from not only Government, but also from the voluntary and community sector and from the private sector.

"The Active Community Initiative is a ‘good thing’. It is about getting people involved in their communities. It is about, in its broadest sense, improving society and the quality of life.

"People in Northern Ireland already have a magnificent reputation for giving time and money to help others. The Active Community Initiative provides an opportunity to develop this reputation further.

"We in Government face a number of key challenges if we are to deliver both the spirit and the letter of the Active Community Initiative. I am therefore pleased to announce that I shall make available some £200,000 to help implement the Initiative for each of the next 3 years.

"I believe this will enable us to respond to the challenges we have set ourselves. We can make changes in our work and in our society which will endure for a long time to come."

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Active Community Initiative – formerly known as The Giving Age – is a UK wide initiative launched by the Prime Minister in January 1999.
  2. The Government’s aim is "to help rebuild a sense of community throughout the UK, by encouraging and supporting all forms of community involvement".
  3. Information and copies of the Active Community Initiative Draft Action Plan are available from the Voluntary Activity Unit of the Department for Social Development on 028-90 520505 or 028-90520506.