I feel honoured to be taking over
as co-ordinator of the PRG in this
25th anniversary year. It is a sad reflection of our society that there has
been a need for this organisation to remain in existence for such a long time.
I remember when I started my first community relations post in 1987
saying that this must be the only position in the world that your aim is to
work yourself out of a job. It now looks like I will be looking forward to
retiring from this work with still a lot more work needing to be done to bring
about a society free of sectarianism, threat and violence.
Community Relations work has
made a significant contribution to peace-building in Northern Ireland. There
are more people actively involved in community relations work now than ever
before. Government money and European
Funding initiatives have made a major contribution to the current peace process.
In fact, Mark Durkan when Minister of Finance
and Personnel stated, "the strategic aim of Peace 2 Programme is to reinforce
progress towards a
peaceful and stable society and promote reconciliation. "(P7 Building Good Relations CRC report)
There is no doubt we have achieved
a lot in pursuit of a vision of a pluralist society, free from sectarianism, where the principles of
equity. diversity and interdependence prevail. However we still have a long
way to go. We still have
residential segregation, an unstable political climate and continuing street
violence in some areas. I see the next few years with PRG as a
challenge and an opportunity.
So what are the challenges?
For the most part, a large section of our community is living under a
cloud of uncertainty, lacking in trust of our neighbours and with an economic climate that is offering little in the way of hope
for a brighter future.
There has never been a shared definition of what community relations
work should, or should not be about. This has led to confusion about how good
relations training should be initiated.
The changing language around Community Relations work has also contributed
to this confusion. Some see it as peace-building, others see it as peace-keeping.
Some Unionists see Community Relations work as the road to a United Ireland.
Some Nationalists see Community Relations Work, as the soft underbelly of the
British war machine, papering over cracks that the British should have
sorted out years ago.
While still trying to get to grips with understanding what Community
Relations work means, the new principles of equity, diversity and interdependence
have been developed and are still not enshrined in everyday language that is
understood by everyone.
Our education system's Education for Mutual Understanding programme never
really had the intended impact as indicated by research undertaken by the University
of Ulster. Now we are in a transition period of changing EMU and
establishing Citizenship programmes in our schools.
Many organisations have avoided developing good relations policies in
their places of work.
Training in this field of work has been ad hoc and sporadic. With no clearly defined policy or strategy for the implementation of good relations work it has been left to those groups who are willing to take a risk to try to create a peace we can all live with.
What are the Opportunities?
What has been clearly identified is that this work takes time to achieve
results.
There is an opportunity to develop the skills in organisations and at
local community level to deliver good relations types of initiatives.
There is an opportunity to develop coherent strategies to help build
the infrastructure and networks needed to sustain good relations work
over time.
There is an opportunity to create the political will to help provide
the financial support communities need to develop their own models of working
in capacity building programmes to enhance the peace process.
Most of all we need to create more opportunities for contact work to
take place, to help build trust to create a brighter future for us all.
I welcome the challenge
to be a part of an organisation that can contribute to creating some of the
opportunities indicated above. We cannot do it in isolation. We need the support
of the community to allow us the space, time and trust to
let us be about our business as outlined in our strategic plan. I hope the next
25 years will see our presence diminished if not extinct.
Michael Doherty 17th September 2002