Policy Seminar held with Co-operation Ireland

The External Champion to the Partnership, Dr Tristram Riley-Smith, held a Policy Seminar at Durham University in December 2014 entitled Holistic Approaches to Reducing Marginalisation: An Irish Perspective.

The focus of the day was on developing a research programme to support the work of Co-operation Ireland, who are developing a programme that will help to reinforce the peace process in Northern Ireland by identifying future leaders from within marginalised Loyalist and Republican communities and equipping them with appropriate skills through one or more capacity-building programmes.

Co-operation Ireland plans to launch a five-year LEGaSi Programme in 2015, with the aim of conducting a pilot study in April 2015 to instigate transformational change among marginalised groups. Co-operation Ireland would appreciate guidance from an academic advisory group on the development of the programme, including but not limited to the recruitment process, participant profiling and portfolios.

Co-operation Ireland is also in discussion with Republicans occupying the middle, marginalised ground between Sinn Fein and Physical Force Dissidents. Efforts are being made to build trust, in the hope that a similar Leaders of Tomorrow programme could be run with and for them.

The workshop developed the idea of a nested programme of research aimed at delivering both impact (with short- and medium-term benefit accruing to Co-operation Ireland and the Loyalist and Republican communities through advice on implementation of the project and through an evaluation of its effectiveness) and research excellence (through linking these activities to theoretical reflections on the application on leadership development in relation to disengagement and engagement literature).

For more information on Co-operation Ireland visit their website.