Hybrid – Good Relations Week

Connecting Minds: The Unity Tree Project – Voices of Banbridge

The Connecting Minds: Unity Tree Project is a T:BUC Shared Education initiative uniting 45 Year 9 students and 12 Sixth Form Camp Leads and Assistant Leads from Banbridge High School, St Patrick’s College Banbridge, and Newbridge Integrated College.

The project uses creativity, mindfulness, environmental symbolism, and gamification-based learning to strengthen good relations between young people from different communities. Its aim is to promote inclusion, respect, and reconciliation through shared learning experiences and positive cross-community collaboration.

Through workshops at Corrymeela and Newbridge Integrated College, students explored identity, allyship, cultural diversity, and problem-solving while building friendships through reflection, movement, and teamwork. The programme’s central theme — the Unity Tree — is inspired by Northern Ireland’s Peace Tree in Antrim, symbolising growth, renewal, and interconnectedness.

Each part of the Unity Tree represents a stage in the young people’s journey:

Roots of Identity – exploring what grounds and connects us
Branches of Allyship – supporting and standing up for others
Leaves of Culture – celebrating diversity and shared heritage
Fruits of Problem Solving – finding creative solutions together
Seeds of the Future – planting hope, peace, and unity for generations to come

As part of their learning, students planted seed paper together in Corrymeela’s gardens, symbolising how unity and understanding can grow when nurtured collectively. They also created Unity Tree posters, Unity Badges, and Leaves of Culture messages — including notes of friendship and inclusion that will form part of the Connecting Minds Unity Tree in Miami.

The project culminates in a Mindful Silence for Peace and Unity, a youth-led act of reflection and fundraising where Year 9 students will raise donations to produce and share Unity Badges across the Banbridge community.

Throughout Good Relations Week, students’ reflections and short video messages will feature in the “Voices of Banbridge” social media campaign — amplifying young people’s voices in shaping a shared, peaceful Northern Ireland rooted in understanding, growth, and hope

Parallel Histories Stormont Debate Workshop – St Malachy’s School

Parallel Histories are delighted that St Malachy’s School is taking part in the Parallel Histories/Good Relations Week Debates on controversial Northern Irish histories at Stormont on 13th September.

At the Stormont debates, students from across Northern Ireland will investigate the controversial histories of Northern Ireland. This workshop is to prepare them for working on sensitive topics with people the same age from across communities. They will focus on collaboratively investigating and then articulating views drawn from sources first from one side and then from the other in conversational debate. In the process they will learn how histories have been constructed and develop the skills and confidence they need to listen, question, and arrive at their own, informed choices.

Parallel Histories Stormont Debate Workshop – Loreto Grammar School

Parallel Histories are delighted that Loreto Grammar School is taking part in the Parallel Histories/Good Relations Week Debates on controversial Northern Irish histories at Stormont on 13th September.

Equinox

International Day of Public Action celebrated around September Equinox embodies Bbeyond’s strategy, making monthly public actions. To share these encounters with other artists around the globe is a great opportunity for synergy in solidarity. The public space, our common ground and the desire for freedom for all people around the world, opening time and space for equals to creativity interact together.

Contact: bbeyond@europe.com for more information.

Opportunities and Challenges for Schools and Communities along the Border

Over the past year, a research team at Ulster University’s School of Education have completed a project funded through the International Fund for Ireland’s Communities in Partnership Programme (supported by the Integrated Education Fund and Educate Together).

Throughout this process, the UU team have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders from different border communities including local residents and political, statutory and community representatives. We hope you can join us to hear more about the research and its findings on the opportunities and challenges facing primary schools and communities on either side of the border.

Please note that this is a hybrid event and you can choose to attend in-person or online (a meeting link will be circulated to those who’ve registered closer to the time).

A light lunch and refreshments will be provided for those attending in person.

For more information, please contact: Dr Jessica Blomkvist | jessica@ief.org.uk

Mileage/travel costs may be able to be accommodated to attend the event if required. Please contact gillian@ief.org.uk for further details.

TogetHERness – reflections from Iceland

This event will be a hybrid event held in the offices of NIRWN Cookstown and online for rural women to come together to hear from the Director and Project Co-ordinator of NIRWN about their recent study visit to Iceland, through the support of the Social Change Initiative.

The staff will share the learning from this visit on the topic of gender equality, relating to all aspects of women’s lives in Iceland and will engage in a Q and A with participants.

This event is also an opportunity to explore issues relevant to rural women’s lives in Northern Ireland, particularly around gender equality as well as women, peace and security and will help shape and inform future NIRWN work in this field.

Learnings from Digital Volunteering

Join Nerve Centre and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland for a special event, as they share valuable insights from the CollabArchive project for Good Relations Week 2023.

Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, CollabArchive is a digital skills-based volunteering programme that has developed opportunities for underrepresented audiences to engage with the official archive of Northern Ireland.

This unique opportunity is a chance for those working across heritage, arts and the third sector to learn how the team behind CollabArchive contributed to breaking down barriers to build more inclusive communities.

What to expect:

~ Hear firsthand insights from project staff and volunteers;

~ Learn about volunteer recruitment and project delivery over the past two years;

~ Understand how new digital approaches helped strengthen engagement with the archives;

~ Listen to the volunteers involved as they share their unique experiences and perspectives.

T:BUC Engagement Forum: UN Sustainable Development Goals & Good Relations

The Executive Office and Community Relations Council look forward to welcoming you to this face to face T:BUC Engagement Forum with the option to participate online on the 20th September.

The Forum is taking place as part of Good Relations Week and will focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the work that many peacebuilders are doing to help address pressing environmental concerns.

Our keynote speaker is David Donoghue. David is the co author of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Needless to say it is fantastic that David is able to join us at this event to offer his insights and experience. We will also be joined by speakers offering a local perspective on the environment and community examples of sustainable development in action.

We are running this Engagement Forum as a hybrid event and look forward to the opportunities that this brings for wider engagement. You will have the opportunity during the registration process to indicate whether you wish to join us online or in the room.

If you have any queries about the event, please contact Paul Killen at The Community Relations Council by email pkillen@nicrc.org.uk or by telephone 028 9022 7500.

The Team looks forward to welcoming you to the Engagement Forum on 20th September.

Attendees who register for online participation will receive joining details to the online zoom event 48 hours, 2 hours and then 10 minutes before the start.

For participants attending the venue, registration and refreshments are available from 9.30am for a 10am start with an opportunity to view market place exhibits by local community and statutory sector contributors.

Community Relations Council will be recording the speakers presentations and may screen shot the event and take photographs for publicity purposes.

This Engagement Forum will provide participants with:

The opportunity to learn more about United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how they are being delivered across NI.
An understanding of examples of good practice being delivered by the community demonstrating the positive impact they have on society and how it relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The opportunity to understand the issues and challenges for good relations and diversity work in the delivery of T:BUC.

Community Academy Shared Learning Event: Good Relations, Shared Space & Future Opportunities

The Community Academy is a capacity building programme, supported by the Urban Villages (UV) initiative in The Executive Office (TEO) and developed and delivered by Resurgam and Fermanagh Trusts.

The programme provides one-to-one support for UV local groups which builds on the Trusts’ collective experience of community-led approaches to regeneration, social enterprise, early interventions, volunteering, philanthropy and fundraising.

Resurgam and Fermanagh Trusts have mentored and supported a range of community organisations that are connected to the capital build projects across the five Urban Village areas.

The Trusts have provided local and practical support to help build capacity with capital project leads to support more sustainable outcomes, which will reduce reliance on government support in the future. Interventions include support on governance & procedures; strategic/operational planning, board advice and communications.

The Churches Trust: Celebrating Youth Creativity

The event will showcase the creative work (digital, literacy, artwork) generated by young people that participated in T:BUC-themed projects during Covid. The event will include the launch of the ‘Creative Well Being book’, a key output of the ‘Community of Homes’ project, focused on breaking down barriers and uniting communities.

The event will bring people of different faith traditions together to celebrate a range of projects that young people have participated in to break down barriers and improve attitudes between young people from different backgrounds. It will show models of good practice and act as an inspiration for further development work.