The Embracing Diversity & Nurturing Integration Project (EDNIP) initiative in Mary Immaculate College (MIC) has been awarded €300,000 as part of the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund 2021-2027.
Announced last week by Minister of State for Community Development, Integration and Charities, Joe O’Brien TD, AMIF is a multi-year project with a total allocation of €60.19 million, made up of €49.77 million in EU funding and €10.42 million in national and beneficiary co-financing.
Announcing the 17 successful projects, Minister O’Brien said:“The AMIF is a significant EU funding mechanism that enables us at a national level to financially support organisations that are doing crucial work in supporting the reception and integration of people arriving from Third Countries specifically. This is in recognition of the additional difficulties faced by vulnerable people from Third Countries seeking sanctuary in Ireland and the additional efforts of those groups working to welcome and support those people.
Since 2017, EDNIP has worked closely with five Limerick primary schools to support migrant children and their families to integrate into school and community life. The project celebrates the cultural diversity within these schools by working with the whole school community to provide innovative and sustainable responses to integration and inclusion.
Dr Ruth Bourke, Coordinator of the TED Project, Curriculum Development Unit, where EDNIP is based in MIC, welcomed the funding allocation.
“The EDNIP project builds on a long tradition within MIC of working in partnership with schools and other organisations. EDNIP is an innovative initiative that celebrates cultural diversity and promotes inclusion and integration in local schools and was developed in consultation with and based on the priorities of the schools involved. We are delighted that the timely funding from the AMIF will allow this valuable work to continue.”
EDNIP Project Leader, Lisa Martin, added: “We are delighted that this funding from the AMIF sustains the important work of inclusion and integration that EDNIP does in our five partner schools in Limerick city. It is vital that schools are equipped to celebrate the culture and identity of every child and EDNIP remains committed to supporting the integration needs of schools and families.”
“Over the past six years, EDNIP has provided in excess of 18,000 child, adult and school staff engagements with the programme providing integration opportunities for school staff, parents and children through a range of in-school, after-school and school holiday time supports.”
The AMIF award will enable the schools to build on the work of EDNIP to date and continue to deliver a range of opportunities for children, parents and school staff. The schools involved are: CBS Primary School, Sexton Street; Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Rosbrien; Presentation Primary, Sexton Street; St John’s Girls’ and Infant Boys’, Cathedral Place, and St Michael’s Infant School, Sexton Street.
Peter Jennings, Principal of Our Lady of Lourdes National School in Rosbrien, said that the school community was “delighted and relieved” with the news that EDNIP had secured this vital funding.
“This Integration Project has created such strong relationships within our school community, helping us maintain and develop our growing capacity for inclusion and has inspired over the years a tangible and positive impact on our migrant children and their families. EDNIP enhances all aspects of school life through shared opportunities with partners but in particular it supports those families who, without its existence, would be isolated, unheard without the confidence to engage and left behind. EDNIP is a great and valuable aspect of our school's commitment to inclusive practice and cultural awareness."
EDNIP is an initiative of the Transforming Education through Dialogue (TED) Project located in the Curriculum Development Unit and is also supported by the Research and Graduate School, MIC. The project is run in partnership with the five primary schools along with Tusla Education Support Services (TESS), Limerick City and County Council, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, Limerick Education Centre, Limerick Sports Partnership-Active Cities and PAUL Partnership.
