Who are we?
The Irish Traveller Movement (ITMB) is a national second tier community development charity working to raise the capacity and social inclusion of the Irish Traveller community in Britain. We were established in 2000 and are a registered Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee.
ITMB act as a bridge builder bringing the Traveller communities, service providers and policy makers together, thereby stimulating debate and promoting forward-looking strategies to promote increased race equality, civic engagement, inclusion, service provision and community cohesion.
ITMB have an established track record of active policy development, community engagement and social cohesion work. We were a shared award recipient of the Liberty Human Rights Award 2004 for our management of the Traveller Law Reform Project and recently awarded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity care for award 2011 for our health and wellbeing project with the Traveller communities
Organisational Aims and Objectives
- To create an evidence and resource base for positive change for the Traveller community
- To promote the social inclusion of Travellers by campaigning on issues that contribute to their exclusion and to promote equality of access to statutory and voluntary services
- To develop policy models for working with Travellers and educate statutory and other services who work with Travellers.
Vision
Our vision is of a world in which members of the Traveller Communities 
reach their full potential; where they are accepted, proud of who they are and have an equal voice
Mission
Our mission is to develop a platform and voice for Travellers, working in solidarity with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, within the UK and across Europe, to achieve equality through self-determination and proactive participation in influencing and shaping policy
Ambition
Our ambition is to extend our EU influence and remain the most effective UK resource, information and lobbying charity for groups, organisations and individuals working for and with the Irish Traveller communities in Britain so that collectively we can bring about significant, positive change for people living in those communities.
Core Values
- We believe that discrimination is wrong
- We are opposed to racism in all its forms
- We value and promote diversity
- We believe in equality of access to services and in equality under the law
- We value and promote self-determination, believing that individualshave the right to make choices about issues affecting them
- We endorse the Declaration of Human Rights
- We value the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller identities and cultures
- We work in partnership with the Traveller communities
What we do
ITMB seeks to empower Traveller communities by campaigning for a new policy framework for addressing exclusion and discrimination. ITMB encourages Traveller projects and other interested service providers to use ITMB as a channel to collect and disseminate information on legislative policies and their effect on the Traveller community.
ITM also promotes equality, diversity and racial harmony for the benefit of all members of British society by encouraging others to understand the culture and needs of Travellers.
In summary, ITMB:
• Promotes Travellers, Gypsy and Roma as a minority ethnic group
• Challenges discrimination against GRT communities
• Develops national policies and models of good practice that ensure the inclusion of GRT communities in all levels of civic society
• Monitors disadvantage amongst GRT communities across Britain
• Supports other organisations and individuals working with GRT communities
• Offers cultural awareness training to community voluntary and statutory services
• Acts as a consultation conduit for community and policy makers
The organisation is currently governed by 8 trustees from a variety of backgrounds and 22 Advisory Group members all of whom are members of the Traveller community.
Operational aims and objectives
- To continue to involve Travellers the decision-making processes and to change the governance structure to ensure that the ITMB is more representative
- Develop and maximise the use of skilled volunteers and interns in order to gain maximum impact from limited resources
- Develop and strengthen the senior management team and staffing levels and structures to ensure ITMB can deliver its strategic aims
- Review and develop ITMB partnerships
- Develop formal tools for assessing the impact of our work on national and EU policy development and capacity building work .
- Develop the ITMB brand and logo and develop a communications and PR strategy, including development of a website
- To develop a fundraising strategy in order to diversify sources of funding and become more sustainable
PQASSO Quality Mark
In October 2011, Irish Traveller Movement in Britain achieved the PQASSO Quality Mark at Level 2. This was recommended to the Charities Evaluation Services following a site visit on the 29th and 30th June 2011 by the PQASSO Peer Reviewer.This is a massive achievement for Irish Traveller movement in Britain, and also a great morale boost for all Staff, Management, Volunteers as well as Service Users.
Achieving PQASSO has definitely been a journey which has reached highs, climbed back from lows, and has rallied around, above and under barriers or obstacles.Working through PQASSO Level 1 self assessment gave us a sturdy foundation to work from. Level 1 meant us setting the minimum requirements that any organisation should meet. Level 1 would also help ITMB to identify and meet all legal obligations as a service provider and an employer. Level 1 would help lay the foundations for the effective planning and targeting of activities to help meet ITMB objectives. ITMB also used Level 1 of PQASSO to support the longer term vision and development.
At Level 2 of PQASSO, ITMB could build on what had already been achieved in Level 1. Being awarded Level 2 of PQASSO would assume that ITMB would have a greater capacity to plan and monitor its work, and to develop its internal processes. Level 2 would require ITMB to be more strategic in its approach to achieving its aims and objectives, as well as requiring a systematic approach to planning and to monitoring results, with a greater focus on outcomes. PQASSO Level 2 would also require most ITMB policies, procedures and practices to be documented.
Probably the greatest highs of doing PQASSO work was watching it all come together, identifying the gaps and completing the self assessments for in each area and at both levels. This is something which needs to be completed as a workbook to be sent to the Peer Reviewer as part of the desktop review before the site visit. At this stage, we could have been asked to continue working on it, and try reapplying at a later stage. Thankfully, this was not the case, and to see the confirmation letter with ‘Congratulations…’ on it meant ITMB were heading in the right direction and were definitely doing something right.
But no challenge would be a challenge if it was all plain sailing, and nothing to get our teeth stuck into. Whilst working through the quality areas, it became evident that the Monitoring and Evaluation area moved at the lowest percentage for completion. It wasn’t that ITMB couldn’t complete it, or that ITMB didn’t meet the indicators, but it always appeared to be the longest one to achieve. As a team, we discussed this, and all members of staff had an input into where we were going wrong, what we were doing but hadn’t managed properly, and highlighting what our strengths were within this. Gradually this area became stronger and stronger and has now become an area that we can be proud of as an organisation.
With really good participation from Staff, Management, Management Committee, Volunteers, Interns and Service Users, ITMB proved that there is no I in TEAM.To put more scope on our achievement of Level 2 in PQASSO, it was also announced in July 2009, that organisations that achieve the PQASSO Quality Mark at Levels 2 and 3 of PQASSO 3rd Edition would be able to use the Charity Commission’s Charity Quality Standards stamp confirming that they are accredited by standards that meet the Hallmarks of an Effective Charity.
Well done ITMB!
The PQASSO Quality Mark is a nationally recognised award that offers users, as well as commissioners and funders, external verification of the quality and credibility of an orgnaisation. Organisations that achieve the PQASSO Quality Mark at Levels 2 and 3 of PQASSO 3rdEdition will be able to use the Charity Commissions Charity Quality Standards Stamp confirming that they are accredited by standards that meet the Hallmarks of an effective charity.
The PQASSO Quality Mark is valid for three years, and is a massive achievement by all in the organisation.
If you would like to find out some more information about the PQASSO Quality Mark, please click on the logos above.
