Training with Newtownabbey Community Relations Forum

Newtownabbey CR Forum in Waterfront

Marie Jones and Ian McElhinney, sometimes described as the first couple of Ulster theatre, met in the Waterfront hall with a Newtownabbey group that had just completed a Conflicts of Interest course. The well-known couple presented certificates of achievement to thirteen citizens of the borough who had undertaken the course delivered by project coordinator Oliver Corr and Dr Alan Bruce of Universal Learning Systems.

The group, convened by Ms Kathy Wolff under the auspices of the Newtownabbey Community Relations Forum, met weekly over the past months and all agreed that the experience enhanced their understanding of the Northern Ireland situation.

Talking with the course participants before the couples’ new production ‘Rock Doves’, Marie Jones and her husband Ian congratulated the group on its accomplishment and then told them of the relevance in the play’s message of underlying social difficulties afflicting our society.

“It was an entirely appropriate conclusion to a very useful course”, Ms Wolff told the Conflicts of Interest team.

Roy Garland addresses a group from Monaghan VEC

In early March, Conflicts of Interest delivered a course to participants from County Monaghan VEC. The course took place over a three day period and involved study in Monaghan and a research trip to Derry city where participants heard from a wide range of expert speakers including Eamonn McCann, Laurence McKeown, Brian Feeney and Billy Moore.

Monaghan VEC attend Conflicts of Interest course

♦ N.B. Conflicts of Interest strongly advises groups interested in this course to contact the promoter and discuss their training needs and to carry out an analysis. Conflicts of Interests is happy to assist with this process.

About Conflicts of Interest

The Conflicts of Interest programme was devised by Expac to address the need for different communities to understand the views and opinions of others, in the context of the conflict centred in Northern Ireland. The programme set out to allow people to build their understanding of and explore the reasons for conflict, and to then set then within a European and global context.

Conflicts of Interest is a workshop based programme which aims to enable participants to reach a more sympathetic understanding of all those affected by armed conflict. Given the history of violence on this island, this course focussed largely on the period of the ‘Troubles’ but also examined similar conflicts in other parts of Europe.

The programme has involved the delivery of 8 modules. Each module comprises a DVD, visiting speaker(s), and facilitated conflict resolution training. Modules were mostly delivered on a weekly basis over 8 weeks, but occasionally on a less frequent basis over a longer timespan.

The programme is supported by a Project Co-Ordinator, Oliver Corr, and the project is part-funded by Border Action through the EU Peace & Reconciliation programme.

♦    N.B. Conflicts of Interest strongly advises groups interested in this course to contact the promoter and discuss their training needs and to carry out an analysis. Conflicts of Interests is happy to assist with this process.

See photos here for the Conflicts of Interest training session in Sheffield.

[View with PicLens]

Project Aims

In the first instance it allows participants to learn of the differing views held about the northern conflict.In the second instance it aims to encourage those with deeply held opinions to share and exchange their views with others who do not hold similar opinions.

This project is supported by PEACE III Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Community Relations Council/Border Action consortium