The Local and Community Development Programme

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has seen the need to re-design its community development/social inclusion programmes, particularly the Local Development Social Inclusion (LDSIP) and Community Development Programmes (CDP), drawing on good international practice and to support the ongoing evaluation of the programmes.  Both programmes had a community development element and were delivered through separate local delivery structures. These programmes came to an end on 31 December 2009 and have been superseded by a new programme, the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP).

The aim of the new programme is to tackle poverty and social exclusion through partnership and constructive engagement between Government and its agencies and people in disadvantaged communities. This will be underpinned by four high level goals:

The new programme preserves elements of good practice from the CDP/LDSIP Programmes and will enable groups to objectively demonstrate the positive impacts they are securing for local communities.   An implementation strategy, involving the stakeholders, is underway for LCDP roll-out over the course of 2010.