Respond! National Communities Competition 2007

“PHENDULANA” – ‘Working together’
Responding! to Community Needs in South Africa

Respond!, Ireland’s largest housing association with over 4,000 homes nationwide, this week launched their “Pride in our Community” Competition with Dan Shanahan, Waterford hurler and All-Star and Bishop William Slattery of South Africa (and Killenaule). This national competition celebrates 25 years of Respond!’s work in Ireland and the organisation’s new project of building communities in South Africa. The competition is taking place throughout the summer and four winners, representative of their Respond! estate and locality, will travel in an exchange visit to South Africa in October, beginning the process of Estate Twinning..

According to Pat Cogan, Managing Director of Respond!: “Having gained 25 years experience of building communities in Ireland, we feel we possess the experience and enthusiasm for this South African project. We plan to not only deliver good quality social and affordable housing, but also develop communal facilities that will support families and the wider community.”

Respond! commenced their South African project in 2006 when the organisation met representatives of more than 600 South African families headed by orphan children aged between 8 and 16’. The organisation has been working closely with South African authorities and local community groups over the past year. As well as providing homes and communal facilities, Respond! also plans on developing support centres for orphan children, offer assistance programmes for families living with HIV, provide training units for adults to develop home industries and for men in construction technology and provide facilities for the delivery of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy for AIDS-infected South Africans.

Pat Cogan added: “Respond!’s goal in Ireland is to develop sustainable, integrated communities that will help the growth of the individual resident, as well as the growth of the whole community. We achieve this through the use of programmed events, education and applied community resources. We are advised that a similar approach will be effective in South Africa and we are very excited at the prospect of what we can achieve there.”

The closing date for entries is August 31st 2007 and winners will be announced in September. Any Respond! residents’ group, available to travel in October, is invited to enter and not only will 4 winners win a week’s holiday in South Africa, they will also be invited to an Awards Ceremony taking place in Dublin in October. There are also Runner-up prizes of weekends away in Ireland. Further information is available on the Respond! website (www.respond.ie) or by contacting Respond! at Lo-call 0818 357901.