17

Jun

Climate Action Initiative Wild Work Endorsed by An Taoiseach Michéal Martin

Category : Ann Marie McSorley

Climate Action Initiative Wild Work Endorsed by An Taoiseach

On a very special day for the company we enjoyed an audience with the Taoiseach in the beautiful surroundings of Fota House and Gardens. The reason was to celebrate our role as lead contractor on the digital platform and climate action programme delivery of Wild Work. In his own words.

‘I am greatly encouraged to hear about the various elements of the new modules being delivered by Wild Work, including training on our historic connections to nature, managing habitats for biodiversity and using nature for our overall wellbeing and mental health.’ An Taoiseach, Michéal Martin.

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Under the shade of a tree our chat proved to be nice and relaxed and I took the opportunity to share our story. He was enthused about us operating as a female led Enterprise Ireland Supported high potential  software company.  In his speech he re-enforced that trends of biodiversity loss needed to be scaled, which is what we do best.  Disrupting  the delivery of such important skills-based programmes by supporting the learning with a digital platform. 

“The tools to help turn these trends around are accessible, and it is our duty to use them to the best of our capacity for not just the next generation, but also for our current generation.”

Our clients, SECAD Partnership CLG, West Limerick Resources and Cavan County Local Development  had a strong vision and as the main contractors on the programme it was our job to bring that vision to life. The plan was ambitious, 20 locations across four regions, multiple modules with online toolkits to complement the on-location education. The ecologists led by Dr Amanda Greer created a world class curriculum that I’m immensely proud of  to support the ethos of Wild Work which is to help people, help nature, help people. 

The modules included diverse subject matter from the history of biodiversity in the Irish landscape, the importance of biodiversity for wellbeing all the way to how the Wild Work Framework will function to support biodiversity action into the future. In a novel approach a Wild Work Toolkit was developed containing an exciting range of e-learning activities to support the learning and as the programmes continued, content would be added to by the participants themselves as they experienced the training.

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Back in 2017 part of the  inception of Veri was the demand for technology to support and progress the delivery of skills-based initiatives.  I was confident that the sector would evolve and Wild Work is the perfect example of this. 

In his speech the Taoiseach spoke warmly about Kieran Cowhig, one of our ecologists both of whom are Nemo Rangers supporters and he pondered that with men like Kieran on board that the Wild Work journey was sure to be a success. I am so grateful for the opportunity to give kudos to my team. The final word from the Taoiseach is a sentiment that unequivocally share.

‘Wild Work is exactly the kind of locally led initiative that I want to see rolled out right across Ireland.’

You can read the Taoiseach’s official speech here : https://www.gov.ie/en/speech/49fc9-speech-by-the-taoiseach-micheal-martin-td-at-the-launch-of-the-wild-work-co-ordination-project/