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The Kilcranny House Community Relations Innovative Support Project The
Kilcranny House Community Support Project is funded by the Community Bridges
Programme of the International Fund for Ireland and the Northern Ireland Fund
for Reconciliation. Kilcranny House is currently operating against the backdrop of an upsurge in community violence, which has been particularly rife in the Coleraine area since the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
Community and voluntary groups
struggle in the face of limited and uncertain funding and resources. The
extended period of ‘gap funding’ between Peace I and Peace II programmes
severely affected the ability of many groups to operate in a meaningful way.
However there is reason to hope that with Peace II now on stream, and the
government’s focus on the key policy themes of Promoting equality of
opportunity and good relations, New Targeting Social Need, Promoting
sustainable living and Developing as a region indicates a commitment
on behalf of the government to implement policies within which Kilcranny House
can usefully work. Kilcranny
House has recently completed a Community Needs Audit (Report available on
request), which has contributed to the development of this project to provide
tailored support to a significant number of community groups in this area. Aims and Objectives The aims of the
project are: - To develop a strategy to involve the local and wider community in community relations and capacity building work which will contribute to breaking down barriers and contribute to sustainable peace, working within the key concepts of education, reconciliation, regeneration and economic development. -
To work in partnership
with existing groups in assessing areas of need and developing ways to meet
those needs. -
To develop innovative
individual programmes of work and support for a number of already identified
groups, with the objective of addressing capacity building and community
relations issues within and between local communities. -
To work with existing
networks and to form new networks to strengthen cooperation and communication
between voluntary and community groups in the Coleraine, Ballymoney, Moyle and
Limavady Council areas. The
objectives are: -
To encourage and enable
identified community groups to participate in the project. -
To set up a Steering Group
who will advise on and monitor the progress of the project. -
To develop and deliver
focussed individual long-term programmes to 12 or more local community groups
over three years. -
To develop partnerships
and sustain links with key organisations in the community. -
To promote and publicise
the project in the local area. -
To promote Kilcranny House
as a safe, neutral venue for this type of work. -
To review progress and
amend activity as required during the life of the project to offer the most
effective outcomes. -
To enhance the
opportunities for effective community relations and community development work
in the local area. -
To enhance the capacity of
local groups and individuals to pass on these skills to others. -
To increase Kilcranny
House’s capacity for outreach work. The recommendations
from the recent Community Needs Audit conducted by Kilcranny House highlight a
number of ways in which Kilcranny can improve both inter-community relations and
the working life of local community groups.
Twelve groups have agreed to be part of the initial stages of the
project, and they, along with other local groups will be able to take advantage
of the support services to be offered. Community Relations Training While many of the
groups we visited do not yet feel themselves to be ready for full-blown
anti-sectarian or community relations training, some do, and others wish to
engage in a programme of cross-community events in the first instance, in order
to build trust before moving onto CR Training. Kilcranny may
also be able to assist other agencies to address the growing problem of racism,
in terms of reducing prejudice and stereotyping amongst local people, by
providing a venue for language classes and organising opportunities for local
people and immigrant members of the community to meet each other socially in a
safe and neutral venue and to learn about the different cultures, and to foster
an atmosphere of inclusion. In
partnership with WAVE Trauma Centre, Kilcranny House organised a conference on
community relations issues in April 2003 which was open to all community workers
and community activists in this area, and considered topics such as
sectarianism, the flying of flags, law and order, human rights and community
education. Support for Community Groups Many groups felt
they needed more support in identifying sources of funding for their work,
specifically for core costs, rent and utilities. Kilcranny House would like to
organise regular ‘funding fairs’, to which a number of funding bodies could
be invited to explain their guidelines and special interests.
Kilcranny House is represented on the Management Committee of Coleraine
Rural and Urban Network and we feel that CRUN would be a suitable partner
organisation for such a venture. Community Relations Officers from local
councils would also be involved. No
financial support will be sought from the Community Bridges Programme for these
events, but we feel that we must make a pragmatic response to an obvious need in
our community and offer this service to user groups and others. An additional
benefit of providing much needed services to the local community is that the
profile of Kilcranny will be raised, and that groups will have additional
opportunities to become familiar with the community relations work that we do.
Once Kilcranny has established a credible reputation and built up a
significant level of trust between ourselves and local groups, we feel we can
move on to more clearly defined community relations work. Kilcranny can
also offer courses on how to set up a voluntary organisation, and on Management
Committee Skills for newly formed community associations or community
development groups. Support for Community Development Groups Once again groups
felt they needed more support in identifying sources of funding, putting
together cocktails of funding, and finding ‘match’ funding. Other areas of
need which have been identified are a lack of community leadership skills, and
networking. Kilcranny House
staff will undergo training in these skills areas and then offer training to
community development groups and others. It
has become apparent during the course of the Community Audit, that many groups
feel a sense of marginalisation and exclusion, because they do not have the
necessary skills to enable them to influence or even to access statutory bodies
and agencies. In some cases there
is a level of jealousy and mistrust of other groups who seem to attract
attention and funding more readily. Kilcranny
House hopes to enable our identified groups to develop the skills which will
release them from the marginalisation trap.
By supporting community development groups in this way, and building a
strong relationship with them which is founded on trust, Kilcranny hopes to pave
the way for meaningful dialogue and discussion, and to introduce community
relations training in a way that will reduce jealousy, fear and hatred within
local communities. Community Education It has already been
mentioned that a Magilligan group wishes to try and bring people together by
offering cross-community events in an effort to kick-start better community
relations, and we feel that we are in a good position to provide such
opportunities. Kilcranny House already offers a wide range of conflict
resolution, vocational and personal development courses and these will be made
available to groups on request. In some cases these courses will simply aid the
personal development of participants, and add to their confidence but in others
accredited courses will provide participants with transferable skills and
qualifications. Examples of new
courses from our 2002-2003 programme, which was put together in Autumn 2002,
include Community Tutor Training for people who are already tutoring in the
community and for those who are planning to tutor community groups; and a series
of workshops on Alternatives to Violence, for young people and those who work
with young people. Kilcranny
House has a well established schools programme. The skills and experience gained
by Kilcranny House staff through the delivery of the schools programme can also
be utilised outside the school setting – peer mediation and peer education
methods can be useful with young people and drug users. Kilcranny will work with COMPASS to develop a programme using
similar techniques to raise awareness of issues surrounding disability, and to
address bullying and harassment. Workshops
on stereotyping, prejudice reduction and citizenship will form part of this
programme. Although much
of this training may be conducted on an ‘outreach’ basis, ie at a venue
other than Kilcranny House, we are still mindful of comments on the need to
provide training in a neutral venue, and following on from that, of the need to
provide transport to and from that neutral venue. Youth Programme Kilcranny House has
been invited to introduce elements of its youth programme to three of the
identified user groups as part of the Community Relations Innovative Support
Programme. These groups are Carnany
Community Association, Macosquin Villiage Community Association and Rasharkin
Community Association. This will
take the form of community relations training, exploring issues of identity,
team building and cooperation skills with each group individually in the first
instance, but the groups do aim to work together later in the programme.
We will deliver courses in Team Building, Co-operative Games,
Communication Skills, Attitudes, Perceptions, Prejudice and Stereotypes,
Sectarianism and Human Rights on an outreach basis and at Kilcranny, with
Conflict Resolution, Citizenship and non-violence only being available at
Kilcranny. ‘Whole Schools’ Programme Building on work
already begun by Kilcranny House, we will conduct in-service training sessions
in the teaching methods of Circle Time and Peer Mediation for the ‘whole
school community’ three times a year (once a term) for three schools in the
first instance. Training for the
‘whole school’ community includes ancillary staff, playground assistants,
dinner ladies, parents, governors, principals and teachers, and the methods used
will encourage greater communication between pupils and staff and staff and
governors, and will enable members of the school community to move beyond
traditional hierarchical structures. Circle Time
and Peer Mediation are methods that can be used to tackle issues such as
conflict in the playground, bullying and exclusion, and used successfully can
lead to improved community relations within the school, greater understanding of
difference and increased levels of tolerance.
Skills learned in the school setting can then be used within the wider
community. Facilitating Dialogue Kilcranny House
would like to be in a position to help people to come together to discuss
‘hard issues’ in a safe neutral venue.
For this we need to build a reputation for trustworthiness and
confidentiality, and contact has been initiated with parties involved in a flag
flying dispute, as well as a significant number of local politicians. Networking Kilcranny House is
already a member of the Coleraine Rural and Urban Network, the Causeway Area
Peace Network, |Oakleaf and the North West Community Network, which widens the
scope of contacts available both to Kilcranny and User groups.
A network of communication will be set up between the identified user
groups, the Kilcranny House website will be further developed in order to reach
a wider audience, and to give up-to-the-minute details about what is happening
at Kilcranny. Two newsletters a
year will be produced and distributed.
In cooperation with other organisations such as the Causeway Area Peace
Network, WAVE Trauma Support, CRUN and The Junction in Derry/Londonderry,
Kilcranny House will organise events which will be open to all members of the
community, but which will focus on specific issues of importance in this area,
such as sectarianism, intimidation, social inclusion, justice and human rights,
as well as practical events such as funding fairs or skills based workshops.
We
intend to hold a keynote seminar on comparative approaches to conflict
resolution in the final year of the programme, which will enable participants to
learn not just from local practitioners and activists, but also from exponents
of conflict resolution in other arenas of conflict.
While no two conflicts may be at the same stage at the same time, it is
generally acknowledged that conflicts often follow a similar pattern (see Darby
et al, Coming Out of Violence, Palgrave, 2000) and that experiences may be
shared between those experiencing conflict.
Solutions and terms of agreement will differ from conflict to conflict,
but learning about the process by which agreement was reached may prove
beneficial in other scenarios. The projected
outcomes for the Community Relations Innovative Support Programme are as
follows: -
Additional staff
development and capacity building for Kilcranny House.
-
Improved public relations
and public profile for Kilcranny House. -
Additional capacity for
identified user groups, in terms of community relations and community
development. -
The transfer of
transferable skills within the community and an increase in personal development
for group members. -
Empowerment of user
groups, increased confidence for group members. -
Improved community
relations in areas served by user groups. -
Greater awareness of
political and cultural identity in both single identity and inter-community
groups. -
Greater sustainability for
Kilcranny House and user groups and stakeholders, caused by more efficient
fundraising, improved publicity and successful campaigning. -
Networking between user
groups and other organisations, through exchange of information, newsletters,
and workshops and seminars. -
Greater dissemination of
information between groups and to the wider community. We are happy
to announce that the Project has received funding support from the Community
Bridges Progamme of the International Fund for Ireland, and will commence in
April/May 2003. The project
contributes to the objectives of the Community Bridges Programme in the
following ways: -
Kilcranny House will help
to develop the capacity of communities to address issues of conflict and
division at rural and urban interface areas by offering community relations
training to a wide variety of groups and by facilitating face to face dialogue
on contentious issues out of the public eye.
Kilcranny will offer a safe neutral venue where groups can meet for
discussion or simple recreation. By
offering training and information in community leadership skills, we will
increase each group’s capacity to develop projects and ensure sustainability. -
Kilcranny House will offer
anti-sectarian training to group leaders, along with community tutor training
skills so that they can transfer the skills and knowledge they gain in their own
community. Kilcranny will also
offer support for organisations who wish to develop Equality, Anti-Sectarian,
Community Relations, Environmental and Child Protection policies. -
Focus on Families, Carnany,
Macosquin Village Community Association and Rasharkin Community Association have
all requested that KH conduct CR training with young people.
The KH youth programme also works towards empowering young people.
Peer education and peer mediation techniques already used in the KH
schools programme will be adapted for use in the community, with a focus on
issues such as bullying, sectarianism and difference. Almost all of the identified groups either represent an area of deprivation or marginalisation or are umbrella groups (Moyle Community Forum, Moyle Women’s Forum) whose members are from such an area. All but one of the housing estates who have agreed to work with KH feel the effects of a paramilitary presence, and violence has been endemic in a number of the estates.
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