Longford Women’s Link
Longford Women’s Link (LWL) is a dynamic social enterprise which was founded in 2005, initially to provide back to education and training opportunities for women. Over the past 26 years, LWL has diversified and expanded to become a substantial organisation that advocates effectively on the issues that impact women, their families and the wider community, providing practical supports and also providing the essential services of women’s community training and education, domestic violence support, counselling, and support in employment and self-employment options for women and their families.
LWL delivers its services and programmes using its unique ‘Integrated Model of Service Delivery’ (ISD) which is driven by the recognition that disadvantage is complex and no one single intervention is enough to address the problem. LWL delivers training and education programmes to over 400 students per year at its QQI-accredited Women’s Community Education Centre, including third level outreach via its community partners. The focus of the training and education element of LWL’s model encourages women to broaden their horizons and explore learning opportunities in innovative and creative ways.
LWL is represented on a wide range of local, regional and national organisations. CEO Tara Farrell is the Chairperson of Irish Rural Link while Education and Training Manager Pamela Latimer is on the board of AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation in Ireland.