Staff from TEO’s Good Relations & T:BUC Division are involved in a range of visits throughout Northern Ireland. This involves working with other statutory agencies, members of the community and voluntary sector, and other relevant stakeholders.
Read about some of these visits below, which demonstrate how staff are working to deliver the T:BUC strategy to inform strategic policymaking and add value to projects being delivered on the ground.
Measuring the success of Good Relations in north Belfast
Staff have met with the Ardoyne Community Partnership to discuss ways of recording the good relations outcomes of the projects the Partnership is delivering on the ground in North Belfast.
The Ardoyne Community Partnership are one of a number of organisations delivering the North Belfast Strategic Good Relations Programme (NBSGRP), a good relations programme funded by TEO and managed by the Community Relations Council (CRC).
The objective of the NBSGRP is to improve community relations in the North Belfast area and contribute to the Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) Strategy.
The meeting is one of a number Good Relations Outcomes Branch are holding to collect good relations outcome data from all contract holders and use the information to improve delivery in the NBSGRP and more widely across the sector.
Ronnie Black from Ardoyne Community Partnership said: “We have been working with TEO and CRC for a number of years on focusing our project delivery toward the achievement of measureable good relations outcomes. I welcome the next step for all contract holders in collecting this data in a consistent and comparable way.
“It is through sharing what we have achieved and learning from the achievements of others that we can improve the way we deliver projects and the good relations outcomes we can achieve.”
Gavin King, Good Relations Outcomes manager in TEO, commented: “It was great to meet Ronnie today. CRC have done an excellent job of managing the NBSGRP and contract holders like Ronnie have delivered projects that have made a real difference to the lives of people in North Belfast.
“The work we are doing together on collecting consistent outcome data will help to show the difference projects like this are making in the future to deliver the T:BUC Strategy and the united, fair and equal society we all want to see.”
Shared history – TEO meets with museum staff
The Together: Building a United Community Strategy provides a vision of a united, fair and equal society and we all have a responsibility to helping to make that vision a reality. The Museum sector, as custodians of much of the shared history across our society, play a key role in the delivery of the strategy.
TEO met with staff from Enniskillen Castle Museum recently to discuss best practice in the delivery of good relations projects in the Museum sector. We can learn a great deal from Museums on how best to structure and design good relations interventions that can lead to positive attitudinal change for participants and help create a culture of learning and respect for our shared history.
Catherine Scott from Enniskillen Castle Museum, said: “The Museum delivers a significant annual programme of good relations provision. Many of these projects are funded by the District Council Good Relations Programme, supported by The Executive Office. We have learned a lot from delivering good relations projects that we can share with other providers, and there is a lot we can learn from them as well. These meetings with TEO are a great way to share learning, and we hope to continue and develop this collaborative working in the future.”
Gavin King, Good Relations Outcomes manager in TEO, commented: “It was great to meet at Enniskillen Castle Museum today. There is so much history in museums like this – a history that we all share, and can learn from to create the future we all want to see. TEO is proud to support good relations delivery in museums through programmes like the District Council Good Relations Programme, and collaborative initiatives like these aim to identify further examples of best practice to work on and share with our partners going forward.”
TEO living the student life
In October of this year, Queens University Belfast (QUB) student Kye Revington began a placement with Good Relations Outcomes Branch in the Good Relations & T:BUC Division of TEO. Kye has been helping the team to analyse and benchmark the processes it uses to collect the outcomes from good relations projects with the approaches taken by other organisations.
The current 12 week placement programme is a result of the positive links developed between TEO and QUB over the last 3 years, during which time a number of students have availed of the opportunity to work with staff in the Division on good relations policy and delivery.
Commenting on his placement, Kye said: “It has been great to spend time working with staff in Good Relations & T:BUC Division in TEO. I have learned a great deal about working in a fast paced and challenging environment, where staff are making a real difference in improving relations across society. I feel the staff have given me the opportunity to add to the work that is being done, and that has given me in confidence for when I return to complete my studies at QUB.”
Anne McDowell, Good Relations Outcomes Support Officer in TEO, commented: “It was great to meet Kye and get the chance to work with him. TEO supports a wide range of good relations projects and initiatives, and our challenge as a Branch, Division and Department is to fully articulate the positive difference these activities make to the lives of people who are impacted by their delivery. The hard work and fresh perspective Kye has brought to our work has added significant value to how we approach this challenge and I wish him all the very best in his future studies.”
If you would like to know more about this work area or any other aspect of this article then please contact the Good Relations Outcomes team on 028 9052 2461 or email: GR.outcomes@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk