Community Relations Council to Administer £3 million Core Funding Scheme

3rd December 2002

Victims Minister Des Browne, MP, today (3 December) announced that the Community Relations Council (CRC) has been appointed as the Intermediary Funding Body (IFB) to administer the £3million Core Funding Scheme for victims and survivors groups.

The scheme which will run for the next two years aims to help victims and survivors of 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland regain fulfilment in their lives and, where appropriate, help re-integrate them as members of society.

"The Community Relations Council is very pleased to be administering the Core Funding Scheme for Victims and Survivors," explained Duncan Morrow, CRC Chief Executive.

"We are very conscious of both the privilege and the challenge that this scheme brings. The Council's central purpose is to promote reconciliation and a society at ease with difference based on fairness and trust.

"While the Scheme won't bring back lost friends, relatives or years, it will promote self-help and support victims and survivors of violence and their families as they look for and find ways to recover and grow," Mr Morrow said.

The emphasis of core funding will be on the benefits it brings to individual victims and survivors with priority being given to organisations and groups which provide support services to victims/survivors which they cannot access elsewhere.

This Scheme will be targeted to help in a practical way non-statutory organisations/groups based in Northern Ireland, which support victims/survivors of the troubles.

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Application forms and detailed guidance notes for applicants are now available from the Community Relations Council or can be downloaded directly from the Council's website www.community-relations.org.uk.  The deadline for completed application forms is January 17^th 2003.

Information seminars will be held at venues across Northern Ireland from 9-12^th December, giving applicants the opportunity to discuss the application process in detail or gain further detailed clarification and information. Attendance by one member of each applicant group at one of these seminars is a pre-condition of grant aid.

"Conflict and its aftermath are not just political or rational events; they shape our memories, limit our personal relationships and control our emotions. Finding ways out of conflict must also go far beyond politics and reason: it must do justice to the lasting personal and emotional damage. In this scheme, those of us engaged in seeking ways beyond violence must work together in the midst of the greatest damage of all," said Duncan Morrow.

Ends.

For further press information contact Christopher Carson at Morrow Communications on 028 9039 3837.

Notes to Editors

• Information seminars have been organised by the Council for groups interested in applying to the Core-funding scheme:

• The Community Relations Council was established in 1990 and has been engaged in work with victims and survivors of the NI Troubles since its formation. In this time it has worked to assist the development of greater understanding between the different communities in Northern Ireland by means of a number of wide ranging and innovative initiatives. These initiatives have taken place within the Council itself, and through the allocation of funds to groups and organisations beyond the Council, and throughout Northern Ireland.

• In 1999 the Victims Liaison Unit established a £3 million fund for a Core Funding Scheme for groups working with victims/survivors groups. This was administered by the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust. A further £3 million has now been allocated for a second 2-year Core Funding Scheme for victims and survivors. The Community Relations Council was chosen as the Intermediary Funding Body (IFB) to administer this second Scheme.

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