The Genesis Programme was established in May 2013 in response to a call from the then Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) to submit proposals for an area-based response to child poverty. The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme was launched in 2013 and was initially funded by DCYA and Atlantic Philanthropies.

The Genesis Programme is a consortium of partner organisations including early learning & care centres, schools, community groups, Louth Children & Young People’s Services Committee, Louth County Childcare Committee, Dundalk Institute of Technology, the Health Service Executive and Tusla, the Child & Family Agency. Louth Leader Partnership is the lead agency.

The Genesis Programme delivers programmes through support from various funding agencies including Healthy Ireland, Louth Children & Young People’s Services Committee, the National College of Ireland and the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB). 

The core work is the delivery of The ABC Programme which is a prevention and early intervention initiative targeting investment in effective services to improve the outcomes for children and families living in areas of disadvantage. Since 2018, the ABC Programme has been solely funded by the Department of Children, Disability, Equality & Integration and is now aligned to, and managed by, Tusla.

From 2017 to January 2021, The Genesis Programme was a partner in The Changing Lives Initiative. See www.changinglivesinitiative.com for more information.

The Genesis Programme coordinates the implementation of the following interventions:

The Incredible Years® Series is a set of interlocking, comprehensive, and developmentally based programmes targeting parents, teachers and children. The programmes are designed to work jointly to promote emotional, social and academic competence and to prevent, reduce, and treat behavioural and emotional problems in young children.

The KiVa Anti Bullying Programme is an innovative school-based anti-bullying programme. The programme uses universal actions to prevent bullying and indicated actions to address cases of bullying.

The Hanen Program® is delivered through the Learning Language and Loving It™ programme and the Teacher Talk™ training series to provide early childhood educators and junior/senior infant teachers with practical, evidence based strategies to help all children in the classroom build language and social skills regardless of their individual learning and communication styles, and any special needs.

It is also building capacity so as to allow delivery of Restorative Practice training and the Strengthening Families Programme.

In addition, The Genesis Programme provides coaching and capacity building to all Group Leaders delivering these interventions. All Group Leaders are encouraged and supported to participate in Peer Coach sessions.

The Genesis Programme have also developed a holistic transitions support framework called Flying Start to support parents prepare for parenthood and the key transition points for their children as they move on to early years services and then primary school. This is supported by www.flyingstart.ie

Furthermore, The Genesis Programme engages locally and nationally with a range of service providers, agencies and third level institutions to establish baseline data, evaluate the programmes and identify areas/gaps in the services provided to allow planning for future interventions.