Building Positive Relations

Peace IV Building Positive Relations Working Group

Peacing Ages Together ¦ Wise (Women Interacting, Socialising and Engaging) ¦ LAN - Local Area Networks ¦ Piece by Peace Stress Control Project ¦ Messines ¦ Community Leadership Programme ¦ Sports for All

Peacing Ages Together

delivered by Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership

Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership logo

Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership (MEAAP) is the lead partner in this project. The project involves engagement in various activities and will involve 12 partnerships of 20 older people and 3 partnerships of 10 older and 10 younger people and culminates in a joint celebration event. The themes are:

Sports/Leisure/Physical activity/Dance
Arts and crafts
History/reminiscence
Ethnic minority

All of the 15 Partnerships have completed their 10 sessions together and completed their exit surveys.

Celebration Event 11th June 2019

A hugely successful celebration event took place in the Tullyglass House Hotel, Ballymena, with nearly 400 people in attendance. Each partnership had their 15 minutes of fame, where they presented their project to the assembled audience of their peers. It was also attended by Special EU Programmes Body Chief Executive ,Gina McIntyre, Lord Lieutenant of Antrim, Mrs Joan Christie and Mayor Maureen Morrow. The 6-hour event completed each participants 26 hours of involvement in the project

6 short films were premiered at the celebration event including a highlights video with an interview by MEAAP Project Officer, Sarah McLaughlin and a film on each of the 5 themes and also a bloopers video.

Contact:

Sarah McLaughlin

T: 028 256 58604
M: 07519 070 603
E: Sarah.McLaughlin@meaap.co.uk
W: Agefriendly - Peace IV
Facebook: meaapni
Twitter: @MeaapPeaceIV

Sarah McLaughlin MEAAP Peace IV Project Officer

WISE (Women Interacting, Socialising and Engaging)

WISE logo

delivered by LEDCOM

WISE (Women Interacting, Socialising and Engaging) is a personal development and civic leadership programme which will explore women’s role in Peace building – past, present and future.

It targets women from diverse communities across Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and establish groups in Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne.

The groups meet locally for workshops and to develop community projects in the three areas and come together periodically throughout the programme for visits and joint workshops, and to work towards a community project and Women’s Conference and Celebration Event.

Aims & Objectives:

The programme aims to develop confidence in the women and help them aspire to become civic leaders in the future.

Throughout each term the women are asked to complete a piece of short work to display their learning. This work takes the form of what every medium they feel happy in including, written statement, poem, painting/drawing or video. Some of these works are used to highlight the programme achievements at the end Conference and Celebration event.

Target Group / Beneficiaries:

We recruited individuals with a desire to make a difference in their local community. Participants needed to be female, aged 18+ and live within the Mid & East Antrim Council area.

Activities / timetable:

The programme runs from September 2018 until March 2020. In total there are eight terms over the programme duration. Each term lasts for approximately six weeks. During these terms, the content is two formal training sessions, a reflective learning session and one joint meeting/visit where all 30 women come together. The joint workshops are at a flagship community or government facility, and aim to showcase best practice and demonstrate learning from the term. Timetable is as follows:

Activity	Details
Term 1 Women & Leadership (Sept 2018)	1 - What makes a good leader 2 - Confidence and motivation
Flagship	Visit to the MEABC Council Chamber to meet a cross party group of women councillors who talked about their lives and their role in current civic leadership. Opportunities for the groups to feedback their views on current issues/challenges for women in their communities.
Term 2 Pride & Prejudice (Oct 2018)	1 - Conflict resolution and mediation 2 - Peace building
Flagship	Visit to the Skainos centre to explore the teaching of Irish and Ulster Scots to the local community in East Belfast. The groups learnt how civic leadership was used to develop this £12million Peace funded project.
Term 3 Women of Power (Nov-Dec 2018)	1 - Assertiveness and negotiation 2 - Personal goal setting
Flagship	Visit to Clifton house, a study of Mary Joy McCracken, the women learnt about one of Northern Ireland’s greatest female civic leaders who was responsible for the setting up of the first hospital in Northern Ireland, fought to establish prayer houses and for the introduction of sanitary water pipes through Belfast.
Term 4 Who do you think you are? (Jan 2019)	1 - Exploring cultural identity 2 - Genealogy
Flagship	Indian Community Centre Belfast. This workshop aimed at getting women to understand about cultures outside of the two main traditions in Northern Ireland and to recognise the needs and similarities between a truly diverse culture and how they would see themselves.
Term 5 Being the best you can (Feb-Mar 2019)	1 - Health and wellbeing 2 - Presenting your best
Flagship	Dublin Residential for a two day trip with one overnight stay. The aim of thiswas to take the women away from their traditional cultures and let them learn and understand Irish history and culture. This workshop included the following visits, Glasnevin Graveyard, National Museum, War Memorial and Kilmainham the story of Grace Plunket.
Term 6 Making money is good (Mar-Apr 2019)	1 - Enterprise skills 2 - Social Enterprise
Flagship	Access Employment Ltd. (AEL) - AEL was established in 1999 as the first social firm in Northern Ireland. As a social enterprise they provide people age 16 – 60 who have learning disability/difficulty, Asperger’s, Autism or other disadvantage, with training and employment opportunities, enhancing their lifestyle, and thus allowing them to engage more effectively in the community.
Term 7 Create the new vision (May 2019)	1 - Ideas generation for change 2 - Project management
Flagship	Gracehill – Gracehill is a settlement founded by the Moravians in 1765 and Northern Ireland’s First Conservation area. Life in the village nowadays is, of course, very different to the 18th century, but the layout of the buildings and the unique Georgian style of architecture remain very much the same. The Moravian Church remains central to the village, facing the square and flanked by the Manse and the Warden’s House. The Brothers and Sisters Walks, on either side of the Church, meet at the burial ground or “Gods Acre“, which is still in use today.
Term 8 Taking control! Team Leadership level 2 award (June 2019)	1 - Responsibilities of a team leader 2 - Maintaining good relationships
Flagship	Ulster Museum - The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland.
Conference & Celebration event and community projects (Sept 2019 – Mar 2020)	This term is not only aimed at delivery of a celebration event, the women’s groups will each have a budget of up to £2,000 to develop a community/specific leadership project that is aimed at bringing people from diverse backgrounds together. These three projects will be showcased at the celebration event. Conference & Celebration event which will include the award of certificates for the team-leading training, feedback/discussion through workshops and display of the work and the presentation of their community projects. Our plan is to get 2 high profile guest speakers to this event we have already made an initial approach to Miranda Tisdale, Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim..

Activity

Details

Term 1

Women & Leadership

(Sept 2018)

1 - What makes a good leader

2 - Confidence and motivation

Flagship

Visit to the MEABC Council Chamber to meet a cross party group of women councillors who talked about their lives and their role in current civic leadership. Opportunities for the groups to feedback their views on current issues/challenges for women in their communities.

WISE project visit to MEABC Council

Term 2

Pride & Prejudice

(Oct 2018)

1 - Conflict resolution and mediation

2 - Peace building

Flagship

Visit to the Skainos centre to explore the teaching of Irish and Ulster Scots to the local community in East Belfast. The groups learnt how civic leadership was used to develop this £12million Peace funded project.

Term 3

Women of Power

(Nov-Dec 2018)

1 - Assertiveness and negotiation

2 - Personal goal setting

Flagship

Visit to Clifton house, a study of Mary Joy McCracken, the women learnt about one of Northern Ireland’s greatest female civic leaders who was responsible for the setting up of the first hospital in Northern Ireland, fought to establish prayer houses and for the introduction of sanitary water pipes through Belfast.

Term 4

Who do you think you are?

(Jan 2019)

1 - Exploring cultural identity

2 - Genealogy

Flagship

Indian Community Centre Belfast. This workshop aimed at getting women to understand about cultures outside of the two main traditions in Northern Ireland and to recognise the needs and similarities between a truly diverse culture and how they would see themselves.

Term 5

Being the best you can

(Feb-Mar 2019)

1 - Health and wellbeing

2 - Presenting your best

Flagship

Dublin Residential for a two day trip with one overnight stay. The aim of thiswas to take the women away from their traditional cultures and let them learn and understand Irish history and culture. This workshop included the following visits, Glasnevin Graveyard, National Museum, War Memorial and Kilmainham the story of Grace Plunket.

Term 6

Making money is good

(Mar-Apr 2019)

1 - Enterprise skills

2 - Social Enterprise

Flagship

Access Employment Ltd. (AEL) - AEL was established in 1999 as the first social firm in Northern Ireland. As a social enterprise they provide people age 16 – 60 who have learning disability/difficulty, Asperger’s, Autism or other disadvantage, with training and employment opportunities, enhancing their lifestyle, and thus allowing them to engage more effectively in the community.

Term 7

Create the new vision

(May 2019)

1 - Ideas generation for change

2 - Project management

Flagship

Gracehill – Gracehill is a settlement founded by the Moravians in 1765 and Northern Ireland’s First Conservation area. Life in the village nowadays is, of course, very different to the 18th century, but the layout of the buildings and the unique Georgian style of architecture remain very much the same. The Moravian Church remains central to the village, facing the square and flanked by the Manse and the Warden’s House. The Brothers and Sisters Walks, on either side of the Church, meet at the burial ground or “Gods Acre“, which is still in use today.

Term 8

Taking control!

Team Leadership level 2 award

(June 2019)

1 - Responsibilities of a team leader

2 - Maintaining good relationships

Flagship

Ulster Museum - The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland.

Conference & Celebration event and community projects

(Sept 2019 – Mar 2020)

This term is not only aimed at delivery of a celebration event, the women’s groups will each have a budget of up to £2,000 to develop a community/specific leadership project that is aimed at bringing people from diverse backgrounds together. These three projects will be showcased at the celebration event.

Conference & Celebration event which will include the award of certificates for the team-leading training, feedback/discussion through workshops and display of the work and the presentation of their community projects. Our plan is to get 2 high profile guest speakers to this event we have already made an initial approach to Miranda Tisdale, Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim..

Contact:

Ballymena group: Audrey Murray - T: 028 2826 9973 E: audrey.murray@ledcom.org

Carrickfergus group: Caeris Armour - T: 028 2826 9973 E: caeris.armour@ledcom.org

Larne group: Anne Taylor - T: 028 2826 9973 E: anne.taylor@ledcom.org

Caeris Armour, LEDCOM with Chairperson of the Mid & East Antrim Peace IV Partnership, Ald Maureen Morrow

LAN - Local Area Networks

delivered by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
NIHE logo

This inter-estate exchange programme will tackle community segregation by working with community leaders committed to Peace-building, supporting areas where diversity is welcomed.

Local Area Networks (LANs) will be created, and will act as a mechanism for the development and implementation of local action plans (a series of agreed programmes and services for the local area which could be delivered on an intercommunity basis).

The Project will target 12 housing estates from across the three main Borough areas of Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne. 30 participants from each estate will engage with the programme, targeting a total of 360 people. The LANs will meet monthly, and will participate in a range of training programmes, such as OCN training in Diversity and Good Relations.

The Project will also involve 2 cohorts of participants from the 12 LAN estates participating in a Messines Programme (50 individuals). This programme will tackle division and hate crime by focusing on the Great War and remembrance, and will include a 4-day visit to Messines in Belgium.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive will act as Project lead, building upon their experience delivering previous BRIC (Building Relationships in Communities) Programmes.

Aims and Objectives:

Provide skills potentially out of reach.
Provide opportunity for future change
Improve social cohesion
Encourage personal development
Build positive relations
Increase learning
Improve sense of cultural identity
Reconciliation and race relations
Provide knowledge of local history
Build positive Relations
Improve social cohesion
Build positive relations
Improve social cohesion
Increase confidence and learning of target group
Encourage personal development
Build knowledge and develop community capacity

Target Group / Beneficiaries:

Groups from Mid and East Antrim area participants in each group 16-24 years and 25+ as well as Community and families of participants

Contact Details:

Stephen Gamble, Good Relations Officer
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
T: 028 9598 4179
E: stephen.gamble2@nihe.gov.uk

Stephen Gamble, Good Relations Officer, Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Piece by Peace Stress Control Project

delivered by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust

Northern Health and Social Care Trust

The Piece by Peace Stress Control Project is a cross community and intergenerational programme funded by Peace IV in partnership with Mid and East Antrim Borough Council (Lead Partner) and delivered by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.

It is free of charge and open to anyone living within the Mid and East Antrim Council Area.

Who delivers the programme?

A psychological therapist and an assistant/associate psychologist from NHSCT Psychological Therapies Service.

Where does the programme take place?

Ballymena / Larne / Carrickfergus and surrounding Mid and East Antrim Council areas.

What does it involve?

The programme provides participants with an understanding of stress. It also teaches how best to manage your overall wellbeing by learning skills and techniques for managing stress.

Who is the programme for?

The course is aimed at people experiencing mild to moderate anxiety or depression, anyone who is experiencing stress, knows someone who is, or just wants to be better equipped to deal with stress.
It is open to anyone living in the Mid and East Antrim Council Area.

Topics covered include:

Overview of what stress is?
Controlling your body
Controlling your thoughts
Controlling your actions
Getting a good night’s sleep
Planning for the future

Piece by Peace Stress Control is a class not ‘group therapy’ – you do not have to talk about personal difficulties in front of others.

Upcoming Classes

Place / Location	Dates	Time
Larne Ballygally Hall	6 January – 10 February 2020	Monday mornings at 10.30am
Carrickfergus Carrick Community Forum	8 January - 12 February 2020	Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm
Ballymena Adair Arms Hotel	8 January - 12 February 2020	Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm

Contact

Psychological Therapies Service

T: 028 9441 5787
E: stress.control@northerntrust.hscni.net
Facebook: Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Twitter: @NHSCTrust

Nikita Bujwid, Northern Health & Social Care Trust

Messines Shared History Programme

Delivered by

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council logo

The Messines Shared History Programme is aimed at promoting reconciliation and respect for cultural identity. Using the events of the Great War (1914-1918) to include the battles of Messines and Passchendaele, the programme will engage participants in learning about their shared history, cultural heritage and the futility of War. The Project participants will be drawn from 10 Northern Ireland Housing Executive estates across Mid and East Antrim. The 10 estates are part of the PEACE IV funded Local Area Networks (LAN). The programme will include workshops, a field trip to Messines in France and a post project shared history event.

Target Group:

50 participants from the 10 NIHE LAN estates