The people of Asdee, a small rural village in North Kerry, have brought home gold at an international awards ceremony for their ambitious community development plan.
The Asdee Community Development Association won the prize for its community-led five-year socio-economic development plan (2020-2025), and is the first in Ireland to bring home an International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Facilitation Impact Award.
Asdee’s impressive execution of its community-led plan saw it listed among 16 awardees from 14 countries, such as China Bank, Russian Railways, Swiss Biopharma and a leading Canadian asset management company.
The awards, hosted by the IAF, recognise processes that encourage powerful change using facilitation. The IAF is a participatory organisation with members in more than 65 countries.
They set internationally accepted industry standards, provide accreditation, support a community of practice, advocate and educate on the power of facilitation, and embrace the diversity of facilitators.
The facilitators for Asdee’s community plan, namely Paul O’Raw, Breandán Ó Caoimh and Rishi Ballal, encouraged an inclusive process, through well-attended community workshops, going door-to-door with surveys, and connecting through the community website www.AsdeeVillage.com.
‘Over the moon’
“We’re absolutely over the moon really, we’re ecstatic. It’s a huge honour for a small village in North Kerry, and it’s recognition of what the committee and wider community have done over the years as part of the Asdee Development Association,” said John Kennedy, chairman of the association.
Mr Kennedy said the secret ingredient of the winning plan was buy-in from everyone in the community.
We’re like most other places around this country, with all the negative things like emigration, lack of employment, people leaving, and businesses closing.
“There was no point talking about it, it was about doing something to get life into our v
