Projects at Mná Ag Gáire
We have funded and hosted a range of projects since Mná Ag Gáire opened its doors in 2021.
Each project is selected to develop our mission of supporting women from all backgrounds to enhance their role in their own lives and their local communities by providing resources and opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Skillshare Project
A 10-week program from September 2022 – November 2022.
The Skillshare project was created to provide opportunities for women living in Clare to meet and develop new skills to modify their personal and economic circumstances.
The project was open and inclusive to all local women and women from communities new to Clare originating from Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan.
A range of group activities was offered by trained tutors aimed at supporting the women with integration into the local community and gaining the skills and confidence required to take up employment.
The Skills offered included creative physical and practical options that were fully supported.
Patchwork & Quilting
Cooking skills.
Furniture restoration.
Art /Painting.
Christmas crafts / wreath making.
Yoga -Circle Dancing – Meditation – Mindfulness -Aromatherapy
Walking for Fitness.
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This project was funded by:
Chic Nua Project
The Chic Nua project is all about sustainable fashion, and recycling fabrics and clothing.
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A Textile-based recycling project created to support the needs of the women of MAGS and to generate an income to enable MAGS to continue its work. Chic Nua was created to support Ennis Women's Community Hub (Mná Ag Gáire) and is set up as a non-profit organization.
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The textiles come into MAGS as donated clothing and as factory waste. Applying the skills learned at MAGS some of the women recreate and recycle the garments and remnants into items that are sold in a pop-up shop at Haven Horizons in Ennis.
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Remnants from Aran Woolen Mills knitting factory in Westport which would otherwise go to landfill are repurposed into balls of wool for hand knitting, the balls of wool are knit into new accessories, or stitched into cushions, then sold.
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The donated garments are deconstructed, embellished, and reinvented as new garments on the premises by Olga, a fashion designer from Ukraine, currently living in Ennis. The recycled garments generate employment for Olga, and income for MAGS.
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Addressing a global problem with a local and productive solution.
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This enterprise was showcased with a fashion show and has now developed into a mini enterprise with its own Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, a group of women from the local community actively participates in this process, making balls of wool and sewing new items both at the Mná Ag Gáire workshop and in their own homes.
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Annually, consumers discard 31.75 kilograms of clothing, leading to a global textile waste of 13 million tons. A staggering 80% of this waste ends up in landfills or is incinerated. In
landfills, these garments can take over 200 years to decompose, releasing harmful methane gas in the process.
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This project was funded by:
Healthy Clare Project
Recognising that many women do not have the opportunity to prioritise or afford to take care of
their health and well-being.
Mná Ag Gáire apply for funding via Healthy Ireland each year to support classes in Yoga,
Nordic Walking, Meditation, Aromatherapy, Circle Dancing, and Gi Gong.
The classes are free to the community as the class teachers are paid for with the funding
from Healthy Clare.
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In 2023, we secured micro funding from Healthy Clare for international cookery classes on a budget.
With the guidance of a qualified chef, Claire Conroy, we created an 8-week program that included
a dish from a different country every week including Spanish, Polish and Ukranian meals.
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This project was funded by.
Birds of a Feather project.
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A creative Ireland initiative, we named it Birds of a Feather because we are collaborating with women from Belfast Ballinasloe and Inis Boffin.
The project allows us to meet up with other womens communities and in that process to share our skills and the lessons we have learnt. We will show them how our Chic Nua project has taken off and they will show us what they have achieved. There will be exchanges and visits between the communities allowing the women to travel away from their own area and experience a different environment for a few days.
There will be retail and marketing workshops, to share and develop the projects as well as pop up markets and practical opportunities to develop the enterprises already created in each area.
This project was funded by.
