The Dissemination Initiative

Project Background

Over the coming years, Atlantic Philanthropies backed grantees in Ireland and Northern
Ireland will produce a stream of results and learning from service demonstrations and studies focused on prevention and early intervention for children and young people. As these services report on results in the period 2009 – 2012 and beyond they will both add significantly to the body of knowledge on ‘what works’ for children and families and what doesn’t work.

These investments have attracted involvement, including both project funding and in some cases co-investment, by other partners, especially Government Departments and agencies. In July 2008 Atlantic Philanthropies commissioned Mathematica Policy Research Inc (MPR) to evaluate progress made by the Disadvantaged Children and Youth Programme (DCY) in Ireland and Northern Ireland in achieving its objectives. The Mathematica study proposed a process to advance the achievement of a number of objectives. The core idea is that systematic sharing of learning and of the implications from the learning among four independent ‘stakeholder groups’ – Atlantic grantees, the Centre for Effective Services (CES), The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) and its equivalent in Northern Ireland, and Atlantic itself. DIPEI is a process which will operate both in Northern Ireland (NI) and in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) with support and facilitation through The National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and Prospectus Strategy Consultants respectively.