Disability Federation of Ireland Newsletter September 2009

All of our organisations are operating in a challenging environment. Service pressures, cuts already in place, along with anticipated further cuts can potentially blur our sense of direction and control of situations. We are also affected by the contention that there are too many voluntary disability organisations and too much duplication of work.

Leaving these pressures aside, we have an ongoing responsibility to enhance the direction, relevance and performance of our organisations.

Since the publication of DFI's current Strategic Plan by its National Council in 2003, we have committed to advancing organisational capacity across our membership. At a time when the major focus was on the development of disability legislation and the National Disability Strategy, DFI recognised the key role that "healthy" disability organisations would play on the journey along this new pathway. The "Chairpersons as Effective Leaders" programme, SKILL Programme, and DFI's 2007 conference, "Count Me In", which focussed on inter organisational collaboration, were all important parts of this process. We have forged structured and stronger relationships with organisations within and beyond the disability movement to add value to this work.

Over the past few months we have brought these and other services together in our new programme, 'Service Suite', to further support our member organisations. Key to this is our increasing focus on organisational governance and capacity, as delivered through our programme, the Organisation Healthcheck and PQASSO quality assurance system. (More about PQASSO on pages 2& 3).

Behind all of this practical work is the realisation that the promise of the National Disability Strategy, that people with disabilities will be able to live full and active lives, requires the best organised and co-ordinated efforts of the voluntary disability sector. In the past, the efforts of the growing voluntary disability sector encouraged a Government level response to the disability question. There is no doubt that it will be through a reinvigorated sector, with its many, varied and valuable organisations, working together and with the State, that the National Disability Strategy will be fully implemented.

In light of the challenges we all now face, in parallel with implementing the policy of mainstreaming, it is all the more necessary that we continue to improve the health and fitness of our organisations so that we can drive forward the delivery of full and equal citizenship for all people with disabilities in Ireland.

John Dolan