Community Outreach and Rural Development

As a result of twenty years’ experience of engaging and communicating with wide and varied facets of Irish society, The Wheel has developed a deep knowledge and familiarity with how people and communities are connected through volunteers, community groups, charities and social enterprises.

We understand these groups and their priorities. We know how to mobilise and engage with them, the recipients of their services, as well as their employees and volunteers. We bring these qualities to a range of projects where reaching targeted populations has been crucial.

The Wheel supports the work done by hundreds of our rurally-based member organisations active in areas of job creation, service delivery, care services, heritage and other areas vital to preservation of rural society. We are part of the National Support Unit for the National Rural Network (NRN), which is a membership network for people living or working in rural communities and everyone interested in rural development.

Current Projects

The National Rural Network (NRN) is a membership network for people living or working in rural communities and everyone interested in rural development. The aim of the NRN is to maximise the beneficial outcomes of Ireland's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 for rural stakeholders.

The Wheel supports the implementation of the NRN, in partnership with Irish Rural Link, NUI Galway and Philip Farrelly & Co. The NRN is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. 

The NRN focuses on a number of thematic areas that are vitally important for rural communities: 

  • Taking action on climate change 
  • Protecting and promoting biodiversity 
  • Supporting EIP-AGRI projects that foster sustainable farming and forestry through innovative partnerships between farmers, rural communities, researchers and others 
  • Community-led local development through LEADER funding - for information on LEADER funding in your local area, including how to apply for grants, you can contact your Local Action Group and Implementing Partner  or have a look at good practice case studies.
  • Encouraging viability and competitiveness in farming and across rural communities to ensure sustainability. 

Membership is free and members receive regular monthly updates on funding deadlines, new initiatives and good practice case studies. Join here.

Learn more about the National Rural Network.

The Wheel works with the Public Participation Networks across the country supporting their members and networks through training, advice and support.

At The Wheel, we believe that sustainable communities should be economically thriving, environmentally healthy and socially resilient. People living locally have the knowledge and experience to make their communities better places to live. Community consultation, done well, leads to better community engagement, builds trust and fosters a sense of share ownership of local services and infrastructure.

We worked with Carlow Public Participation Network (PPN) to identify and help bridge the gap between current practice and best practice in community consultation and engagement in Carlow. Through public meetings, focus groups, interviews and a survey, we engaged actively with diverse communities in Carlow, Tullow and Bagenalstown, to explore good consultation practice.

The community consultation toolkit that emerged from the process reflects the opinions and ideas of local people in Co. Carlow. It outlines steps for effective consultation, as well as practical tools and templates to support the consultation process. Working with The Wheel, Carlow PPN is the first PPN in the country to have produced a community consultation toolkit for their local communities.

Download the toolkit on the Carlow PPN website below.

Download Toolkit

Contact Johnny johnny@wheel.ie for more about how The Wheel can support PPNs, to learn about our work on consultation and to access additional tools for better community engagement.

Past Projects

Our members across rural Ireland have played, and continue to play, a key role in the national effort to support the most vulnerable through the COVID-19 crisis.

In response to COVID-19, we worked in partnership with Irish Rural Link to manage a network of local champions in every local authority area in the country.

Find out more here.

As part of the launch phase of Ireland’s new postcode system, ‘Eircode’, the Eircode Community Outreach Programme was initiated as a way of reaching more vulnerable people who were likely to be neglected by the general public awareness campaign

In 2014, The Wheel was involved in discussions with Capita and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) regarding the potential of an outreach programme, based on a model developed for the Digital Switchover in 2012, to reach the target group by mobilising the community and voluntary sector. Preparatory work on the Eircodes Community Outreach Programme began in December 2014, with the key outreach work being undertaken during April to July 2015The programme was managed and coordinated by The Wheel in conjunction with Irish Rural Link. 

The results:

  • A total of 187,939 members of the target group were reached and provided with information and reassurance regarding the introduction of Eircode.   
  • The programme reached an additional 167,285 people outside the target group
  • 4,767 organisations were mobilised to work actively on the programme, holding events and otherwise assisting in the effort to reach the target group, averaging 207 per county/area. 
  • 10,781 volunteers were recruited by Outreach Champions to assist in the programme at local level, of whom 4,019 were 'Key Volunteers' driving the local implementation.    
  • A total of 1,364 outreach events were held involving the target group, representing an average of 59 per county/area. 
  • The programme generated 1,091 mentions in Parish/Community newsletters, and 207 mentions in other media, including local newspapers and radio. 

In Ireland, the analogue television service provided by the national broadcaster, RTE, was discontinued in October 2012.

To continue receiving access to television, members of the public either had to subscribe to one of several private television suppliers or they needed to obtain a small amount of equipment that would enable them to avail of Saorview, a new free-television service provided by RTE. This was called ‘Digital Switchover’.

The Digital Switchover Community Outreach Programme was initiated by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR). The Department was looking for a partner to ensure vulnerable people, who were likely to be unaware of the general awareness campaign, were informed about the switchover. Following departmental consultations with a range of organisations, the Department and The Wheel agreed an approach to reach the target group based on mobilising the community and voluntary sector. Preparatory work on the Digital Switchover Community Outreach Programme began in November 2011, with the key outreach work being undertaken between March to October 2012.  The project was managed and coordinated by The Wheel in conjunction with Irish Rural Link, with funding from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. 

The aim of the programme was that those who were least likely to make the switchover to a digital television service would be enabled to do so before the switching off of the analogue signal in October 2012. This target group were likely to be older; have less formal education; be farmers or live in rural areas; be disadvantaged, e.g. have a disability, live alone; have few social networks. 

Results:

  • A total of 71,535 members of the target group were reached and provided with information and advice regarding the switchover. This was 48% greater than the 48,360 estimated target number for the programme. 
  • A total of 57,019 members of the target group were provided with additional assistance to successfully make the switch. 
  • The programme reached an additional 125,508 people outside the target group. 
  • 3,277 organisations were actively involved in the programme, holding events and otherwise assisting in the effort to reach the target group, averaging 126 per county/area. 
  • The ‘Digital Champions’ recruited 674 Key Activists, averaging 26 per county/area, to drive the programme at a local level throughout each county/area.  They were assisted by an additional 10,995 volunteers. 
  • A total of 1,575 outreach events were held involving the target group, representing an average of 61 per county/area, with a total attendance at these events of 74,399 people. 
  • The programme had a presence at 246 major events (e.g. local festivals) and through these reached at estimated 46,669 people. 
  • The programme generated 2,513 mentions in local media, including local radio and newspapers. 

As a direct result of the community outreach and engagement programme through mobilising community and voluntary groups, there was little evidence of public concern following the switch off, including on local or national radio. This indicated an extremely high level of advanced awareness and that the vast majority of people, including the hard-to-reach people in the target group of the programme, had successfully made the switch on time.