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Good relations
PEACEPLUS is a European Union funding programme designed to support peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building on the work of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes.
PEACEPLUS is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and represents a funding partnership between the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) has allocated £15.1 million (€17.4million) to us to deliver the Belfast PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan to fund community activities and infrastructure projects that help build peace and reconciliation in Belfast.
A key aspect of the Action Plan is the Community and Regeneration theme which will deliver over £4.6 million of investment across Belfast – focussing on empowering local people to regenerate and transform their communities on a cross-community basis.
Sixteen Belfast projects with the potential to bring communities together will benefit from the PEACEPLUS funding.
There are five capital projects designed to regenerate and transform their local areas. These projects are:
The project will upgrade Mountpottinger Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, located at the interface between Castlereagh Road and Short Strand, as a hub for a range of community arts services, in partnership with Big Umbrella Drama Company. Investment in this project will regenerate the cultural and arts venue – repurposing the building to improve performance facilities and encourage interaction of all sections of the community. The project will also see the delivery of outreach good relations arts programmes in Belfast schools and a cross-community and multi-cultural volunteering programme.
The project will redevelop an interface site into a new natural play area with pathways, lighting and wall upgrades, as well as a new entrance to the space. The project will provide high quality space for families and animation activities and events will bring the new cross-community space to life.
The project will transform a former bonfire site into a gated play area and training pitch, along with a purpose-built Men’s Shed facility.
The project will extend the Forth Meadow Community Greenway walking and cycling routes at Glencairn and Ligoniel. This project will improve access to the Belfast Hills and connectivity within the hills. A network of over eight kilometres of shared pathways will be developed through the hills, including improved and new pathways, stream crossings and a boardwalk bridge over Forth River.
The project will develop a dedicated facility on the first floor of 2 Royal Avenue in the city centre providing space for organisations representing the LGTQIA+ sector. The hub will have multipurpose spaces, counselling and meeting rooms.
There are six projects, aimed at building thriving and peaceful communities:
This programme will target people with an interest in helping shape the future of their local area with respect to community cohesion, good relations, the physical landscape, infrastructural developments, service provision, partnership-working and collaboration.
It will involve 1,000 people over three years in various activities:
This programme is for people who have suffered and continue to suffer trauma as a result of the conflict in a number of data-informed, evidence-based target areas in Belfast focusing on both prevention and support. It will establish local and citywide cross-community working groups and deliver cross-community programmes of activity co-designed by each local working group based on needs and addressing gaps but with a focus on building resilience. It will involve over 1,600 people.
This project aims to empower 2,106 young people in Belfast across four different age groups to become agents of peace in their communities and beyond, with the goal of promoting and understanding peace among young peopl and inspiring future Belfast.
It is envisaged that the project will be delivered through various activities such as workshops, seminars, peace camps, and community outreach programmes. These activities will be designed to educate young people on the importance of peace, conflict resolution, and tolerance, and provide them with the necessary skills to become peace ambassadors in their communities.
This programme will build lasting partnerships between sports clubs, schools and community groups in Belfast. A reoccurring theme among the four pillars encourages partners to work collaboratively to deliver grass roots programmes, to build resilience and encourage playing sport within communities.
This programme combines vocationally oriented language-learning with practical aspects of living and working in Belfast for 816 people whose first language is not English. It will provide opportunities for people from minority ethnic communities to develop the necessary citizenship, language and employability skills which allow them to contribute to the local economy and share in the city’s success.
This project will engage 480 people from cross-community and newcomer backgrounds participating in arts programmes in different genres coming together to express, develop, learn and deliver on their artistic, operational and production skills. Genres might be music, dance, drama, film, puppetry, comedy, craft, photography and visual arts.
Five projects will look at celebrating cultures and diversity, with initiatives examining culture and heritage, community connections for minority communities, interfaith and belief, community engagement for LGBTQIA+ communities and empowerment for ex-politically motivated prisoners.
The programme aims are:
This programme has four separate but related strands that aim to support the integration and inclusion of people from minority ethnic communities, to grow their representation and voices within the city as well as developing familiarity and links with other communities.
The project aims are:
This programme will build, improve and sustain relationships between and within communities through the engagement of the former ex-prisoner community.
The project aims are history, heritage and sharing and promoting positive cultural heritage and identity through cross-cultural dialogue.
There will be four strands:
All 16 projects will be delivered between September 2024 and 2027.
We worked with communities and partners across the city to develop the Belfast PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan for Belfast which will deliver projects with these themes:
The development and submission of the plan was in three stages.
Stage 1 engagement during June to December 2022 involved online and public meetings including:
On completion of Stage 1, a report was published which identified 11 key concept areas to be included in the Local Action Plan.
Since March 2023, we progressed Stage 2 to develop the detail around these concept areas that stakeholders identified in Stage 1. This work involved:
We started Stage 3 of the plan - working with SEUPB to complete the detailed application submission.
We hosted two public information sessions to let stakeholders know what will be included in the local plan submission and how it will be delivered. These sessions were at Girdwood Hub and Riddel Hall in November 2023.
During 2024, we held these events and information sessions on our PEACEPLUS projects:
If you’d like to receive PEACEPLUS local community action plan email updates, contact us: [email protected].
For more information on PEACEPLUS, go to PEACEPLUS (link opens in new window).
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