Structure & Approach

The Rights Platform is comprised of community sector organisations active in combatting social exclusion and advancing human rights in South County Dublin. 
The Platform operates from a community development perspective. seeking to promote social change linked to social justice, human rights and equality through collective action.

The Platform is managed by a board of directors, who oversee its work, maintain best operational practice and ensure that the aims, principles and ethos of the organisation are upheld. 

History

The South Dublin Community Platform was created on foot of the introduction of Better Local Government: A Programme for Change (1996), which introduced elements of participatory democracy and a focus on strengthening the capacity of marginalised communities to influence local planning and decision making. These changes were accompanied by a funding line to enable communities to organise and develop their priorities and to build their skills and organisational capacities to better purpose and impact.

This affirmative action was resented by many and after some years government introduced non-social exclusion community forums, while reducing funding to social exclusion focused platforms by half. This diminished the staffing and operational capacity of the Platform.   

In 2014, government introduced a new policy, Putting People First: Action Programme for Effective Local Government, creating the Public Participation Network (PPN). This state directed body assumed the organising of the community sector, while withdrawing funding to independent community platforms and forums. Shortly afterwards, a small grant application from the Platform to the local authority was rejected on the basis that the Platform was duplicating the work of the PPN. The era of affirmative action, capacity building and self-direction for the community sector under Better Local Government had come to an end.   

After some reflection, the Platform decided to change its focus to a human rights approach, presenting the needs and priorities of the most marginalised within a human rights framework. The Platform renamed itself as the Rights Platform and continued its work to advance the human rights of those experiencing inequality, social exclusion, racism, hate and discrimination.