VIBES (Voting Independence Being Informed Education and Skills)
Addressing unmet civil literacy needs among learners in Enniscorthy.
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"VIBES is teaching me how the voting system works in Ireland and is giving me the independence to go out and vote in the next general election."- Learner
This project aimed to address unmet civil, social, and political literacy needs among learners at ReachAbility Enniscorthy. The course promoted active citizenship, with an emphasis on sustainability, volunteering, raising awareness, and advocacy. It also sought to prepare and empower citizens to vote in the 2024 General Election.
22 participants attended classes for 26 weeks from June to December 2024. Enniscorthy Library provided a learning a space for two learner groups. The third group used the lnTuition training facilities at Kilcannon Garden centre.
Participants engaged with materials on ways to become active citizens in their communities. The course also taught learners to understand how sustainability can have a global impact.
Participants engaged with election and voting resources, ensuring they were registered to vote and became familiar with the voting process in Ireland.
An increase in learner confidence was a definitive outcome of the programme and personal growth in all learners was evident. Learners gained confidence to access and explore the many services and facilities their communities had to offer.
The project empowered participants to exercise their rights and assisted them in becoming informed citizens.
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Learners getting familiar with the voting process.
“VIBES is helping me getting more involved in my community.”- Learner
This project was a collaboration between ReachAbility Enniscorthy and Enniscorthy Library.
For more information about the project, please contact Edel Finan, Regional Literacy Coordinator at Waterford and Wexford ETB, at edelfinan@wwetb.ie
The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund
The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.
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