Building for the future: SCI’s Peacebuilding Leadership Programme

Social changemakers from across Northern Ireland have gathered to mark the conclusion of SCI’s Peacebuilding Leadership Programme – with hopes high for what can be achieved in the years to come.

The programme has brought together over 50 people working for positive social change from a diverse range of communities and sectors, serving to build bridges in Northern Ireland’s divided society, give a voice to minority communities, create connections between activists and advocates, while also learning from international best practice.

Participants from each of the last three years of the annual programme gathered in Belfast’s Clifton House, a landmark building which for centuries provided support to the most vulnerable and served as a seedbed for radical social change.

Activists met to share what they had learned and achieved through their participation in the programme, through fellowships, mentoring, self-care and skills development offerings, and reflect on the ongoing creation of safe spaces for activists to come together and build connections as they navigate future challenges.

SCI's deputy Director Pádraic Quirk told the group: "You have helped us to shape this programme, making it what it is. Nothing happens without that level of partnership, and partnership is vital in securing change.

“It has always been difficult to secure change and it is becoming more difficult. But through the commitment and energy you have brought to this programme, we are creating connections locally and globally that can support all our efforts to build fairer societies. We want to thank you for that and we look forward to building on it as the programme continues in the years ahead.”

A key focus of the convening was around the future issues and challenges for activism and advocacy, and an exploration of the opportunities to drive sustainable change that contributes to a fairer and more inclusive and just society in Northern Ireland.

Guest speakers at the event included Kieran McEvoy, Professor of Law and Transitional Justice at the Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Law.

Looking to the challenges that activism and Northern Ireland society face in the future, he highlighted the ongoing fallout from the conflict in Northern Ireland.

“The piece of unfinished business is addressing the legacy of the past,” he said.

“Unless you deal with the past, it is always going to poison your politics. Unless we address it, it is always going to be destabilising."

He said the Northern Ireland political parties, together with the British and Irish governments, had agreed a system to handle the legacy of the Troubles. It was now, however, at risk of being derailed by UK government plans to introduce an effective amnesty, despite widespread opposition.

SCI’s Avila Kilmurray, with decades of experience in community development, agreed that politics was impacting communities. This included the UK’s exit from the European Union, which she noted has deepened divisions.

But on the broader challenges facing communities into the future, she said many of the promises of the 1998 Belfast-Good Friday agreement had yet to be delivered upon.

“Community issues – they’re just not being heard in terms of the macro politics.”

Dessie Donnelly of the Rabble Tech Co-operative spoke of the role of technology in creating new monopolies, but also of its use as a tool to organise and campaign. He said, however, that more had to be done to confront power.

“Inequality is not an anomaly. It does not exist by accident.”

Kieran McEvoy added that in a post-truth era, the courts can serve as an arena where truth can be upheld.

The law, he said, remained a powerful tool for change.

Activists participating in the event shared the work they carried out through the programme.

This ranged from learning how civil society exposed the violence of the far-right Golden Dawn party in Greece, to drawing on international best practice to lobby for new LGBTQ+ centres in Northern Ireland, learning about gender equality in Iceland, and giving voice to black and ethnic minority communities experiencing racism in Northern Ireland.

It was also noted that participants in the Northern Ireland programme join SCI’s global network of activists, creating international connections that can build positive change locally and globally.

The discussion concluded with a reflection on the importance of sustaining and building broad and diverse coalitions of activism that can challenge inequality and build solidarity in difficult times.