annual review 2015 - national traveller mabs...2 national traveller mabs annual review 2015 a...

National TravellerMABSA yearin reviewSmall changes can have big impacts.

Annual Review 2015

National Traveller MABS Annual Review 2015_Layout 1 29/09/2016 15:14

The role of National Traveller MABS is to:

Highlight exclusion

National Traveller MABS highlights issues of over indebtedness andexclusion from financial institutions and makes appropriateresponses through its research and policy work

Empower the Traveller Community

National Traveller MABS establishes ways for the TravellerCommunity to access legal and affordable savings and credit andbuilds capacity within the community through its communityeducation work

Promote Money Management

National Traveller MABS promotes alternative methods of moneymanagement through its project work

Supportthe Traveller Community and relevant services

National Traveller MABS acts as a support to the Traveller Community, MABS and theCIS to ensure ease of access for Travellers to these services.

National Traveller MABS Annual Review 2015 1


2 National Traveller MABS Annual Review 2015

A message fromthe chairperson

However, 2015 was overshadowed by thetragic loss of life in Carrickmines and ourdeepest sympathies go out to the familyand extended families of those who died.

Since 2008, we have witnessed a countrygripped by a financial crisis which focusedmainly on over indebtedness. However, asan organisation, we have constantlyhighlighted that an equally critical issueexists- that is the lack of access for many tobasic financial services such as savingsand credit facilities. The road that manyTravellers, and indeed other marginalisedgroups, have travelled over the past 10years has been tough, dealing constantlywith the challenges of both social andfinancial exclusion.

However, as we celebrate our 10thAnniversary, we wish to highlight theachievements we have been part of in 2015.

During 2015, National Traveller MABScontinued to work in partnership with otherTraveller organisations in campaigning forstate recognition of Traveller ethnicity.While this recognition has still not beenachieved, we were delighted with thedecision by the CIB to accept our proposalfor the introduction of ethnic monitoringwithin CIS services. Data gathered willinform policy at local and national level andensure and inclusive and accessibleservice for all.

In January 2015, National Traveller MABSwas awarded the Gold Star for service

excellence. This was awarded by theEuropean Foundation for QualityManagement (EFQM). I would like to takethis opportunity to congratulate staff andboard members for their work in obtainingthis award.

In September, we launched our “ThreeSmall Changes Campaign”. The campaignaimed to improve Travellers’ access tofinancial services. As part of the ‘ThreeSmall Changes’ campaign, NationalTraveller MABS produced a number ofshort films, featuring contributions fromTravellers throughout Ireland, whichsuggested possible small changes we canall make to improve our moneymanagement skills.

At the campaign launch, National TravellerMABS highlighted the challenges faced byTravellers in accessing mainstreamfinancial services and called on governmentto implement a number of measures totackle financial exclusion and address theplague of moneylenders amongst low-income groups. National Traveller MABSalso highlighted the need for a state-fundedpersonal micro-lending scheme that thefinancially excluded and those on lowincomes could access easily.

We also called for greater consistency inrelation to the provision of caravan loans bylocal authorities and called on the nationalgovernment to insist on the provision ofthese loans in all local authority areas.While all local authorities are empowered to


provide loans to Travellers who live onhalting sites for the purchase or upgradingof caravans, a survey carried out in 2015 byNational Traveller MABS indicates that veryfew are currently doing so.

2015 also saw the publication of the report“A Review of the National Traveller MABSSupported Caravan Loan GuaranteeSchemes”. This Scheme was designed toenable Travellers to access loans atreasonable rates from their local creditunion for the upgrade, repair orreplacement of a caravan that served as afamily home. With a default rate of lessthan 5%, the findings of this 2015 reviewindicated that people on low incomes arecredit worthy. Its success, NationalTraveller MABS determined, can beattributed to the partnerships establishedbetween local credit unions and MABS; theprovision of money management advice toborrowers; easy repayment methods withdeductions being taken directly from theborrower’s social welfare payment; and theoption for borrowers to build savings in theCredit Union while making repayments.More importantly, there is evidence ofpeople being enabled through this schemeto become independent in terms ofaccessing loans from the Credit Unionwithout the need for further guarantees.

In September we launched our 2014Annual report. The report laid out our

future commitment to addressing the issueof financial exclusion within the Travellercommunity. Speaking at the launch I statedthat the real GOLD DUST of our work is thepersonal stories and experiences of thepeople we work with daily, most especiallymembers of the Traveller community.Communicating such stories in the rightmanner, was, we believed, the key to reallyengage Travellers and partnerorganisations, and, in essence influencethe change we were looking for. The 2014Annual Review shows that NationalTraveller MABS worked tirelessly toachieve this and in doing so proved that“small changes can have big impacts”.

I would like to thank Nuala, Nancy, Liz,Dermot, Margaret and Temi for theircontinued dedication to the organisation in2015. I would also like to thank all mycolleagues on the board of management.The members of the Consultative Forumneed special mention for their ongoingcommitment to us. I would like to thank allTraveller organisations and MABS forworking with us and Angela Black and herteam in the CIB for the support they havegiven and continue to give to NationalTraveller MABS.

Colin ThomsonChairperson




The Four Pillarswe stand uponNational Traveller MABS is the leading advocate for the financial inclusionof Travellers in Ireland. As a Traveller specific service, we aim to improvethe financial situation of many Travellers living in Ireland who live in debt,cannot access affordable credit, who rely on money lenders and are facedwith financial exclusion.

To address this question, our 2015 workplan was built on the following 4 Pillars -

1. Community Development2. Policy 3. Communications4. Organisational Development

To ensure our work plan stayed focusedon the needs of our Target Group and thedemands and limitations of allstakeholders, we were cognisant of -

• The expert opinions of our board, staff, our Consultative Forum and partner organisations

• Key critical external issues impacting onthe Traveller community

• Key current policy issues • Available resources

Using the Citizens Information Board (CIB)strategy 2012-2015, we linked these pillarsto their 5 main strategies:

A. Meet the changing information, advice,advocacy and budgeting needs ofcitizens, particularly of marginalised andvulnerable groups and individuals - byconnecting and responding.

B. Implement consistent, high qualityservice by CIB and our deliverypartners – by providing services to ahigh standard.

C. Work to develop and implement anintegrated service delivery model thatputs the citizen at the centre – byorganising to deliver.

D. Lead the design and implementation ofcreative and flexible responses to meetemerging demands for information,advice, advocacy and budgetingsupport - by creating and adding value.

E. Measure the efficiency andeffectiveness of our service deliveryapproach - by demonstrating outcomesthrough feedback from users.

So, how do we improve the financialsituation of Travellers in Ireland?

Policy

Community Development

Organisational Development

Communications

National Traveller MABS:

Four Pillars of the strategy



CommunityDevelopmentOur work in Community Development aims to increase confidence andknowledge amongst Travellers to access appropriate financial servicesand manage their finances effectively.

CommunityEducation

Engaging Traveller Men

In 2015 National Traveller MABS carriedout research on Traveller Men’sexperience of education both as youthsand adults. It is anticipated that this reportwill be published in 2016 and will be usedto promote discussions within the Travellercommunity on how best to engageTraveller men in community education.

Promoting savings amongyoung Travellers

In 2015 National Traveller MABS launcheda media campaign to promote youthsavings. The “Get Savings Campaign”included a short film featuring two young

Travellers recounting their positiveexperience of saving. The film available onour YouTube channel is being used byyouth groups nationwide.

Strengthening CommunityEducation in MABS and the CIS

National Traveller MABS, in partnershipwith Cork MABS and the Cork PrimaryHealth Care Programme, produced apromotional film ‘Three Small Changes’highlighting the positive workingrelationships between local MABS andTraveller groups. This film which promotesgood work practice, is available on ourYouTube channel. It will be used withgroups nationally to showcase goodworking practice.

Community Education

Building Capacity within the

community

In 2015 a number of initiatives were undertaken to advance this aim.

The number of youngTravellers who met withNational Traveller MABSin 2015 to discuss theimportance of saving.

50



The number of localservice that worked

with National TravellerMABS in 2015 on

Community Educationinitiatives

Key Workers are members of

the Travellercommunity

Financial stressimpacts on mental and

physical health

4

“The importance of word of mouth/ orhearing about’ something from anothermember of the Community is a powerfulmeans for organisations to gain the trust ofthe Traveller Community.”

Building Capacitywithin thecommunity

The Key Worker Programme

The Key Worker Programme, is made up of 35Primary Health Care Workers in 6 regions ofIreland. Key workers promote the use of MABS,the CIS and other finance related serviceproviders in addition to their daily role as TravellerCommunity Health Care Workers within thecommunity. In 2015 National Traveller MABScarried out an evaluation of the programme.While the evaluation will be published in 2016,preliminary findings show that Traveller face manychallenges in accessing mainstream financialservices and that financial stress impacts onmental and physical health. However the reportalso highlights that hearing from someone withinyour own community is a powerful means oflearning. This method of communication is oneorganisations should use to gain the trust of theTraveller Community.



PolicyNational Traveller MABS advocates for necessary changes at policy levelto ensure that public policy in the area of financial inclusion is developed,amended and implemented in line with the financial needs of Travellers.There are three key strands to this work:

Promoting access to legal andaffordable Savings and Credit

In 2015 our work in this area focused on-

• The publication of ‘A Review of the National Traveller MABS Loan Guarantee Schemes’

In 2015, National Traveller MABS published a reportentitled ‘A Review of the National Traveller MABS LoanGuarantee Schemes’. The report highlighted thesuccess of a number of loan guarantee funds thatNational Traveller MABS facilitated. The report waswidely circulated and is being used by NationalTraveller MABS and the CIB to inform policy decisionsregarding the provision of credit to purchase caravansfor long term living.

Developing Networks

Promoting access to legal and affordable savings and

credit

Supporting inclusion

A Review of theNational Traveller

MABS Loan GuaranteeSchemes’ shows that aclear crisis of financial

exclusion exists inIreland

“A Review of theNational Traveller

MABS LoanGuarantee Schemes’showed a less than5% default rate for

borrowers”

“A Review of theNational Traveller

MABS LoanGuarantee Schemes’proved that People on

Low Income areCredit Worthy”



• Mapping Local Authority caravan loans nationally

National Traveller MABS undertook anational mapping exercise in 2015 toidentify the availability of local authoritycaravan loans nationally. Over 50 % oflocal authorities do not provide caravanloans to residents on local authority haltingsites. National Traveller MABS continuesto share the findings of this exercise withrelevant bodies in our mission to ensurethat all Travellers living in local authorityhalting sites have access to legal andaffordable credit to purchase caravans forlong term living.

• “It Makes Sense “ credit union micro loans

National Traveller MABS worked closelywith the Social Finance Foundationregarding the pilot credit union personalmicro lending scheme. The ‘It makessense Loan’ scheme took place in 2015.We promoted the scheme within the Traveller community and on our website,Facebook page and twitter account.

• Working with the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation

National Traveller MABS facilitated atraining session for new recruits at aGarda Bureau of Fraud Investigation. Thisis the second time that National TravellerMABS has delivered such training whichraises awareness of the problem of illegalmoneylending within the Travellercommunity.

57% of LocalAuthorities do notprovide caravan

loans to residents oflocal authorityhalting sites

57%

Provision of Caravan Loans

7%

57%

36%

Yes

No

Case by Case



Supporting Inclusion

• Ethnic monitoring

Ethnic monitoring is the proactive gatheringand use of data by service providers toensure that the services offered areinclusive. In 2015, National TravellerMABS was successful in campaigning forthe introduction of ethnic monitoring withinthe Citizens Information Service. The datagathered will be used to ensure the CIS isinclusive and meets the needs of allethnicities. Data gathered will also informpolicy at local and national level and help inthe development of appropriate educationand information resources when needed. Itis anticipated that a similar method ofethnic monitoring will be included in theClient Management System currently beingdeveloped for MABS.

• Policy Submissions

-The National Traveller MABS Pre-BudgetSubmission for 2016 highlighted the needfor access to affordable credit for those onlow incomes.

National Traveller MABS made asubmission to the National Traveller

and Roma Inclusion Strategy whichfocused on the importance of access tosavings and credit for Travellers.

Developing Networks

By maintaining links with key policy groupsin 2015, National Traveller MABS ensuredthat the Traveller voice is heard in relationto financial inclusion. National TravellerMABS were represented on the followingcommittees -

− The Traveller Prison Initiative (TPI) –Funded by the St Stephens GreenTrust, the TPI is working towardsimproving conditions for Travellerprisoners and their families.

− MABS Forum and MABS Social PolicyForum

− Social Policy Network

− Traveller Attitudinal Research group

− Irish Traveller MovementAccommodation Working Group

− LIR Anti-Racism Training

− Traveller Pride Committee



Communication

Following on from recommendations madein our 2014 Annual report, NationalTraveller MABS focussed in 2015, onimproving our social media usage in anattempt to share our message with as manyTravellers and Traveller groups as possible.

Website

The website of National Traveller MABS –www.ntmabs.org – was regularly updated in2015. All publications, latest news andregular updates on our projects areuploaded to the website. We had 4,830visitors to our website in 2015, up from3,500 in 2014.

You Tube

Website

Printed Media

Social Media

4,830The number ofvisitors to our

website in 2015

3,788The number of New

Visitors to ourWebsite

27%Of our Facebookvisitors are 18-24

year olds

45.85 % of ourFacebook visitors

are female &54.15 % male



YouTube

National Traveller MABS set up its ownYouTube channel in 2015. All our audioand visual work, including the “Get Savingspromotional film” can be accessed here.

Printed Media

National Traveller MABS published anddistributed two bi-annual newsletters in2015– The Tharie Times is aimed atMABS and CIS readers and TheNewsletter of National Traveller MABSis aimed at Travellers and TravellerGroups. Feedback from readers was verypositive in 2015-

“Thank you for emailing the Tharie Timesand well done to all involved in itsproduction. It contains some veryinteresting and informative articles…….Best regards, Jerry Doyle, Co-ordinator,Kerry MABS”

“Congratulations on another excellentpublication – huge amount of work beingdone by NTMABS which the rest of usoften take for granted…..Karl Cronin,Co-ordinator, Cavan MABS”

All newsletters are available on our website

Social Media

In 2015 National Traveller MABS carriedout a survey amongst Traveller CommunityHealth Care workers to assess theimportance of social media when

communicating with the Travellercommunity. The survey indicated thatmuch like the population at large,Travellers use of social media to accessinformation has dramatically increasedover the last 5 years. Building on thisinformation, National Traveller MABSfocused on maintaining a vibrant socialmedia presence in 2015.

We began updating our Facebook pageand Twitter account weekly with importantand useful articles. The number of ‘likes’ onour Facebook page increased dramaticallyin 2015. This shows that the informationthat we are sharing is being accesses byan increasing number of people.

National Traveller MABS contributesweekly to the ITM electronic magazine.This is circulated to all Travellerorganisations and provides us with apositive platform to share up to dateinformation on rights and entitlements withthe Traveller community.

Annual Report

Our Annual Report was revised andredeveloped in 2015 and the 2014 AnnualReport was launched at our 10 yearanniversary celebration in September. The report gave a clear account of ourwork and will be referred to in the comingyears to ensure that we remainaccountable and focused.

FactOur survey revealed

that Facebook was byand large the most

popular social media site


OrganisationalDevelopment

2015 was an important year for National Traveller MABS. We celebrated our10 year anniversary and received the EFQM Gold Star Award for qualityservice. Alongside this, we took immediate action to comply with changes inrelation to the Charities Act and Companies Act. This ensured we were fullycompliant with all requirements necessary to function as an organisation.

In 2015 we focused on the following inorder to maintain a highly skilled, unifiedand attentive organisation.

Quality service

In order to ensure we provided the higheststandard of service to our target group,work practices were reviewed in 2015 andsent to all staff and management. Workingto ensure that we had efficient andeffective policies, procedures andrecording structures in place, we wereawarded the Gold Star Service ExcellenceQuality Mark

Strengthening and supportingthe board of Management

The board of management of NationalTraveller MABS comprises of 9 individuals,all of whom give their time and knowledgeto National Traveller MABS pro bono.The expertise of the board has enabled

the establishment of a number of expertsub committees. These guide and overseethe organisation on various projects.

Staff Development

In 2015, all staff were provided withupdated staff handbooks. Staff supportand supervision was made available andexternal support was also offered. Staffmeetings were held monthly and this gavestaff an opportunity to share informationand support each other.

Consultative Forum

The work of National Traveller MABS isguided by input from our ConsultativeForum. The Forum is made up of TravellerWomen from 4 Primary Health Caregroups nationwide. In 2015 their input andsupport to us when evaluating the KeyWorker programme was invaluable.


Quality service

Strengthening and supporting

the board

Staff development

Consultative Forum



Looking to 20162015 will be remembered for our 10 year anniversary, for the launch of our“Three Small Changes” campaign and for the findings from ourpublication “A Review of National Traveller MABS Supported CaravanLoan Guarantee Schemes”.

In addition, the awarding of our Gold StarAward for service excellence, and thesuccess of the Social Finance Foundationbacked, credit union pilot personal lendingscheme, “It Makes Sense Loans” has left uswith much to maintain and build on in 2016.

2016 will be another busy year for NationalTraveller MABS as we strive to achieveour aim of ending financial exclusion andimproving access to affordable savingsand credit for Travellers. This we will worktowards by initiating small changes whichhave the potential to make a big impact.While continuing our engagement withTraveller groups both nationally and locallywhile continuing to support MABS andCIS’, we also aim:

• For the Traveller community -To complete and launch the findings ofthe Key Worker evaluation and continueto examine with Primary Health Caregroups best ways to progress theprogramme into 2016/2017.

• For Traveller Men - To launch thefindings of our research into Travellermen and education and host a nationalconference bringing together Travellermen and relevant stakeholders. Thisconference will look at developing amodel for re-engaging Traveller men inboth education and training.

• For Young Travellers - To continue towork on the Get Savings Campaign toencourage young Travellers to build asavings habit.

• For MABS - To carry out a surveywithin MABS to identify the how we can better support money advisorswhen facilitating community educationin their locality.

• For CIS - To partner with the Advocacyteam in Clondalkin CIS and exploreways that the CIS can better engagewith local Traveller Community

• For Government Department andState Agencies - To remember thetragedy of Carrickmines by working withother organisations towards theestablishment of a state backedcaravan loan scheme.

• For our own organisation- To maintainthe momentum of 2015 by retaining ourGold Star award for excellence andremaining focused on the key questionwe need to address- How can weimprove the financial situation ofTravellers?



Income and Expenditure Accountfor the year ended 31 December 2015



The year in Review


Our Team

Nuala Ní Ghabhann Joint Coordinator

Nancy Power Joint Coordinator

Liz Daly National Support and Development Worker

Dermot Sreenan National Education Worker

Margaret Collins Administrator

Temitope Animashaun Finance Administrator

Board of Management

Colin Thomson Chairperson, Programme Manager, Crosscare

John Hanley Senior Social, Worker Dublin City Council

Suzie McCarthy PHC Co-ordinator, Fingal Travellers Organisation

Lena Lawrence Health Care Worker, Fingal Travellers Organisation

Ronan Headon Finance Director, Social Finance Foundation

Catherine Joyce Manager, Blanchardstown Traveller Dev. Group

Bridget Quilligan Member, Director, ITM

Rebecca Keatinge Solicitor, Mercy Law

Geralyn McGarry Social Policy & Research Manager, CIB


National Traveller MABSUnit 2, North ParkNorth RoadFinglasDublin 11Tel: 0761 07 2230Fax: 01 864 8511

www.ntmabs.org


annual review 2015 - national traveller mabs...2 national traveller mabs annual review 2015 a...

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