Creating Trust,
Overcoming Division
The Local Authority Experience of Peace Building
PEACE III Conference 2012
13th November, Belfast City Hall
Conference Overview
The objective of the European Union’s PEACE III Programme (2007-2013)
is to reinforce progress towards a peaceful and stable society through
the promotion of reconciliation across Northern Ireland and the Border Region
of Ireland.
In order to achieve this goal, the Programme has awarded €100million of
assistance to 14 local authority led partnerships across the region, collectively
known as ‘Peace Partnerships’ These partnerships are responsible for
ensuring that EU assistance is available at a local community level, in areas
where it is needed most.
The partnerships have been tasked with ‘building positive relations at a local
level’ and reducing the levels of sectarianism and racism. To date, they have
provided assistance to many hundreds of cross-community and cross-border
initiatives at the local community level.
The Peace Partnerships have made a significant contribution to reconciling
communities across the region. This conference aims to highlight their
achievements and examine the different techniques and methodologies they
are using to create a more peaceful and tolerant society for us all.
Pat Colgan
Chief Executive
Special EU Programmes Body
Conference Programme
Morning Session
9.30am-10amRegistration
10am
Conference Welcome – William Crawley (BBC Northern Ireland)
Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alderman Gavin Robinson
Cllr Dessie Larkin, Donegal County Council
Ministerial Address
Finance Minister Sammy Wilson, MP, MLA
Minister of State for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public
Works, Brian Hayes, TD
‘The impact of the Peace Partnership Approach’
Pat Colgan, Chief Executive, SEUPB
Leadership development presentation
Colin Neilands (Workers’ Educational Association)
Anti-racism – the ‘Challenge of Change’ presentation
Justyna McCabe (‘Challenge of Change’ project co-ordinator)
& Paul Yam (Director of the WAH HEP Chinese Community Association)
11.05am
COFFEE BREAK
Anti-sectarianism presentation
Richard Rogers (Groundwork NI)
& Michelle Hand (Belfast City Council)
11.40am
WORKSHOPS (1-3)
12.40pm
LUNCH & EXHIBITION TOUR
Afternoon Session
1.30pm
Workshop Feedback & Panel Session
Q&A Session
‘Football for All’ project case study
Future Funding Opportunities 2014-2020
Shaun Henry, Director of Managing Authority, SEUPB
Q&A Session
3pm
Event Ends & Final Remarks
Master of Ceremonies
William Crawley (BBC NI)
William Crawley is a BBC journalist and broadcaster who regularly presents
programmes on news and current affairs; arts and science; religion and
history. On radio he presents BBC Radio Ulster’s weekly ‘Sunday Sequence’
programme and ‘The Book Programme’. William is also part of the presenting
teams for Radio 4’s ‘Sunday’, and ‘Heart and Soul’ on the BBC World Service.
His documentaries for Radio 4 include the recently broadcast ‘Father of the Big
Bang’, which explored the origins of modern cosmology, and he is currently
completing a documentary surveying the history of Queen’s University Belfast
for BBC Radio 3.
William Crawley’s many TV presenting credits include the weekly late-night
television series ‘William Crawley Meets...”, face-to-face interviews with
leading thinkers and social reformers from across the world, and the landmark
‘Blueprint’ series, which told the story of 600 million years of Ireland’s natural
history in three hours of television.
He wrote and presented ‘The Ulster Covenant’, a 60-minute documentary
recently screened to mark the centenary of that key moment in Irish and
British political history, and he’s currently completing three new TV projects: a
documentary looking at the life of the scientist Lord Kelvin, a major new series
examining the history of Presbyterians, and a one-hour documentary following
William’s journey to learn Irish in a year.
William Crawley’s awards include an Andrew Cross Award for Speech
Broadcaster of the Year, the Slugger O’Toole/Channel 4 Thinker and Explainer
of the Year, as well as an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Queen’s
University Belfast for services to broadcasting. He is a recipient of the
2012 Eisenhower Fellowship, which was presented to him by the former
US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Conference Presenters
Colin Neilands (Workers’ Education Association)
Colin is the Director of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) which
delivers learning for adults in the community, particularly targeting areas
of deprivation and marginalised social groups. The organisation’s current
specialisms include peace building, learning for older people and engaging
men in learning.
Colin joined the WEA in 1991 to set up an anti-sectarian education project
and later moved to manage its ‘Building Communities’ programme which
combined community relations and community development. He devised a
number of core good relations courses that have been delivered to hundreds
of community groups over the years addressing sectarianism, diversity,
conflict-management and negotiation skills.
Colin has managed PEACE projects since the 1990s, including the ‘Leadership
in a Shared Society’ initiative delivered through the North East PEACE III and
CAN PEACE Partnerships.
Justyna McCabe (‘Challenge of Change’ project co-ordinator)
PEACE III Southern Partnership
Justyna is originally from Poland and has lived in Ireland since 2003. A former
Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast, she holds an MA in English
Studies from the University of Lodz, Poland. Justyna has extensive experience
of developing projects promoting integration and diversity, both in Poland
and Ireland.
Before joining Newry and Mourne District Council in 2007, Justyna worked
as Training and Development Manager with the Northern Ireland Health and
Social Services Interpreting Service. She currently co-ordinates the ‘Challenge
of Change’ priority of the Southern PEACE III Partnership.
Conference Presenters
Paul Yam (Workers’ Education Association)
In 1998 Paul worked as a Community Development Worker for the Chinese
Welfare Association. In 1999 he established The Wah Hep Chinese Community
Association in Craigavon, and in 2000 was formally appointed as its director.
Paul has helped Wah Hep to establish a number of facilities such as a youth
group, an after school club, a Chinese school, an adult English programme,
the Wah Hep information drop-in centre and a multi-agency interpreting
service. He has played a leading role in establishing the ‘Together 4 All’ and
‘BME Belong’ programme.
Paul is the Chair of the BME Children & Young People’s Committee, Chair
of BME Belong programme, the Joint-Chair of the Craigavon & Banbridge
Community Forum 2006-2009, Equality Commissioner for Northern Ireland
2004-2009 and also a social partner of the PEACE III Southern Cluster Group.
In 2010 Paul was awarded an MBE for his outstanding service and contribution
in community relations work in Northern Ireland over many years.
Richard Rogers (Groundwork NI)
Richard has worked for Groundwork NI for fourteen years and has extensive
experience of working with disadvantaged communities from across
Northern Ireland. This has included undertaking feasibility studies, engaging
communities in regeneration initiatives, building partnerships and managing
regeneration programmes.
His current projects include the ‘Reconciling Communities through
Regeneration programme’, a £1m PEACE III funded regeneration initiative with
10 communities across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland,
as well as ‘Sharing Our Space’, a £3.1m regional PEACE III peace building
initiative with seven localities.
Conference Presenters
Michelle Hand (Belfast City Council)
Michelle has been working for Belfast City Council since 2005 and as a Good
Relations Officer since February 2009. Michelle joined the Council from a
background in academia and previously tutored at the University of Ulster.
During her time in Belfast City Council, Michelle has worked across several
departments, but her specific interest remains in working with communities to
improve community relations and regenerate neighbourhoods within the city
of Belfast.
Michelle is currently the programme manager for Belfast City Council’s
PEACE III-funded ‘Interfaces Project’, which aims to work with local
communities to address the issue of interface barriers in Belfast.
Conference Workshops
Workshop 1 - ‘Supporting Tomorrow’s Leaders’
Description: This workshop will focus on the work undertaken by the Peace
Partnerships to equip local community and civic leaders with the skills they
need to encourage peace and reconciliation.
Workshop Facilitators:
Susan Russam (Chief Executive GEMS NI)
Susan is Chief Executive of GEMS NI, an organisation which supports long-term
unemployed people living in areas of high social and economic deprivation.
Susan has been actively involved in collaborative work throughout Belfast
which contributes to peace building and is committed to working with others
to create a dynamic platform that promotes connected space.
She has extensive experience in the design and implementation of people
development solutions for the public, private and not-for-profit sector.
Susan was also awarded the MBE in 2007 for services to Social Housing in
Northern Ireland.
Therese Hogg (Blu Zebra Ltd)
Therese Hogg, Blu Zebra Ltd and Ann McGeeney Consulting are implementing
the Co Monaghan Peace & Reconciliation Partnership’s Embedding Peace
Project.
This is a leadership for peace building project which reaches across all sectors
– community, elected representatives and statutory sector – where the aim is
to encourage and develop peace building leadership, supporting this through
enablement, action learning, mentoring and networking.
This team has and continues to work with a number of Peace Partnerships
and Clusters throughout Northern Ireland and the border region of Ireland.
Ann McGeeney (Consultant, Embedding Peace Project)
Conference Workshops
Workshop 2 - ‘Trust, Tolerance & Equality’
Description: This workshop will focus on the different methodologies used
by PEACE III funded projects to help raise awareness of and combat racism
at a local community level, within Northern Ireland and the Border Region
of Ireland.
Workshop Facilitators:
Seana Hume (Co-ordinator of the Roots of Empathy programme)
Seana is the co-ordinator of the Roots of Empathy programme in Donegal,
and is a trained ‘Roots of Empathy’ instructor, delivering the programme in
four local schools.
Seana began her career working in politics, through which she developed an
interest in children and young people’s issues. She worked as Policy Officer
for the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, before
moving into Community Development.
An advocate for youth participation, Seana has been working with both primary
and post primary schools in Donegal to support the development of student
councils.
Denise Wright, South Belfast Roundtable
(Race Relations Co-ordinator)
Denise has a background in community nursing and a degree in community
development. Since 2006 she has been Race Relations Co-ordinator for the
South Belfast Roundtable, a partnership organisation which tackles racism
and promotes diversity.
As part of her current post she delivers a wide range of anti-racism and
migration awareness training across schools, community groups and statutory
bodies. She works closely with local community, minority ethnic and statutory
groups to monitor tension around race related issues and to work on practical
localised solutions.
The South Belfast Roundtable is currently involved in two PEACE III funded
initiatives, ‘The Belfast Integration and Participation’ project with GEMS NI and
‘The Law Centre and the Creating Cohesive Community’ project with LORAG.
Denise sits on the Executive Committee of the Irish Council of Churches, as
their Racial Justice representative and is also the current chair of EMBRACE
NI, administering the Emergency Fund to support destitute migrant workers
and those seeking asylum.
Conference Workshops
Workshop 3 – ‘Overcoming Prejudice, Respecting the Other’
Description: This workshop will focus on the various cross-community
integration initiatives, delivered through the Peace Partnerships, which are
challenging and helping to overcome sectarianism in its many different forms
across Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland.
Workshop Facilitators:
Chris McCarney (PEACE III Manager, SW Cluster)
Chris McCarney has been involved in the delivery of the EU’s PEACE
Programme in Magherafelt District Council area since 1996. Chris took up
post as Programme Manager and was involved in establishing the first Peace
& Reconciliation Partnership for Magherafelt District Council.
Chris is now the PEACE III Manager for the SW Cluster of Councils which
includes Cookstown, Dungannon, Fermanagh and Magherafelt. He is
responsible for a budget of over £6.8million for the period 2009 – 2013
across the four councils.
Dr Lucia Carragher (Netwell Centre)
With a professional background in social policy, Dr Lucia Carragher has worked
for many years as a researcher and educator in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Her research interests are in gerontology, social policies for ageing societies,
intergenerational relations, inclusive pedagogy, transferability of learning, and
community development.
Dr Carragher is currently employed in the Netwell Centre for Ageing and
Later Life in Dundalk Institute of Technology where she works directly with
older people, policy makers and practitioners, managing a number of projects
supported by the European Union.
Notes
Special EU Programmes Body
7th Floor, The Clarence West Building,
2 Clarence Street West, Belfast,
Northern Ireland, BT2 7GP
tel: +44 (0)28 9026 6660
fax: +44 (0)28 9026 6692
email: [email protected]
website: www.seupb.eu
Further details on this conference including all speaker and workshop presentations
can be reached via this code.