A delegation of international youth workers from areas of conflict around the world arrived in Belfast today for a project aimed at improving the lives of young people living in these "contested" communities.
Volunteers from Serbia, South Africa, South Korea and the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel and Jordan, joined forces with community workers from across Northern Ireland for the week long project.
Youth Work in Contested Spacesaims target people who want to work with youngsters to make their communities better places to live.
It has been organised by Public Achievement, which focuses on developing communities that face tougher realities, in particular areas of social and economic disadvantage that may have been adversely affected by former conflict.
PA director Paul Smyth said the project was a very important event for Northern Ireland, especially given its recent celebration of 10 years of political progress since the Belfast Agreement.
“All of our quests are from areas that have a legacy of violence, or continue to live through armed conflict,” he said. “This conflict and its legacy has a major impact on the lives, hopes and aspirations of young people.
“Whilst we have made enormous progress in Northern Ireland, there is a danger that we ignore the ways in which violence has been normalised into the everyday lives of young people - particularly those living in ‘interface’ communities and tougher realities.”
Mr Smyth said he believes working with young people is essential if Northern Ireland is to move away from a legacy of violent conflict to becoming a thriving, vibrant, pluralist and more democratic society.
“Our colleagues look to Northern Ireland as the leading example of a society moving away from conflict — but not all of our citizens experience this equally, and young people continue to be disproportionately represented amongst both the victims and perpetrators of violence,” he continued.
“Unless we consciously organise to address the legacy of conflict, we may continue to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Public Achievement has been working with partner organisations in Northern Ireland and around the world since 2003 to look at the ways in which various kinds of ‘youth workers’ try to make a difference in the lives of young people in violently divided and post-conflict societies.
PA