FAMILY: ADULT & CHILD ENHANCED SERVICES Understanding and Enhancing Local Family Support Services: A Human Learning Systems Approach

CALL FOR TENDER BIDS

BACKGROUND TO THE TENDER

The Family: Adult & Child Enhanced Services (F:ACES) Initiative is a collaborative community-based project being resourced through the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE) Local Area Based Child Poverty Action Plans Pilot Programme.

The overall objective of the F:ACES Initiative is to -
Undertake a systematic approach to identifying and analysing drivers of child poverty, adopting an early intervention and prevention approach from pregnancy to four years, in targeted adjacent neighbourhoods in the Bray and South-East Dun Laoghaire Rathdown areas and through local collaboration and interagency working, to examine existing best practice and what can be done differently, locally and nationally, to improve outcomes for families and children impacted by intergenerational experiences of poverty and disadvantage.

The key outcomes to be achieved include the following:

1. Drivers of child poverty and their inter-connections are identified, understood and charted for wider dissemination and action as necessary.
2. A coalition of target group families, local groups and agency service providers input their experience, expertise and know-how, in working together as a learning community collective to enable ongoing and sustainable effective integrated action.
3. Innovative methodology is deployed and will provide for system mapping and embedding of the Human Learning Systems as development tools to inform and improve local services.
4. Enhanced pathways are made available to families to exit poverty circumstances with positive impacts on health, wellbeing and general quality of life conditions.
5. Practice learning, involving positive developments and more challenging experiences, are captured, recorded and made available for wider dissemination.

The Pilot Programme is currently scheduled to run over a two-year period with the F:ACES Initiative commencing operation in 2025 and is co-ordinated by a Research and Community Networking Specialist (RCNS). The RCNS leads the coordination of research and engagement activities across the project, ensuring evidence, insights, and lived experience are effectively gathered and shared by connecting partners, aligning efforts, and supporting knowledge exchange to keep the project responsive to community needs and priorities.

The principal tasks to be undertaken through this Call for Tenders involve taking a lead in a participatory, process focused collaborative research programme designed to deeply engage families, community groups and service providers using the Human Learning Systems model approach and associated collaborative working that underpins services co-design processes positively impacting early years outcomes.

The F:ACES Initiative is being overseen and progressed by a consortium of local organisations in the catchment area with Bray & North Wicklow Area Partnership, (BNWAP) acting as lead agency for the development and implementation process. In this regard BNWAP, on behalf of the F:ACES Initiative consortium group, will be the contracting agency for the work to be undertaken through the tendering process.

Please see Tender Document attached below.

Tender bids must be submitted electronically no later than 5pm on Friday 13th of June 2025 to adeleoneill@bnwap.ie using Tender Bid Submission in the subject line. Late bids will not be considered. It is planned that any interviews of bidders within the selection process will be held in the week commencing Monday 16th of June 2025.