PEACEPLUS Co-Design
Consultations for the Leitrim PEACEPLUS Action Plan
Phase 1: Initial consultation and Engagement
Six full days of 1hr sessions were organised with targeted groups in six locations across Leitrim’s three Municipal Districts, plus an evening public meeting in five locations. In total 55 groups engaged in these events.
The online survey resulted in 104 responses.
In total 190 project concepts/ideas emerged in Phase 1, across the three themes.
A Project Assessment Sub-Committee comprising members of the PEACEPLUS Partnership was established, and shortlisting criteria agreed by the PP Partnership based on the SEUPB PEACEPLUS assessment criteria.
The Project Assessment sub-Committee met four times to discuss and shortlist these concepts/ideas across the three themes identifying similarities or repetition and common themes and identify a short list of project concepts to move into to Phase 2 of the process for Themes 2 and 3.
A short list of potential capital projects under Theme 1 CRT were also identified. These groups were asked to complete an Expression of Interest form on their capital project, aligned to the PEACE PLUS selection criteria.
Phase 2: Targeted Co-design Working Group sessions
Co-design Working Groups were arranged with key stakeholders for themes 2 and 3 from across target groups based on their in-depth knowledge of the topics including those who participated in the phase 1 engagement. Leitrim PPN linkage groups, members of the Partnership and Council staff were also invited to sit on the working groups.
The co-design Working Group sessions in May 2023 progressed project concepts under Themes 2 & 3 to the next stage in terms of possible projects and potential delivery models for each.
The four Working Groups were as follows:
- Community Capacity /Leadership /Active Citizenship / Cross Community
- Youth & Inter-generational/Health & Wellbeing/Gender & Equality
- Marginalized/Victims & Survivors of Conflict/ Ex-prisoners/New Communities/Integration /Cross Border Engagement
- Church, Faith & Belief/History & Heritage/Environment/ Cross Border Collaboration
Twenty-eight attendees took part in two full days with four sessions each day.
The Woking Groups summarised the contribution of these projects to peace building in Leitrim as:
- Acknowledging the past leads to reconciliation between communities- keeping it alive without glorifying it
- Learning from new communities by identifying and utilising skillsets
- Dealing with the “chip of the shoulder” shame and “the sins of the father”
- Building strong relationships that transform attitudes and behaviours
- Empowering communities to deliver changes in their communities that build peace particularly with target groups
- promoting and celebrating diversity
- Inclusion of new communities in development of community governance and succession
Phase 3: Co-design meetings to verify projects
Following Phase 2, project proposals were developed. Meetings with potential delivery partners and relevant stakeholders took place ensuring additionality rather than displacement or duplication.
Nineteen meetings took place from June to September with representatives from 20 different organisations.
Through these consultations need and demand were identified as follows:
- Build community resilience and sustainability
- Dealing with trauma and the legacy of conflicts and help build resilience
- Inclusion, understanding and integration of new communities rather than assimilation
- Build and expand on the cross border (CB) /cross community (CC) relationships fostered in previous PEACE programmes
- Build trust and relationships through the natural & built environment
- Acknowledging the role of faith, belief, culture and heritage in peace building
- Addressing the integrated and cross cutting needs of target groups including women, ethnic minorities, ex-prisoners and their families
The resultant projects that emerged were included in the Action Plan application to the SEUPB in October 2023.