More than 80 ChangeMakers gathered together at an Grianán Hotel, Burt last Thursday to celebrate 10 years of making a difference across Donegal over the last 10 years.
Changemakers is an Inishowen Development Partnership initiative, which is partnered with Donegal ETB, Self Help Africa, Trócaire and Concern, and aims to tackle global issues such as sustainability, climate change, Fairtrade, food waste and more but on a local level within Donegal.
Funded by Irish Aid, ChangeMakers has been making an impact with the community and local groups over the last decade and the groups turned out in large numbers last Thursday to celebrate ChangeMakers’ achievements as well as hearing their plans for the next decade.
A variety of speakers took to the stage but one of the stars on the day was Bebhinn Mullins, Clonmany, who spoke about how taking part in the ChangeMakers Global Development course during the pandemic changed her perspective.
“This is a wonderful course, it really taught us about the global issues but with a local link,” she said.
“Everyone has the potential to be a ChangeMaker and everyone working or volunteering in the community, is a ChangeMaker.”
Bebhinn’s ChangeMaker moment came when she realised the crab she bought in her local supermarket had come from Indonesia, when there are young men from Clonmany fishing crab every day of the week in her locality.
With help from FoodCloud, a social enterprise which redistributes food which is nearing its sell by date, Bebhinn and the team set up the Clonmany Community Pantry. 70 households in the Inishowen area are now using the Pantry.
“The Pantry is not about what people have, it is not about poverty – although it is helping with that – our focus is on food waste and what we can do to combat that and make the world a better place,” Bebhinn said.
The team in Clonmany have now progressed through the help of their volunteers to launch the first student community pantry in NUI Galway, with more than 100 students attending it on a daily basis.
Roisin O’Hara from Trócaire and a member of the ChangeMakers Steering Committee said the Clonmany Community Pantry is a perfect example of what can be achieved through ChangeMakers and through the right organisation.
“ChangeMakers plant the seeds for community groups such as this to grow,” Roisin said.
“Through their programme they are empowering local community groups and local people to drive their own development and creating a movement for change in Donegal.”
Similarly, Maria Riordan, Education Officer with Irish Aid, who are the main funders of ChangeMakers, said it was great to see so many like-minded people in the same room.
“When communities come together – make connections, share conversations and ideas – wonderful things can happen,” she said.
“It takes a whole community to try and tackle the global issues – but we at Irish Aid are grateful to ChanegeMakers for setting the standard, sharing the knowledge.”
Sikhanyisile Dube, a key speaker on the day, told the crowd about her story of growing up in Zimbabwe and how climate change is having a devastating impact on Africa, causing drought, famine and hunger.
She urged people to “push for change” to try and reverse the damage already caused by climate change.
“We can do so much within our own household, but we can also push for change from our service providers and within our communities,” Sikhanyisile said.
For more information on ChangeMakers see: www.changemakers.ie
