£6 million cash boost to support peace and reconciliation

18th May 2006

Press release:

Thursday May 18, 2006

£6 million cash boost to support peace and reconciliation

36 community organisations from across Northern Ireland are set to receive a total of more than £6 million in European Union funding through the Community Relations Council (CRC). The cash, provided through the extension of Peace II funding, is intended to help promote 'reconciliation for sustainable peace'.

Details of the projects and organisations receiving funding are being unveiled at an event in Grosvenor House on Belfast's Glengall Street today (Thursday May 18).

CRC is an intermediary funding body with responsibility for the Reconciliation for Sustainable Peace Measure of the EU Peace II Extension.

CRC chief executive, Duncan Morrow, says that the money is vital in facilitating practical work to support peace-building and reconciliation.

“Peace II funding brought the opportunity to facilitate meaningful engagement between people from a range of diverse backgrounds and with an array of views and opinions in order to help create understanding and trust,” he says. “The extension of the funding in the form of this £6m boost will allow us to continue supporting this work well into 2008, instead of to the original cut off date for Peace II of June 2006.”

“We are confident that the projects that this money is making possible will play a significant role in underpinning the building of a shared future which is so important to the economic and social wellbeing of Northern Ireland,” Dr Morrow adds.

CRC director of European programmes, Jim Dennison, says: “We are delighted to be supporting such strong projects which will no doubt make a significant and positive impact. The projects which cover the arts, churches, sport, politics, community development and other areas, represent a broad geographical spread right across Northern Ireland.”

Pat Colgan, Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), which manages the PEACE programme, says: “Today's announcement illustrates how the European Union's PEACE programme is enabling people, communities and organisations to take advantage of the opportunities arising from peace. With its support for these projects, the PEACE programme continues to be instrumental in bringing people together for the common goal of promoting a stable and peaceful society.”

Projects receiving funding include an initiative to facilitate political discussion between women who share common concerns and experiences but who are from different backgrounds, an initiative to enable people to better understand their history in order to deal with the past and move forward, and a project in North Belfast to help integrate local communities and explore ways that they can work together for their mutual benefit.

Projects receiving funding:

• Armagh College (Armagh),

Armagh Peace-Building through Education Project:  £164,900

• Ballynafeigh Community Development Association (Belfast),

Mixed Links Project:    £150,000

• Belfast Interface Project (Belfast):     £158,000
• Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland (Belfast),

Peace and Reconciliation in a Plural Society:   £125,000

• Cliftonville Community Regeneration Project (Belfast),

North Belfast Interface Network:   £200,000

• Downtown Women's Group (Belfast):   £91,500
• Edgehill Theological College (Belfast),

Reconciliation Project:  £116,000

• Gaslight Productions (L'Derry),

Epilogues Project:  £120,000

• Irish Football Association (Belfast),

Football for All Project: £142,600

• Irish School of Ecumenics (Belfast),

Learning Together:  £125,000

• LINC Resource Centre (Belfast),

Building Peace Through Partnership:   £150,000

•  Link Family and Community Centre (Newtownards),

The Link Community Relations Project:     £120,000

• Mediation Northern Ireland (Belfast),

Good Relations in Local Government:  £120,000

• North West Play Resource Centre (L'Derry),

Exploring Community Relations Through the Arts:   £125,000

• Peace and Reconciliation Group (L'Derry),

PRG Mediation Service:  £100,000

• REACT (Armagh),

Understanding and Accepting Cultural Diversity:   £132,976

• Shankill Stress and Trauma Group (Belfast),

First Steps Project:   £53,900

• St Columb's Park House (L'Derry),

Negotiating Change: Addressing Protestant Alienation in L'Derry:  £71,900

• The 1825 Project (Craigavon),

Politics Made Simple:  £60,000

• Towards Understanding and Healing (L'Derry),

Making a Big Difference:  £125,000

• Ulster People's College (Belfast),

People's History Initiative:  £132,000

• Understanding Conflict Trust (Coleraine),

Common Ways Project:  £100,000

• Youth Action Northern  Ireland (L'Derry),

Waterside Youth Led Good Relations Project:  £120,000

•  Youth Initiatives (Belfast),

Creative Cross-Links: £170,000

• Youth Link NI (Belfast),

Building Social and Cultural Capital:   £125,000

• Groundwork NI (Belfast), capital works:   £70,000
• Harmony Community Trust, capital works:  £24,000
• Kilcranny House (Coleraine), capital works: £110,000
• Kilmakee House, capital works:   £28,000
• Rathenraw Community Development (Antrim), capital works:         £82,000
• Suffolk Community Forum (Belfast), capital works:  £131,000
• Tara Counselling and Personal Development, capital works:           £250,000
• The Corrymela Community, capital works: £200,000
• The Link Family and Community Centre, capital works: £100,000
• Youth Link NI, capital works:  £150,000

END

Media contact:

Chris Harrison or Dorothy Hawe, JPR: 028 9076 0066, 077 6641 7550 or 077 3885 3359

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