About Journeys Out

The Journeys Out Project aims to engage a new generation of community leaders in the debate about ‘dealing with the past’, to explore these issues within their local communities and to learn more from international experiences of ‘dealing with the past’ following conflict.  

The Journeys Out project is supported by the PEACE III Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Community Relations Council/Border Action Consortium.  For more information on the Special EU Programmes Body and the PEACE III Programme, see www.seupb.eu. Building on the success of a pilot project undertaken in 2007-08, the project is delivered by INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute), based at the University of Ulster, in partnership with the Peace and Reconciliation Group, Derry/Londonderry, Intercomm Ireland  based in Belfast, and the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Co. Wicklow.

The project will be delivered between February 2009 and July 2011.  Two cohorts of community leaders will be selected to undertake a range of activities to support their engagement in issues related to dealing with the past in Northern Ireland.

            Cohort One: April 2009 – MArch 2010
            Cohort Two: March 2009 – January 2011

Project Objectives

The project has a range of objectives, which can be summarised as:

• To build the capacity of emerging community leaders to engage in the debate about dealing with the past on an inter-community basis.
• To build the capacity of established community leaders to mentor their peers in relation to the debate about dealing with the past.
• To engage local communities in discussions on dealing with the past in their local areas.
• To help communities to identify gaps and outstanding challenges, and to develop actions to address these.
• To filter the learning and recommendations generated by the project to a wider audience in Northern Ireland and the Border Region.

This will be achieved through a series of activities.

Project Target Areas

The project will work with emerging community leaders in the following target areas:

• North Belfast
• East Belfast
• West Belfast
• Derry/Londonderry
• Ballymena
• Strabane
• Cavan/Fermanagh Border Area (in 2010-2011)
• South Armagh/North County Monaghan (in 2010-2011)

Emerging community leaders will be supported and mentored by more established community leaders, also recruited from these target areas.

Project Activities 

The project will deliver a range of activities during its 30-month span, including:

• A public project launch event in the spring of 2009;
• A tailored training programme for the emerging community leaders and their mentors;
• Community research in the target areas on current activities / issues related to ‘dealing with the past’ and a range of community workshops aimed at exploring local issues related to the legacy of the conflict;
• Two international study visits to learn from international approaches to dealing with the past;
• A web-based archive of community leaders’ views and experiences of ‘dealing with the past’;
• A range of policy seminars exploring issues relating to the legacy of the conflict;
• A final reflection seminar to examine the outputs, outcomes and long-term impact of the project in 2011.

Participants

The project will select 44 participants (20 in Year One, 24 in Year Two) who are active within their communities to engage in a year-long programme of activities aimed at exploring bottom-up approaches to dealing with the legacy of conflict, both locally and internationally.  These community leaders will be drawn from a number of target areas within Northern Ireland and the Border Region to ensure a diversity of experiences and allow for new connections to be made and networks to be formed.  In recognition of the increasing diversity of our communities, the project will also seek to engage participants from – or working with – minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland, to bring a new dimension and richness to the debate around ‘dealing with the past’.

Project Update:

In March 2009, the project partners made a ‘Call for Application’ for emerging community leader who met the Criteria for Selection. There was significant interest in the project and a final selection of 20 candidates (with reserves) was made in April 2009.

On the 27 May 2009, the Project was formally launched by INCORE (Lead Partner) and the partner organisations, Intercomm, Peace and Reconciliation Group and the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Toomebridge, Co. Antrim. A Press release officially launching the project is available for download. The first Cohort of participants will work on a range of activities from June 2009 until March 2010.

                        

 A Project Supported by the PEACE III Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Community Relations Council/Pobal consortium

 

For more information about Journeys Out please contact:
Gráinne Kelly, Policy/Practice Coordinator

Tel: +44 (0) 28 7137 5500
Email: g.kelly@ulster.ac.uk