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Governance
The Alfa Project started as an ad hoc committee of seven people who oversaw and guided the process to the inception in September 2001 when Alfa first opened its doors to 14 students. This committee managed the day to day running of the project.
In February 2002 this group become the sponsors and Directors of the limited company, Ard Aoibhinn Community Initiatives Ltd., the company has charitable status and was set up to oversee the Alfa Project. At the time we saw that this company could support other groups wanting to work socially in an innovative way, so the main objectives cover a wider remit than the purely educational work of the Alfa Project. In 2006 Ard Aoibhinn supports three other projects under its umbrella, see Appendix III, each represented by a Director on the board of Ard Aoibhinn.
Over the past 6 years the Governance of Alfa has evolved into its present day
form that is still in process. The Alfa community of teachers, parents and
friends have set up Alfa so that structures of governance reflect the ethos of
Alfa and all decisions made have the education of the students to the fore. The Management Group The management group is made up of representatives from the three groups Education, Administration and Finance/Development plus a friend who is neither parent or teacher but someone in the wider community who can support our work in an objective way. The management group meets monthly to hear reports from the different groups and make/ratify decisions made by the three groups. The Management Group nominates a Director to the board of the Company; this person then stands for election at the AGM in accordance to the Articles of Association. This threefold model may seem overly complex for such a small organisation, but having had five years of other forms of governance and with the intention of trebling the number of students in the next 5 years we feel that we are laying a foundation for the future. Education Education is the main purpose of Alfa and a group of three teachers are responsible for all matters related to the education including the welfare of the students, creating the curriculum, the day to day running of the teaching etc.
Administration Alfa employ an administrator to look after the day-to-day running of the Project as well as looking after the finances within the annual budget set by the Management group. There are many areas of administration that need a wider group so we have formed an administration group.
The administration group carries the responsibility for all procedural issues, employment, health and safety, grievance etc. all of which have a legal basis and need to be applied with equality. Equality is the underlying principle at work in all legal issues, employment issues and procedures.
Finance and Development Alfa employs a part-time Development worker and there is a finance development group meeting fortnightly. This group guide the overall development of the project from the present day of 15 students to our goal of 45 students in our own premises. Alfa will not be able to develop and grow without the help and support of the wider national and international community that recognises its uniqueness and innovation in the field of education. So the main tasks of the Finance and Development Group are to develop relationships with the wider community, businesses, trusts, the State, the Co. Clare VEC and the international community. This is to secure long term funding for running costs and capital costs to buy a premises. Alfa is open to encouraging choice in education for parents and will help other groups working from a similar ethos in whatever way it can. In providing a role model for others it can give something back to the wider community.
Alfa has to attract financial support in order to be able to offer all children the opportunity for its education, and it does this by working with the spirit of fraternity. While all parents pay a basic contribution of 25 a week, it costs more to run Alfa than can be raised this way. In addition to parental contributions we hold an annual appeal for one off or regular donations from the wider community. This allows other members of the community to support Alfa without directly benefiting from it and the parents/extended family of students to support the project beyond the parental contribution.
Summary The governance of Alfa is in process and it is important that Alfa develops its structures and procedures ahead of the inevitable challenges it will face as it grows. The separation of the three main areas of Education, Administration and Finance and Development, each with its underlying principle of freedom, equality and fraternity/co-operation is an important development in Alfa. Our expectation is that if each group can work with these principles it will infuse the governance with a dynamism that will give Alfa the ability to respond to the future as well as be effective in the present. Decision-making is on the basis of consensus, not voting, and the groups are non hierarchical (no School Principle, CEO, Chairman with a casting vote etc.). There is a hierarchy of responsibility in that when a group member takes on a task, they become the person responsible for completing that task through; when the task is completed the responsibility is handed back to the group. Therefore trust is the most important quality for working together and that good relationships between each other are vital to the decision making process. A system of checks and balances will need to be part of the organisation.
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