SEFIT Challenge Fund
Social Ecosystems for Fair and Inclusive Transitions: Bringing people together to make green and digital change fair for everyone.
The SEFIT Challenge Fund is a €400,000, 10-month fund co-funded by the European Union and overseen by a collaborative effort between key partners Rethink Ireland, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, Municipality of Turin and Cork City Council. The fund is part of The Social Ecosystems for Fair and Inclusive Transitions (SEFIT) project, which brings together local authorities, social innovators, and communities to drive transformative change in the green and digital transitions for marginalised communities in both cities.
This challenge is aligned with recent consultation conducted by Cork Council in order to draft the upcoming city Climate Action Plan. It engages community representation, marginalised leadership and partnerships across sectors and internationally. The five awardees provide innovative solutions to support a fair and just green and digital transition in Cork City by eliminating barriers marginalised communities face.
Awardees
Cork Community Media Hub
The Access Studio Project will enable eight communities in Cork to access digital cameras, microphones and edit suites to record their own programmes, for broadcast on a dedicated Community TV channel and online distribution. The project is run by Cork Community Media Hub, a social enterprise where communities, in particular communities facing disadvantage, can access the digital tools and training needed to make their own media, promote social inclusion and create a more diverse media environment.
Cork Deaf Enterprises
This project addresses the digital divide within the Deaf community by offering tailored digital training in Irish Sign Language. By equipping participants with essential IT skills, the initiative seeks to enhance life skills and tackle barriers to employment for a marginalised group. Cork Deaf Enterprises is a social enterprise committed to creating employment & education in the deaf & hard of hearing community.
Cork Migrant Centre
The International Garden project is a collaboration with multiple organizations, with the goal of helping migrant families connect with the local community via gardening – growing and sharing food from across the world – while creating a model that can be replicated worldwide. The Cork Migrant Centre, located at Nano Nagle Place, is a psychosocial wellbeing and integration hub focused on building activities and sharing resources with migrants.
ECO-UNESCO
As Ireland’s leading environmental education and youth organisation, ECO-UNESCO will establish a pilot ‘regional hub’ in Cork city. This hub will deliver educational and action-focused workshops to empower young people, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, to engage in the green transition. The initiative responds to the high demand for such opportunities in the region.
The Toy Library
The mission of The Toy Library is simple: sharing toys, caring for the environment, and their vision is of a world of accessible play, where all children can enjoy toys while caring for their planet. The Toy Library is the first digital toy library in Ireland, free for all citizens to use, and hyperlocal – allowing members to see what toys are available in their neighborhood, to reduce consumption and increasing the reuse of perfectly good toys that may otherwise end up in the landfill or incinerated.
