Good Relations Strategy and Plan 2018-2021

DCSDC Good Relations 1 

Derry City and Strabane District Council 

Good Relations 

Strategy 

and Plan 

2018-2021 

www.derrystrabane.com/goodrelations

DCSDC Good Relations 3

Contents 

Introduction 

Introduction 4 

What we intend to achieve 9 

The Audit 

The Audit 12 

The response to the Audit 35 

The Strategy 

Outcomes and Programmes 42 

The Money 61 

Delivering in Partnership 65 

Monitoring and Evaluation 66 

Risks and Mitigation 68 

Executive Summary 

Executive Summary 70


Introduction 

The good relations strategy for Derry City 

and Strabane District Council is rooted 

within policy and needs in the area. 

The core policies are: 

• The Executive Office Together: 

Building a United Community good 

relations policy, 2013, which provides 

the focus on outcomes; 

• The Executive Office Racial Equality 

Strategy, 2016 which has a focus on 

building good relations between BME 

communities and others; 

• The Race Relations Order 1997 which 

includes a duty on Council to promote 

good relations; 

• Section 75(2) of the Northern Ireland 

Act, 1998, which provides a primary 

focus for good relations on political, 

religious and ethnic differences. 

The audit of good relations needs in the 

District, and Councils response to them 

building on its previous good relations 

strategy, is included as the first section 

of this report. 

The two previous Councils and their 

elected representatives, supporting 

ground-breaking good relations work 

over many years, demonstrated an 

imagination and commitment to 

community that made them pioneers 

and often exemplars of good practice. 

Building on that Derry City and Strabane 

District Council (the Council) faces a 

number of good relations challenges 

in the next years. These include: 

• Continuing needs associated with 

the amalgamation of the previous 

Councils and the different challenges 

in the areas; 

• Significant rural populations with 

a town and city that, often without 

meaning to, can become the focus 

of attention; 

• Shifting demographics, not just over 

many decades between the local 

political/religious denominations, but 

with new arrivals including refugees; 

• Ongoing budgetary pressures for the 

Council, for the public sector generally, 

and for the voluntary, community and 

social enterprise sector (VCSE); 

• The need to sustain relationships 

between key players that, while 

strong, continue to be frayed by wider 

political and economic pressures. 

This good relations strategy, 2018-2021, 

attempts to respond to many of those 

challenges within the framework of the 

Together: Building a United Community 

Northern Ireland Executive Strategy 

and the restrictions of finance inevitably 

placed upon it. 

This good relations strategy for Derry 

City and Strabane District Council seeks 

to build on the successes of previous 

strategies, and on the processes of good 

relations, community cohesion and 

government policy.

Introduction 

In delivering its good relations strategy 

Council is mindful of the need to: 

• Break down barriers between 

communities; 

• Challenge preconceptions of how 

people think of “others”; 

• Build equality, reconciliation and an 

appreciation of diversity; 

• Develop commitment to better 

relationships within and between 

communities; 

• Develop commitment to better 

relationships with new migrant 

populations and ethnic communities. 

In working towards an even more 

cohesive community, Council is conscious 

of the need to enable new residents 

and existing residents to adjust to one 

another; and to build a vision of an 

integrated and cohesive community 

based on solid foundations where: 

• People from different backgrounds 

have similar life opportunities; 

• People know their rights and 

responsibilities; 

• People trust one another and trust 

local institutions to act fairly. 

Within this context Derry City and 

Strabane District Council work within the 

Northern Ireland Policy, Together Building 

a United Community (T:BUC), as the 

core framework for their good relations 

strategy. The outcomes that form the 

basis for this new strategy are taken from 

the T:BUC document. 

“The Together: Building a United 

Community Strategy outlines 

a vision based on equality of 

opportunity, the desirability of 

good relations and reconciliation. 

It provides the framework for 

government action in tackling 

sectarianism, racism and other 

forms of intolerance while 

seeking to address division, hate 

and separation.” First and deputy 

First Minister, Peter Robinson 

and Martin McGuinness in 2013 

The T:BUC strategy contains four 

specific themes: 

• Our children and young people; 

• Our shared community; 

• Our safe community, and; 

• Our cultural expression. 

These themes are core to the final 

Council strategy and have led to a 

number of outcomes identified by 

Council as important to the strategy 

given the needs in the District identified 

in the good relations audit. 

The Executive Office Racial Equality 

Strategy 2015-2025 promotes an 

intercultural future with “a vision 

of a society which is strengthened 

by its ethnic diversity, where we 

can live together free from racism, 

racial inequality and unlawful racial 

discrimination, where we share a 

common sense of belonging and where 

human rights and equality are enjoyed 

by all.” 

The Racial Equality Strategy has seven 

priority themes including combating 

racism, participation, social cohesion, 

capacity building and cultural identity.


Council’s good relations strategy 

incorporates these themes as a core 

part of its response to the needs of 

the BME and minority communities. 

The strategy is consistent with Council’s 

overall corporate plans and related 

programme activities including its Inclusive 

Strategic Growth Plan as part of its 

community planning process. As part of 

this community planning process led by 

Council in conjunction with partners and 

communities a shared, long-term vision and 

plan was adopted to improve the social, 

economic and environmental well-being 

of the City and District. It also guides how 

public services will work together locally to 

plan and deliver better services. 

Our Vision is of “a thriving, 

prosperous and sustainable City 

and District with equality of 

opportunity for all” with strong, 

integrated partnership between 

government and the voluntary, 

community and social enterprise 

(VCSE) sector. 

As part of that process Council has 

adopted a vision of “a thriving, prosperous 

and sustainable City and District with 

equality of opportunity for all” with 

strong, integrated partnership between 

government and the voluntary, community 

and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. 

The local growth plans are due to be 

published in 2018 but will focus on the 

overall strategic aims of creating jobs and 

promoting prosperity; accommodating 

people and facilitating communities; and, 

enhancing the environment, creating places 

and improving infrastructure. 

The Strategic Growth Plan recognises the 

Council area as being widely recognised for 

its effective approaches to reconciliation, 

its commitment to peace building, good 

relations and diversity. 

A good relations officer has been 

appointed as part of the Peace IV 

programme for the development of peace 

and reconciliation to work with local 

growth partnerships. This good relations 

officer will work closely with Council’s 

good relations team of GROs. 

Derry City and Strabane District has 

received £6.1 million allocation from 

SEUPB under the Peace IV programme to 

promote peace and reconciliation. The 

financial allocations for all of the local 

authority funding awards under the Peace 

IV Programme are based on per capita 

(Census) and deprivation (NI Multiple 

Deprivation Measure and Trutz Haase 

Deprivation Index). 

While significant, the funding is allocated 

over a period until 2020 and is part of a 

seven-year allocation to Northern Ireland 

and the Border Counties of £270 million 

(or an average of just under £40 million per 

annum overall). 

As Council Chief Executive John Kelpie 

indicated at its launch, “Peace funding 

is strongly focused on reconciliation, 

challenging prejudice and promoting 

understanding of diversity and 

good relations.” 

The good relations team and the Peace 

IV team in Council work closely together 

and will ensure lack of duplication 

and complementarity. Aspects of this 

complementarity are included in the

Introduction 

8 

strategy. This includes cognisance 

of, and complementarity with, Peace 

programmes such as those focusing on 

marginalised youth, youth participation 

and democracy, youth leadership, 

shared space in Castlederg, St Columb’s 

Park and the Waterside, interface 

investment, the bonfire programme, 

identity and reflections on a decade 

of commemoration. 

The new good relations strategy of 

Council for 2018-2021, is based on 

consistency with Council and government 

policy, needs identified within the District 

and local communities, partnership with 

other sectors, and the good relations 

team playing their part in making 

the Council’s ambitious vision real, 

rooting actions within a sense of wellbeing 

and belonging, continuing to 

support diversity and new and minority 

communities, and further building 

positive relations. 

The good relations strategy and 

action plan anticipates the continued 

employment of four good relations 

officers to manage and co-ordinate 18 

specific programmes in year one. 

This strategy and action plan adapted 

through to 2018 was ambitious and 

successful; and the new strategy for 

2018-2021 builds on the successes 

to date. 

This strategy and action plan recognises 

the need to build and innovate within 

existing programmes, to further challenge 

and progress. It recognises the need for 

quick wins, with major alignment to other 

local policies and policy from central 

government, and it seeks to impact on 

that policy.


The research for the audit included: 

• A review of good relations 

activities and programmes 

to date; 

• Interviews with a sample of 

practitioners with experience in 

good relations; 

• Meetings with Councillors and 

Council groups and committees; 

• A survey of the members of the 

community, staff, businesses and 

young people; 

• A series of meetings with 

groupings relevant to section 75 

categories; 

• Attendance and participation 

at funding workshops and 

workshops on Council’s 

community plan; 

• A series of events and seminars 

relevant to critical issues; 

• Liaison with Council officers; 

• Pop-up consultations 

at Lisnagelvin and 

Foyle Shopping centres, 

Riversdale and Derg 

Valley Leisure Centres; 

• A consensual vote undertaken by 

over 200 local residents about 

Council priorities.

What we intend to achieve 

What we intend to Achieve 

The aims, objectives and outcomes for this strategy are closely aligned with 

The Executive Office’s T:BUC strategy. 

The Good Relations strategy “A Sense of Belonging” for 2018-2021 will seek to make 

seminal change in relationships between people from different backgrounds. 

Our Vision: A District that is Prejudice Free, Diverse and Cohesive 

Our Mission: We will work with others to build a City and District 

where all people have a strong and equal sense of belonging 

The aims of the Good Relations Strategy 

for 2018-2021, linked to T:BUC key 

priorities, will be: 

1. Increase intercultural knowledge and 

encourage intercultural commitment 

from Our Children and Young People; 

2. Enhance Shared Space in 

3. Our Shared Community; 

4. Improve feelings of welcome and 

security in Our Safe Community; 

5. Increase a sense of belonging and 

cohesion in our diverse district 

through Our Cultural Expression. 

We will achieve these aims through 

a series of programmes linked to the 

following strategic objectives linked to 

T:BUC outcomes.


These will include: 

Key Priorities/Aims 




Objectives/Outcomes: 

• Improve attitudes between young 

people from different backgrounds; 

• Increase engagement between young 

people from different backgrounds. 



through Our Cultural Expression 


• Increase a sense of 

community belonging; 

• Celebrate our diversity and 

increase recognition of its value. 


Our Shared Community; 


• Increase the use of shared 

space and services; 

• Increase the amount of shared 

space accessible to all. 

Aims and Outcomes: 

Each of the four aims or high-level 

strategic targets linked to the T:BUC 

strategy, with associated outcomes 

anticipated as a result of this strategy 

are summarised (right): 




• Enhance the community so that places 

and spaces are safer for all.

What we intend to achieve 

• More people more 

favourable to those from 

a Protestant background 



a Catholic background 



a BME background 

• More people will 

feel comfortable in 

shared space or nontraditional 

space 

• More people will feel 

their area is welcoming 

for all 

• More people will attend 

events more associated 

with another 

community background 

Our Children 

and Young People 

Our Shared 

Community 

Our Safe 

Community 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

• More people will see their 

or other communities and 

spaces as welcoming 

• More people will feel safe going 

to events or to venues that 

they would not normally attend 

• Fewer people will feel 

intimidated by murals, flags 

or bonfires 


a sense of belonging to 

their neighbourhoods 

• More people will feel a 

sense of influence 

• More people will 

feel their culture is 

respected and adds to 

the richness of diversity 

All programmes supported by Council’s good relations team 2018-2021 will relate to 

these aims and outcomes. 

Projects funded will be asked to demonstrate how their activity will – and afterwards 

has – contributed to the attitudinal change outlined in the outcomes.


The Audit 

The audit took place between January 

and April 2018 with events in every 

District Electoral Area and major town. 

Overall, more than 1,000 people from the 

Council area were engaged in a series 

of activities including open meetings, 

surveys, pop-up consultations at 

shopping centres and interviews. 

There were four separate surveys carried 

out for the audit including: 

• A survey of all staff working for Derry 

City and Strabane District Council; 

• A survey of the voluntary, community 

and social enterprise (VCSE) sector; 

• A survey of businesses; 

• A survey of young people. 

The consensual vote was taken during 

pop-up consultations in shopping centres 

and leisure centres in the Council area 

including a day in the Foyleside Shopping 

Centre, a day in Lisnagelvin Shopping 

Centre, a session in Riversdale Leisure 

Centre, Strabane, and in Derg Valley 

Leisure Centre, Castlederg. During these 

pop-up consultations discussions were 

held with residents using the facilities. 

Over 200 people participated in a 

consensual ballot on priorities for the 

new strategy. 

Overall close to 1,000 residents took 

part in the consultation process. 

Cross cutting the themes however, are 

the major challenges and needs identified 

by the community. 

Demographics 

In the Council area as a whole in June 

2016 the population was estimated at 

150,142. 1 There was a slight out-migration 

(net 579 fewer), only one of four Council 

areas with a negative out-migration in 

the last year – Belfast, Causeway Coast 

and Glens and Antrim/Newtownabbey 

Borough Council. 

Nearly 22% of the District were aged 15 

years or under (32,806 people) compared 

to 16.2% of the overall Northern Ireland 

population; while 14% were aged 65 years 

and older (21,505). 

Nearly two thirds of people (65%) in 

the District are from a Catholic religious 

background while approximately a 

quarter (23%) is from one of the main 

Protestant church backgrounds. 

1 

NINIS population estimates June 2016

The Audit 

Religion 2014 DCSDC 

Catholic Presbyterian 

Church of 

Ireland 

Methodist 

Other 

Protestant 

Other 

Religion 

No 

Religion 

Not 

Stated 

65% 11% 9% 1% 2% 1% 4% 7% 

BME Communities 

Northern Ireland has been transformed in 

recent years. The number of people living 

in Northern Ireland born outside the 

UK or Ireland has trebled from just over 

27,000 in 2001 to 81,000 in 2011. More 

than 50,000 people in Northern Ireland 

speak a language other than English or 

Irish as their first language. 

There are over 90 languages used in 

Northern Ireland as a whole. 2 

A study by Oxford Economics in 2009 

carried out by the Department for 

Education and Learning estimated 

that migration to Northern Ireland had 

contributed 40,000 jobs and £1.2 billion 

gross value added to the local economy. 3 

In addition to the main religious/political 

breakdown of the Council area, there 

is a sizeable BME population with an 

active BME community presence and 

contribution. Languages in the Council 

area most spoken after English include, 

in order of use as a first language, Polish, 

Malayan, Chinese, Lithuanian, Filipino, 

Russian, Portuguese, Slovak and Latvian. 

Overall, 1.39% of the Council area 

population is from a BME background 

with approximately 2,200 people. 4 

According to the health and Social Care 

Business Support Organisation the top 

three country of origin for inflow to the 

Council area in 2016 were Ireland, Syria 

and Poland. 5 

There are Traveller accommodation 

sites in the Council area mainly located 

at Daisyfield in Derry/Londonderry 

(sometimes vacant) and Ballyarnet on 

the outskirts of the city. The 2011 Census 

suggests there were 1,700 Travellers in 

Northern Ireland although the All Ireland 

Traveller Health Study estimated 2,500 

in Northern Ireland with the highest 

concentration in Belfast. 6 

The NIHE Traveller Accommodation 

Needs assessment suggests 10% of 

Traveller households in Northern Ireland 

are from Derry/Strabane equating to 

possibly 170-250 people. 7 Just 20% of 

Travellers report as regularly travelling. 

2 

NINIS demographics 2011 Census 

3 

Oxford Economics 2009, from the TEO Racial Equality Strategy 2015, p13 

4 

NINIS 2011 census 

5 

Health and Social Care Business Services Organisation, August 2017 

6 

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Traveller Health and Wellbeing, 2011 

7 

NIHE Traveller Accommodation Needs, 2014


Political Backdrop 

The Council elections in 2014 returned Councillors with a Nationalist/Republican seat 

return of 65% and a Unionist seat return of 25%. 

Council Election 2014 

Sinn Fein SDLP DUP UUP Independent 

16 10 8 2 4 

40% of seats 25%of seats 20% of seats 5% of seats 10%of seats 

Since the local election there have been 

three changes of party affiliation to 

become Independent Councillors from 

the SDLP and the DUP. 

Key Events of the Past 

The Council area has a reputation for 

finding solutions to some of the most 

sensitive issues, primarily having started 

a process of dialogue around parades 

that acted as a stimulus for parading 

organisations, and residents in 

other areas. 

However, the Council area still lives 

with community relations issues that 

arise from dates in the past, and their 

consequences for local people. Many of 

key events associated with the Council 

area have significant anniversaries during 

the period of this strategy. Council will 

seek to use these anniversaries to begin 

serious and sustained reflection on the 

meaning of the events, impact on all 

communities in the Council area, and 

how people may come to terms with 

the past going forward constructively 

and inclusively. 

These dates include, for example, the 

50th anniversary of civil rights marches, 

communal violence and Bloody Sunday, 

and the 100th anniversary of partition 

and the establishment of the Northern 

Ireland state. All of these activities 

had major consequences for people 

in the Council area; there are differing 

perspectives that speak in to the space 

of community relations in 2018, as 

evidenced by the launch of the Pat 

Finucane Centre commissioned report on 

PUL Migration from the Cityside and the 

reaction to its launch. 8 

8 

Hansen and McLaughlin “Protestant Migration from the West Bank of Derry/Londonderry 1969-1980”, 2018

The Audit 

Interfaces 

The Council area has a number of areas 

where there are formal or informal 

interfaces and areas with continued 

interface barriers. These include, in the 

urban Derry/Londonderry interfaces at 

Fountain/Bogside, Tullyally/Currynierin 

and Gobnascale/Irish Street. 

In Castlederg there are clear 

demarcations within the town itself. More 

rural areas and villages also demonstrate 

separate living patterns, and while not 

recognised formally as interface areas, 

patterns of living are similar. 

The interface areas, whether formal or 

informal, in rural or urban areas, are often 

those areas demonstrating significant 

socio-economic stress. Some are part of 

the Urban Villages programme and the 

International Fund for Ireland Peace 

Walls programme. 

Rurality 

The Council area consists of two principal 

urban areas – Derry/Londonderry and 

Strabane – urban areas that were a 

primary focus for the previous Councils. 

There are a number of significant towns 

and villages in the Council area and there 

needs to be a major rural thrust to the 

programmes and strategy as a whole. 

The need for capacity building, inclusion 

and participation from people and 

organisations in rural areas has been a 

priority for the Council for many years, 

and continues to be in this strategy 

reflected in the balance of funding, 

distribution of project activity and the 

nature of the identified programmes. 

Comparisons on Key Economic 

Indicators 


ranks 11th out of the 11 Councils on a 

range of 11 key socio-economic indicators 

according to research carried out by The 

Detail and reported in the fourth Peace 

Monitoring Report. 

The Council area has particular low 

rankings for educational achievement, 

life expectancy, housing stress, pupils 

entitled to free school meals, claimant 

count, median earnings and rates paid. 

These quality of life indicators play in 

to the challenges in building a more 

cohesive community.


Ranking of Derry City and Strabane District per Key Indicators 

Issue Rank Total Lowest Highest 

Estimated 

Council debt 

per capita 

7th £584.78 £241.11 – Mid Ulster 

£769.38 – Causeway 

Coast and Glens 

Estimated 

Council assets 

per capita 

5th £1,309.31 £1,743.41 – Belfast £805.86 – Mid Ulster 

Rates on 

£150k home 

11th £1,256 

£1,015 - Lisburn 

Castlereagh 

DCSDC 

Claimant 

count (% of 

pop) 

11th 8 

2.7 – Lisburn 

Castlereagh 

DCSDC 

Median 

earnings 

11th £16,580 

£20,246 – Lisburn 

Castlereagh 

DCSDC 

Educational 

attainment % 

achieving 5+ 

GCSEs 

9th 61.7 

71.8 – Fermanagh 

Omagh 

54 – Antrim 

Newtownabbey 

Pupils entitled 

to free school 

meals (%) 

11th 28.7 

12.9 – Ards North 

Down 

DCSDC 

Life 

expectancy 

men (years) 

10th 76.73 

78.52 – Lisburn 

Castlereagh 

74.71 – Belfast 

Life 

expectancy 

women 

(years) 

10th 80.76 

83.01 – Causeway 

Coast and Glens 


Housing 

stress (% of 

pop) 

10th 1.71 

0.38 – Fermanagh 

Omagh 


Houses 

empty (%) 

4th 2.32 

1.55 – Antrim 

Newtownabbey 

6 – Fermanagh 

Omagh

The Audit 

The strategy puts a particular focus on 

ensuring good relations activities and 

funding is allocated across the district 

including in rural areas, and that all 

schools, for example, are involved in 

key activities. 

Interculturalism and Interdependence 

In an increasingly diverse region, 

interdependence and interculturalism are 

two important concepts that are also a 

core part of this strategy. 

Interdependence recognises that there 

are different interests or identities 

but they all have obligations and 

commitments to others. All people in the 

Council area are inter-connected whether 

it is people from different political or 

religious backgrounds, different ethnicity, 

coming from different geographical parts 

of the District, or by different age, gender 

or other denominator. Derry City and 

Strabane District is at once cohesive 

and diverse. 

Interculturalism recognises and values 

difference. Indeed it encourages 

difference but seeks to engender a strong 

sense of common belonging to the area, 

the institutions and to other people from 

the area. 9 

Survey of Voluntary, Community 

and Social Enterprise Sector 

A survey of the voluntary, community 

and social enterprise sector was carried 

out using Survey Monkey, e-mails and 

participation with hard copies at 

various events. 

A total of 158 people participated in this 

an aspect of the overall surveys (surveys 

and consensual balloting engaged 630 

people overall). 

Overall 96% of respondents within the 

VCSE rated good relations work as highly 

or very important including people from 

all community backgrounds. 

However, there are significant differences 

of opinion about which issues are 

considered very important, as evidenced 

in the table (page 18), especially relating 

to issues such as bonfires, flags and 

emblems, policing, cross council/border 

work and involving minority communities. 

9 

Youthlink NI Reach Out to Enrich Within, contribution to intercultural and inclusive youth work, 2016


The table below highlights priorities overall, and cross-tabulated for people from 

a Protestant and Catholic religious background.

The Audit 

The big six issues considered very 

important overall are: involving young 

people (88%), funding (87%), including 

minority communities (84%), challenging 

racism (83%), positive public comment 

by Councillors (82%), and encouraging 

more cross community contact (81%). 

The VCSE were also asked to identify 

barriers to them being able to carry out 

further or better good relations work. 

The big six barriers to their good 

relations work they identified were: lack 

of funding, gatekeepers and blockers, 

lack of support from public agencies, 

political barriers, lack of interest within 

communities, and lack of staff 

or volunteers. 

The table below highlights barriers to 

participation in good relations work 

overall and cross-tabulated by main 

religious background.


Overall local funding is a major priority 

and this will continue to be a core feature 

in the new strategy. 

There were some clear differences 

between people from a Catholic and 

Protestant background in identifying 

priorities and in identifying barriers. 

Stimulating further interest will be a 

priority within the new strategy, 

while challenging gate-keeping, for 

example, continues to be a priority across 

the community. 

Almost all those replying were aware 

of the GR team (87%) and over three 

quarters believed they were doing an 

excellent or good job (76%). 

Indeed, this is a consistent theme 

across both quantitative and qualitative 

feedback especially when there was 

awareness of, and involvement with, the 

good relations team. 

While 76% were extremely positive about 

the work of the Good Relations Officers 

and of Council’s good relations work, 

just 10% of those responding in the VCSE 

survey thought the GRO team were 

doing a poor job. 

The positive perspective of the 

commitment and support provided 

by the GRO team was a constant 

theme throughout the quantitative and 

qualitative feedback with interviews 

and workshop discussions.

The Audit 

SURVEY OF YOUTH 

Overall 88 young people completed 

surveys at a variety of events throughout 

the Council area. Young people 

completing the survey thought good 

relations was a major priority for work in 

the Council area with 84% suggesting it 

was highly or very important. 

However, only around half (51%) were 

aware that the Council had a good 

relations team, although 43% of those 

replying had attended a good relations 

activity of some sort. Raising awareness 

of the good relations team within the 

overall work of the Council – and of those 

youth-focused projects supported by the 

Council – will be incorporated in to the 

marketing of initiatives. 

The young people believed there were 

seven priorities for good relations in 

the Council area that stood out clearly 

compared to other priorities provided. 

These included: 

• Challenging racism; 

• Challenging sectarianism; 

• Involving young people more; 

• Ending segregation. 

Challenging racism 

Challenging sectarianism 

Involving young people 

Ending sectarianism 

Challenging homophobia 

Victims and survivors 

Behaviour and councillors 

Community policing 

Minority alienation 

Local funding 

Understanding history 

Parades 

Flags and emblems 

Paramilitaries 

Ex combatants 

Bonfires 

Single identity 

75% 

70% 

69% 

68% 

67% 

63% 

60% 

59% 

53% 

48% 

47% 

43% 

42% 

40% 

38% 

87% 

84%


More than two thirds of young people 

believed seven of these priority 

areas were very important especially 

challenging sectarianism, challenging 

racism and involving young people; over 

75% believing them very important. 

A further four priorities were rated very 

important by over half; and six more 

scored less than 50%. That does not 

mean these issues are not considered a 

core part of good relations work. Indeed 

some of those issues have been high 

priorities in years past and need further 

work to ensure the progress that has 

been made is sustained. 

A contentious issue such as bonfire 

management and alternatives, for 

example, is recognised by Council and 

the Peace IV programme as sufficiently 

important to dedicate a programme to it. 

Young people who participated in the 

survey were also asked to identify some 

ideas for involving them further in good 

relations work; and to identify those 

issues that might stop those attending 

particular Council facilities or events. The 

ideas mentioned by three or more young 

people included more cross community 

events, festivals and 

dialogue opportunities.

The Audit 

While 44% of young people 

identified a Council facility that 

they believed inaccessible none 

were specifically mentioned by 

name. The young people generally 

expressed an assumption that 

people from the other side of the 

community would not visit facilities 

due to their location in real or 

perceived single identity areas. 

The three particular barriers 

mentioned by three or more young 

people included: intimidation or 

bullying, social pressure and lack 

of motivation to travel. 

The young people again identified 

sectarianism, and the failure to 

tackle it, as a pressing need in 

the Council area; but three or 

more also identified lack of cross 

community contact and local 

policing as important good 

relations needs.

DCSDC Good Relations 

25 

Consensual Residents Ballot 

The audit engaged residents directly in 

identifying strategic priorities for the 

Council area. This included a series of 

outreach sessions, pop-up consultations 

at shopping centres and leisure facilities. 

Pop-up consultation days were held at: 

• Lisnagelvin Shopping Centre; 

• Foyleside Shopping Centre; 

• Riversdale Leisure Centre, Strabane; 

• Derg Valley Leisure Centre, Castlederg. 

Residents were engaged in conversations 

about priorities and needs, and these 

consultation results are included as part 

of the consultation feedback. 

However, for the first time in Northern 

Ireland, a consensual vote was used to 

determine resident priorities for the new 

strategy. The consensual process used a 

modified Borda count to both seek ballot 

returns and count the votes using the 

modified Borda process. 

As far as we are aware this is one of 

the few times in the world a consensual 

vote has been used by a public body to 

identify strategic priorities. 

The result of the vote by 235 residents 

who agreed to cast a ballot during the 

pop-up consultations identified four 

strategic priorities with a high degree of 

consensus, a further two with reasonable 

consensus and four that had less 

widespread consensus. 

We have defined high degrees of 

consensus as those with over 60% 

consensus, reasonable levels 

of consensus as 50% or more, 

and under 50% as having less 

widespread consensus.

The Audit 

High Consensus 

The four priorities with high levels of consensus were: 

Rank Strategic Priority % Consensus 

1 Involve more young people across the community 85% 

2 Provide more funding for local work 71% 

3 Support more cross community contact 71% 

4 Support more anti-sectarian work 69% 

Reasonable Consensus 

The two priorities with reasonable levels of consensus were: 


5 Support work with victims and survivors 58% 

6 Support more anti-racism work 56% 

Less Widespread Consensus 

The four priorities with less widespread levels of consensus were:: 


7 Help to include minority populations more 48% 

8 Encourage more community policing 46% 

9 

10 

Encourage more positive statements from Council 

and Councillors 

Support more work with communities on issues 

such as flags and emblems 

37% 

32% 

Strategic priorities identified through the consensual balloting of residents therefore 

were involving young people, funding local work and undertaking cross community 

work to break down sectarianism.


INTERVIEWS, WORKSHOPS 

AND QUALITATIVE FEEDBACK 

The issues raised during interviews and 

attending workshops are summarised 

by theme, consistent with the strategic 

themes identified in the T:BUC strategy 

which the Council works to as the 

framework for its own strategy. 

These themes are: 

Our children and young people; 

Our shared community; 

Our safe community, and; 

Our cultural expression. 

Feedback provided below is neither the 

views of the report authors, conclusions 

from the report nor the views of the 

Council. Rather they are a transparent 

reflection of views provided from 

interviews and interventions during 

the strategy audit. Points are included 

in this strategy document when raised 

consistently by three or more participants 

during the consultation. 

Our Children and Young People 

Consultation feedback included: 

• More consultation should take place 

with young people themselves as a 

key group stakeholder; 

• Schools were an important access 

point and partner along with formal 

and informal youth providers; 

• young people were often 

misunderstood and stereotyped as 

instigators of anti-social or 

sectarian behaviour; 

• Young people are more engaged in 

the politics of the area than are given 

credit for, although the definition of 

politics may be broader than 

party politics; 

• Young people should be a priority 

within the strategy given the need to 

positively influence a new generation; 

• Diversionary work was still needed 

especially in particular locations 

that had been the focus for tension 

between young people from different 

community backgrounds. Council may 

wish to provide a particular focus on 

those areas in the city and in other 

parts of the Council area; 

• Young people understanding the 

impact of racism and sectarianism was 

an important learning area for them, 

and for them to communicate to their 

peers.

The Audit 

Our Shared Community 


• Council should further recognise 

minority community perceptions 

of lack of belonging including from 

within the PUL community; 

• Segregation was still a major factor 

about how people in the district 

lived their lives, with the need to 

encourage cross community contact 

and understanding, and to deal with 

the consequences of segregated living 

and schooling as constant 

feedback themes; 

• While the award of such a sizeable 

small grants programme was 

welcomed, there was concern that it 

did not allow for cross Council area 

applications. This included feedback 

from those who thought that the 

current process disadvantaged 

the BME communities that were 

spread out across the Council area, 

and hindered significant strategic 

applications from organisations 

wishing to work across the Council 

area rather than a specific 

electoral area. 

• Some decisions by Council, and 

subsequent public comment that 

gained media traction were raised 

as an obstacle to cross community 

confidence in the Council and 

Council’s commitment to a 

shared society. 

• Anniversaries played an important 

part in all narratives and many 

important anniversaries were on 

the horizon that may be difficult for 

people in the Council area including 

50 years since civil rights marches and 

Bloody Sunday, and 100 years since 

partition. Council may wish to explore 

its approach to the anniversaries to 

occupy space that may otherwise be 

occupied by others. 

• Travellers and the Traveller community 

generally were often misunderstood 

and had higher levels of discrimination 

and abuse directed at them than any 

other minority community; 

• Council should be mindful of its 

role in supporting structured race 

relations programmes to improve 

relations between BME and Traveller 

communities and the general 

population. This should include the 

education of staff and Councillors 

(including those involved in planning 

and licensing) as well as programmes 

more generally. 10 

10 

NIHRC Travellers’ Accommodation in Northern Ireland, 2017


Our Safe Community 


• There is ongoing need to promote 

community policing especially in 

those communities traditionally 

sceptical and with younger people. 

• Bonfire management and the 

management of flags and emblems 

were raised by many consultees but, 

it seems, with less concern than in 

the past. 

Our Cultural Expression 

• The display of flags and emblems 

was a factor but perhaps less so 

than in previous years, and confined 

to particular areas. 

• Some feedback suggested some areas 

were not considered shared including 

in Derry/Londonderry and Strabane. 

• Cultural celebrations were still 

problematic from one side of the 

community toward another, although 

potentially less so than in previous years. 


• The Traveller community was 

identified by many as one grouping 

that was most misunderstood and 

disrespected, with various studies 

on an island and Northern Ireland 

wide basis showing significant 

mental health, health, educational 

and inclusion needs; while the 

attitudinal surveys carried out as 

part of this audit demonstrated that 

Travellers were perceived as the most 

discriminated against category. 11 

• The inclusion of BME communities 

was identified as a continuing priority 

for the Council area including the 

approach to refugees and newcomers. 

• The PUL community also believed 

that there was a need for enhanced 

sense of belonging in the District and 

highlighted some decisions by Council 

and attitudes to cultural expression 

as reasons why the PUL community 

could feel isolated at times. 

• A need to continue to make Irish 

language available as a means of 

cultural expression but to provide 

opportunity for members of the 

PUL community to be involved both 

through geographic location and with 

sessions in an inter-active and lowlevel 

nature. 

• Bonfires continue to require focus 

though not as significant as general 

cross-community and relationship 

building work. 

• Language for BME community 

members was regarded as still a 

significant barrier to their integration. 

11 

Appendices and The All Ireland Traveller Health Study (UCD, 2010)

The Audit 

Comparing attitudes in Derry City and 

Strabane District Council to other Councils 

and to Northern Ireland as a whole, 

the Council area demonstrates 

a more inclusive attitude to 

BME communities. 

Most of the survey questions in the 2017 

NI Life and Times survey showed residents 

in the Council area were more 

amenable to BME communities than other 

Council areas. 12 

Question DCSC Next Highest Lowest 

NI 

Average 

Willingly accept 

BME as resident 

of NI 

91% 

Newry, Mourne 

& Down DC 94% 

Mid Ulster DC 81% 89% 


BME as resident in 

my local area 

89% 

Newry, Mourne 

& Down DC 88% 

Fermanagh and 

Omagh DC, Mid 

East Antrim BC 

and Mid Ulster 

DC all 74% 

81% 


Eastern European 

as resident NI 

89% 

Armagh, 

Banbridge and 

Craigavon BC 87% 

Mid East Antrim 

BC 72% 

83% 


Eastern European 

as resident in my 

local area 

85% 

Causeway Coast 

and Glens BC 80% 

Antrim 

Newtownabbey 

BC 69% 

75% 


Muslims as 

resident 

of NI 

79% 

Ards and North 

Down BC 75% 

Fermanagh 

Omagh DC 51% 

68% 


Muslims as 

resident 

in my local area 

78% 

Ards and North 

Down BC 70% 

Fermanagh 

Omagh DC 38% 

61%


While 75% of people in Derry City and 

Strabane District Council area agreed/ 

strongly agreed that the culture and 

traditions of people from different 

minority ethnic groups added to the 

richness and diversity of Northern 

Ireland, the average in Northern Ireland 

was 61%, but as low as 48% in Newry, 

Mourne and Down Council. 

Therefore, while Derry City and Strabane 

District Council area still has some way to 

go, the statistics about BME inclusion are 

encouraging and, depending on the issue, 

better than most or all other Council areas. 

In Northern Ireland as a whole, indicators 

also suggest there is some way to go. 

These include: 

• According to a survey of BME school 

pupils by the Northern Ireland Council 

for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) in 

2015/16 75% of BME pupils have 

experienced derogatory name calling 

and 25% feel excluded from social 

activities, while 42% of BME 16-year 

olds said they had been a victim 

of racist bullying or harassment 

at school; 13 

• Racist crime nearly doubled between 

2011 and 2016, from 458 crimes with 

a racist motivation to 853; 

• Homophobic crime nearly doubled 

between 2011 and 2016 from 120 

crimes with a hate motivation to 210; 

• By 2015 white people were still the 

victim of most racist crime (52%) with 

15% of victims Asian, 14% of victims 

black, and the background of 10% 

of victims missing or unknown; the 

remaining 8% were mixed or other 

background; 

• Around 90% of Travellers report 

discriminatory behaviour and 40% 

of Travellers believe life has got 

worse in the last 20 years, according 

to a major survey in Ireland in 2017, 

although there had been a major 

rise in Travellers completing Junior 

certificates from 9% in the 1990s to 

40% in 2017; 14 

• Racist hate crime tends to be either 

criminal damage (47%) or violence 

against the person (45%); 

• While the average outcome rate for 

all hate crime is 29% it drops to 26% 

for homophobic crimes, 19% for racist 

crimes and 15% for sectarian crime. 15 

In addition, the 2017 Life and Times 

Survey shows that attitudes to Travellers 

and the Muslim community are 

particularly stark. 

The survey asked if people would be 

prepared to live with people as local 

residents and with people as a relative by 

marriage, amongst other indicators. 

13 

TEO Racial Equality Strategy, 2015, p29 

14 

Behaviour and Attitudes Traveller Survey, published October 2017 

15 

Community Relations Council, Peace Monitor Report 2016, pp29-31

The Audit 

Results Included: 

Minority Group 

Prepared to live with as a 

resident in local community 

Prepared to live with as 

a relative by marriage 

Eastern European 84% 61% 

Muslim 71% 52% 

Traveller 62% 56% 

16 

The degree of prejudice is particularly 

severe for people from a Muslim background 

and Traveller background. 

In its “Out of Sight Out of Mind; Traveller 

Accommodation in Northern Ireland”, 

the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission 

identified 13 systemic concerns 

about how Travellers are dealt with by 

public authorities, citing evidence of 

discriminatory behaviours and attitudes 

by those within public authorities and the 

settled community. 17 

Other 

Internal 

A total of 156 people participated 

in the staff survey (surveys and 

consensual balloting engaged 630 

people overall). There was a spread 

of responses reflective of the gender, 

community background and age 

profile of Council staff. 

16 

NI life and Times Survey 2017, published June 2018 

17 

NI Human Rights Commission “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: 

Traveller Accommodation in Northern Ireland”, published March 2018


Some of the key statistics from the staff survey include: 

There is high awareness within the Council 

staff of the good relations programme 

and of the good relations team. Most 

people also believe the good relations 

team does an excellent or good job. 

Most people believe the Council 

corporately does good relations well 

but more people are negative rather 

than positive about elected member 

contribution to good relations. 

The good relations team as it delivers 

the good relations programme will need 

to reflect on how it targets the work to 

those groups and communities, rural 

and urban areas that demonstrate less 

engagement and require most support. 

Other feedback relevant to the Council 

internally included:

The Audit 

• The Peace Programme should have 

management and delivery link with the 

Council’s good relations programme. 

• Council should continue to explore the 

need to develop itself as a workplace 

openly welcoming diversity and 

people from different religious and 

political backgrounds. 

• Council should continue to explore 

how it promotes good relations with 

staff, users of Council services and 

the impact of its policies, according 

to guidelines issues by the Equality 

Commission and others. 

Many consultees reinforced the need 

for Councillors to take care with 

public comment and focus on civic 

responsibilities for all the community. 

• Good relations was a continuing need 

for staff training and induction, with 

a need for raising awareness within 

Council of opportunities that should 

include experiential learning beyond 

information sessions and training. 

Conclusions 

Therefore, taking in to account the 

various elements of the consultation 

critical issues include: 

• The core work of the good relations team 

is regarded very positively as is the good 

relations team itself; 

• The current strategy and programmes 

are meeting the core needs identified and 

are consistent with the themes of T:BUC 

and critical criteria for making the Council 

area an even more cohesive community; 

• There is widespread significant awareness 

of the good relations team and of the 

work undertaken – however, with young 

people and some other groupings 

awareness could be higher. The marketing 

of the good relations function and the 

branding of programmes should be 

revisited in this strategy; 

• The Councillor-led good relations working 

group is an important means of engaging 

Councillors even more in the good 

relations plan, and should help to engage 

elected members even more in the next 

three years; 

• Relationships in the District are 

strong including amongst key players 

and stakeholders. However, those 

relationships are constantly evolving and 

should not be taken for granted in years 

to come. Relationships should continue 

to be strengthened through dialogue and 

programme work; 

• Relationships are therefore recovering 

from the trauma of events in Derry/ 

Londonderry and beyond 50 years ago. 

These anniversaries and a reflection 

on what happened 1968-1980 may 

be possible now through facilitated 

dialogues, honest reflection and 

acknowledgement as much for future 

generations as seeking closure in 

this generation; 

• Relationships, cross community needs 

and work focusing on anti-racism and 

anti-sectarianism are still core needs 

within the programme;


• Greater involvement of young people 

is regarded as a priority from feedback 

across all aspects of the audit; 

• Young people suggested their 

involvement through pro-active parts 

of the programme including festivals 

but schools continue to be the major 

access point; 

• Local funding provided by the good 

relations programme is substantial and 

strongly supported by the VCSE and 

by the resident’s consensual ballot. 

The funding is making an impact but 

should provide opportunity for more 

cross Council strategic work focusing 

on BME communities, anti-racism and 

anti-sectarian work; 

• Better inclusion of minority populations 

was a significant theme in the 

consultation – both BME and PUL 

background communities. It is also a 

major factor in building more 

cohesive communities; 

• Exploring intercultural understanding 

is important, and exploring European 

and world events as a mechanism for 

interfaith understanding, should continue 

to be a focus for the strategy; 

• There is a need for continued focus on 

anti-racism work with a particular need 

for focus on attitudes to Travellers; 

• Trust in local institutions is a part of a 

cohesive community including the role of 

public agencies in serving all communities 

fairly and equally; 

• Cultural celebrations continue to be a 

factor though maybe not as significantly 

problematic as in the past. Different parts 

of the community have different views; 

• The Irish language programme is 

successful but its appeal has not been 

widened to minority communities and to 

rural areas; 

• Indeed, Council is already making 

significant efforts to widen efforts to rural 

areas and outside the main urban centres 

of population but still needs to take 

that further; 

• Internally staff in the Council are 

engaging in the good relations 

programme and benefiting from it. 

Council needs to seek to engage staff 

more including those sections that have 

been less involved proportionately; 

• The Peace IV programme is a major 

influencer on good relations for the next 

four years and Council has ensured there 

is proper and impactful consistency 

and collaboration.

The Audit 

36 

The Response 

The new good relations strategy and 

action plan complements the existing 

strategic priorities of the Council 

including its corporate plan, its strategic 

growth plan through the community 

planning process, the policing and 

community safety plan, and the 

substantial investment in related work 

through the Peace IV programme. 

While ensuring such complementarity, 

the strategy as an outward looking 

document will more naturally coalesce 

with work within the Council area 

being undertaken by those within 

the voluntary, community and social 

enterprise sector, the private sector 

and faith-based organisations. 

With a strategy and actions that can 

be agreed and delivered in partnership 

between Council, public agencies, 

businesses and civil society in the Council 

area, the good relations strategy will be 

more effective. With realistic and agreed 

actions at the heart of the strategy, 

delivery and outcomes will be more likely 

to be achieved and better delivered. 

This includes a process of engagement 

of Council with the strategy and 

programmes, with the VCSE and civil 

society who are delivering much of the 

activities, developing a partnership that 

will enhance learning for future strategies.


Council wants to engage with communities and the delivery agents 

to enhance partnership working and facilitate sustainable activities 

As such, the delivery of the strategy recognises the roles of Council, civil society 

and the VCSE, within the context of policy set by The Executive Office in the form 

of T:BUC and the 75% contribution to activities. 

Values, Principles and Behaviour 

The audit reflected well on the work to 

date by the good relations team and by 

Derry City and Strabane District Council, 

as well as the preceding two Councils. 

The issues raised during the audit by 

the public and VCSE were issues that 

had been raised previously and were 

incorporated in to existing strategies 

and policies. 

The amalgamation of the two former 

councils – Strabane District Council and 

Derry City Council – has been relatively 

smooth with a clear working structure. 

The good relations team has formed a 

close and integrated working relationship 

reflected in the positive feedback during 

the consultation.

The Audit 

Issues continue to exist about how 

the new Council is perceived and how 

it relates to people and communities 

outside the city. 

The Council is aware of that and it is 

one of the reasons why in this strategy 

there is such an emphasis on spreading 

activities and events throughout the 

Council area. That will be delivered by 

the good relations team during the outworking 

of the strategy. 

Much of the delivery of the strategy in 

practical terms will be driven by the 

values and behaviours central to it both 

internally as it evolves and grows, and 

externally as communities and people 

engage with it and strengthen their 

understanding and delivery of good 

relations work. 

The values, principles and behaviours 

that drive the strategy are highlighted 

below with the outcomes anticipated 

by activities. 

Step Changes Driven by the Strategy


As a result of the consultation process Council will: 

• Continue to support the programmes it 

currently delivers that are meeting needs, 

very well regarded and making an impact; 

• Take comfort from the positive feedback 

about the good relations team and its 

work; and strengthen further awareness 

of that work both internally and as a 

result of those initiatives that are funded 

and supported by Council; 

• Help the GRO team to review and refine 

its branding of events and programmes 

to ensure the good relations programme, 

the Council and TEO as funders, will be 

fully recognised; 

• Further prioritise cross community and 

anti-sectarianism and anti-racism work in 

its new strategy; 

• Continue to prioritise young people as a 

priority in the strategy, as target groups in 

projects and as consultees as the 

strategy progresses; 

• Focus on minority inclusion and apply 

an inclusion lens to all programmes 

both from the perspective of minority 

communities and rural areas; 

• Continue to recognise the need to sustain 

good relationships between key players 

and stakeholders; 

• Continue to deliver an extensive small 

grants support programme for the VCSE 

to deliver against anticipated targets and 

outcomes. This should continue to be per 

DEA as currently. However, Council will 

undertake an internal review of its funding 

programme to explore successes and 

gaps especially with a view to: 

- actively explore introducing a crosscutting 

strategic theme complementing 

the allocation of funding per electoral 

area, to facilitate more engagement from 

BME-focused VCSE organisations and 

help applications from organisations with 

a Council-wide reach; 

- explore options for alleviating some 

of the pressures felt by community 

organisations from areas where there is 

proportionately more applications; 

- continue to pro-actively support 

those areas and organisations that 

traditionally come from areas with weaker 

infrastructure and less used to 

completing applications.

The Audit 

40 

• Ensure a wider exploration of intercultural 

and interfaith issues with all faith 

backgrounds with leadership and 

relational programmes reflecting on 

broader engagement. 

• Facilitate dialogue around a theme of 

belonging that explores the District’s 

recent past, key commemorative events 

and their impact on majority/minority 

community sense of belonging. These 

may include sensitive and challenging 

conversations on, for example, the impact 

of Bloody Sunday, civil rights and the 

consequence of change in the City in the 

early 1970s, and reasons why the PUL 

community left the Cityside. 

• Continue to liaise closely with the 

Peace IV programme to ensure minimal 

duplication and optimum collaboration 

and consistency. 

• Re-focus its provision internally to include 

work with elected representatives about 

the impact of public statements and 

decisions that are not perceived to be 

genuinely civic, and provide experiential 

learning to staff especially those staff 

categories that have engaged less often 

in good relations activities.


Outcomes and Programmes 


ultimately wishes to further change 

attitudes and relationships as a result 

of adopting and implementing its good 

relations strategy 2018-2021. The details 

of priorities adopted in the strategy 

emerge from the audit and the outcomes 

are consistent with The Executive Office 

T:BUC strategy, but all to the same goal 

of improving attitudes and relationships 

especially between people from different 

political, religious or ethnic backgrounds. 

:


The Good Relations strategy “A Sense of Belonging” for 2018-2021 will seek to make 

seminal change in relationships between people from different backgrounds. 

Our Vision: A District that is Prejudice Free, Diverse and Cohesive 

Our Mission: We will work with others to build a City and District 

where all people have a strong and equal sense of belonging 

The aims of the Good Relations Strategy 

for 2018-2021, linked to T:BUC key 

priorities, will be: 










through Our Cultural Expression. 

We will achieve these aims through 

a series of programmes linked to the 

following strategic objectives linked to 

T:BUC outcomes.


These will include: 

Key Priorities/Aims 





• Improve attitudes between young 

people from different backgrounds; 

• Increase engagement between young 

people from different backgrounds. 



through Our Cultural Expression 


• Increase a sense of 

community belonging; 

• Celebrate our diversity and 

increase recognition of its value. 




• Increase the use of shared 

space and services; 

• Increase the amount of shared 

space accessible to all. 

Aims and Outcomes: 

Each of the four aims or high-level 

strategic targets linked to the T:BUC 

strategy, with associated outcomes 

anticipated as a result of this strategy 

are summarised (right): 




• Enhance the community so that places 

and spaces are safer for all.




a Protestant background 



a Catholic background 



a BME background 


comfortable in shared space 

or non-traditional space 

• More people will feel their 

area is welcoming for all 

• More people will attend 

events more associated 

with another community 

background 

Our Children 

and Young People 

Our Shared 

Community 

Our Safe 

Community 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

• More people will see their 

or other communities and 

spaces as welcoming 

• More people will feel safe going 

to events or to venues that 

they would not normally attend 

• Fewer people will feel 

intimidated by murals, flags 

or bonfires 


a sense of belonging to 

their neighbourhoods 

• More people will feel a 

sense of influence 

• More people will feel their 

culture is respected and 

adds to the richness of 

diversity 

All programmes supported by Council’s 

good relations team 2018-2021 will relate 

to these aims and outcomes. 

Projects funded will be asked to 

demonstrate how their activity will – 

and afterwards has – contributed to the 

attitudinal change outlined in 

the outcomes. 

By the end of Peace IV – whether or 

not there is continuing Peace funding 

through an additional programme 

post-Brexit, Council should be clear 

about the policy lead for good relations 

for the Council area. This will include 

identification of sustainable programmes 

incorporating the existing good relations 

strategy and the Peace programme. 

Clearly budget and expectations will be 

issues that need managed; and for which 

thought and reflection in the next two 

years is needed.

Programmes 

As a result the Council will run 18 programmes in 2018-2019 as highlighted in the table and explained at greater length below. 

Cost £ 

No. Indirect 

Participants 

No. Direct 

Participants 

Code Name T:BUC Priority Outcome 

750 32,500 21,112 

1.1 Improved attitudes between young 

people from different backgrounds 

Our Children and 

Young People 

Post Primary 

Anti-Prejudice 

Training Initiative 

DCS1 

4,000 6,000 14,000 




Young People 

Primary 

School Cultural 

Awareness 

Initiative 

DCS2 

600 1,000 19,000 




Young People 

Engaging Youth 

in Communities 

DCS3 

50 projects 5,000 199,000 

2.1 Increased use of shared space and 

services 

Good Relations Our Shared 

Grant Aid 18 Community 

DCS4 

2.2 Shared space is accessible to all 400 300 10,000 

Our Shared 

Community 

Good relations 

experiential 

learning and 

trust building 

DCS5 

500 300 12,000 


services 

Our Shared 

Community 

Networking and 

Clustering 

DCS6 

300 500 9,000 


services 

Our Shared 

Community 

Legacy and 

commemoration 

dialogues 

DCS7 

18 

Grant in Aid outcomes cross all T:BUC themes. 

45

Code Name T:BUC Priority Outcome 

No. Direct 

Participants 

No. Indirect 

Participants 

Cost £ 

DCS8 

Officers 

initiatives/ 

critical response 

support 

Our Shared 

Community 


services 

400 1,000 12,000 

DCS9 

Leadership 

programme 

Our Shared 

Community 

2.2 Shared space is accessible to all 20 500 22,000 

DCS10 

Bonfires and 

alternatives 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.1 Increased sense of community belonging 60 25,000 4,000 

DCS11 

Interfaces and 

contested space 

Our Safe 

Community 

3.2 A community where places and spaces 

are safe for all 

200 1,000 8,667 

DCS12 

Safe Children 

Safe Community 

Our Safe 

Community 

3.2 A community where places and spaces 

are safe for all 

1,500 2,500 10,000 

DCS13 Ubuntu 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.2 Cultural Diversity is celebrated 3,500 2,500 20,000 

DCS14 

Community 

cohesion festival 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.2 Cultural Diversity is celebrated 500 1,000 5,000 

DCS15 CR Week 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.1 Increased sense of community belonging 2,000 5,000 9,000 

DCS16 Island voices 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.2 Cultural diversity is celebrated 300 1,000 3,667 

DCS17 

Traveller 

awareness 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.2 Cultural diversity is celebrated 220 400 3,000 

DCS18 

BME Support 

Programme 

Our Cultural 

Expression 

4.2 Cultural diversity is celebrated 360 200 2,000 

383,446


The 2018-2019 programme has been 

developed as a result of the audit 

although aspects of the programme, 

such as the local grant aid, has already 

been processed. The learning from the 

audit will be incorporated during the 

development of programmes in 2018- 

2019 but especially for the development 

of new programmes for 2019-2020. 

Post Primary Anti-Prejudice 


In response to: 

• Clear community desire for a focus 

on young people; 

• Engagement of young people 

at interfaces and with bonfires; 

perception of anti-social behaviour; 

• Continued need for understanding of 

s75 groups and racism in particular; 

• Building on successes of programme 

to date. 

The programme builds on a programme 

delivered for over ten years but that was 

specifically refined and amended last 

year, having been continually improved 

over its entire lifetime. In 2017/18 a 

delivery organisation was appointed after 

a tender and the same will happen in 

2018/19 and subsequent years. 

Building on feedback from facilitators 

in 2017/18 the GR Team has designed a 

programme to be delivered to all year 10 

pupils in all of the post-primary schools 

across the Council area. It is anticipated 

to deliver over 2-3 sessions per group 

within the school. The initiative will 

address issues such as sectarianism, 

racism, prejudice and homophobia. 

The programme will significantly increase 

the number of indirect participants 

benefiting from the learning of direct 

participants. This will be part of the 

tender process for successful tenderers 

to identify options and demonstrate how 

indirect participation will be best met. 

Participants will undertake an antiprejudice 

poster design competition, the 

winner of which will have their poster 

used by the Peace IV Anti-Prejudice 

campaign, probably as a billboard in a 

prominent site, hopefully for the start of 

Community Relations/Cultural Awareness 

Week (CR/CA Week) in ‘19. 

Baseline assessments of participants 

will be carried out through a short initial 

attitudinal surveys with a focus on: 

• Contact with people from other 

religious, political or ethnic 

backgrounds 

• Attitudes to people from 

other religious, political or 

ethnic backgrounds 

Future years will include: 

• Lessons from the 2018/2019 

programme being incorporated in 

to future delivery; 

• Developing an on-line resource and 

encourage schools to produce tools 

that can be shared; 

• Exploring more inter action between 

schools especially involving 

urban-rural schools and across 

the community.


Primary School Cultural 

Awareness Programme 


• Clear community desire for a focus on 

young people; 




to date. 

The programme will involve seeking 

to engage with 30 primary schools 

throughout the Council area. At least 

4,000 pupils from these schools will 

participate in diversity workshops 

exploring different themes relating to 

key cultural and faith based activities 

associated with people from 

all backgrounds. 

Workshops will include a focus on, for 

example, faith related activities such 

as Diwali, St Patrick’s Day, Easter and 

Ramadan, and cultural activities such as 

GAA, loyal orders and marching bands, 

Chinese New Year, Mela, Yom Kippur 

and others. 

The good relations team will facilitate 

the management of the programme 

including recruiting schools, booking 

workshops, recruiting and managing 

facilitators, undertaking the monitoring 

and evaluation of the programme. 

The detail of the workshops will be 

developed by facilitators but quality 

control will be undertaken by the 

GR team. 

A baseline study will be undertaken 

through dialogue with the pupils and 

revisited at programme end. 



programme being incorporated in 

to future delivery; 

• Explore more inter action between 

schools especially involving 

urban-rural schools and across 

the community. 

Engaging Youth in Communities 


• Clear community desire for a focus 

on young people; 


at interfaces and with bonfires; 

perception of anti-social behaviour; 



• Identified need to engage with young 

people both within a school formal 

education environment as well as 

outside within the community; 


to date. 

The programme will work closely with 

the local community growth partnerships 

in each of the eight local community 

planning partnerships within the context 

of the overall community planning 

strategy. The GR team will be involved 

with the programme from the start, 

helping to design what is delivered in 

each of the local growth partnerships. 

It is hoped the local growth plans and 

community planning strategy will identify 

priorities in each local growth partnership 

and the programme will complement them.


Project activities may include, for 

example and prior to consultation with 

the local partnerships, issues such as 

Traveller awareness, sectarian tension 

and bonfires. 

• Young people as leaders and 

influencers will be encouraged to 

develop programme themselves on 

a cross community basis. 

The programme will be delivered 

through formal youth clubs or similar 

organisations but it will explore the use 

of detached youth work to identify and 

work with the young people currently 

outside formal youth provision. 

The programme will be educational with 

a focus on the past and why we live in 

the society we do with the issues it has; 

and an understanding of how the society 

has changed with many people from BME 

background finding a home in the 

Council area. 

Relationships will be developed across 

the community, people from a particular 

background will develop a better 

understanding of the background and 

beliefs of those from other backgrounds; 

and better understand the impact of 

sectarianism and racism, as well as its 

impact on local communities, will be 

better appreciated by participants. This 

will be in the context of development 

plans for each local growth partnership. 

The Good Relations team will carry 

out monitoring and evaluation with 

programme partners and youth providers. 

This will include opportunity for parents 

to engage as some of the 

indirect beneficiaries. 



programme being incorporated in to 

future delivery; 

Good Relations Grant Aid 


• Clear, meaningful and cross 

community support for the 

programme in all DEAs including 

rural and urban areas; 

• Evidence of outcome delivery with 

previous grant aid; 

• Evidence of Council’s commitment 

equally to people across the Council 

area through DEA allocations; 

• Concern that BME organisations and 

strategic Council-wide projects found 

it more difficult to apply due to the 

allocations per DEA; 

• Building on successes of 

programme to date. 

The programme will provide small grant 

aid to community based organisations 

working in District Electoral Areas (DEA). 

The programme covers most potential 

outcome indicators within the 

T:BUC framework. 

The programme has been promoted 

already to allow optimum opportunity to 

support work throughout the financial 

year. Information workshops will be held 

(one in each DEA) and applications 

received and processed efficiently.


The GRO team will continue to: 

• Build the programme detail including 

paperwork and assessment criteria; 

• Deliver at least eight information 

sessions, at least one in each DEA; 

• Assess applications against criteria 

and make recommendations 

to Council; 

• Undertake document checks with 

successful applicants; 

• Issue letters of offer and 

rejection letters; 

• Monitor, oversee and provide 

support and advice for projects 

as they progress; 

• Process claims; 

• Undertake monitoring and evaluation. 

In the past the programme has supported 

very significant work in terms of volume 

and quality, tackling some of the most 

sensitive and contentious issues relating 

to good relations such as bonfires, 

racist and sectarian behaviour, parading, 

tensions at interfaces, accessing 

shared space. 

In the previous year the programme 

had potential to award £200,000 and 

applications were received for 

over £316,378. 

Council will continue to deliver 

an extensive small grants support 

programme for the VCSE to deliver 

against anticipated targets and 

outcomes. This should continue to be per 

DEA as currently. 

However, Council will undertake an 

internal review of its funding programme 

to explore successes and gaps especially 

with a view to: 

• actively explore introducing a 

cross-cutting strategic theme 

complementing the allocation of 

funding per electoral area to facilitate 

more engagement from BMEfocused 

VCSE organisations and help 

applications from organisations with a 

Council-wide reach; 

• explore options for alleviating some 

of the pressures felt by community 

organisations from areas where there 

is proportionately more applications; 

• continue to pro-actively support 

those areas and organisations that 

traditionally come from areas with 

weaker infrastructure and less used to 

completing applications. 

Baseline and final monitoring and evaluation 

will be carried out with successful applicants 

especially focusing on: 

Contact with people from other religious 

or ethnic backgrounds. Attitudes to 

people from other religious or 

ethnic backgrounds. 


• Explore a cross cutting and strategic 

element to be opened in 2019- 

2020 with an allocation of c.10%, 

better enabling applications from 

organisations targeting groupings 

across the Council area such as the 

BME community and encouraging 

more strategic applications; 

• Council will promote good practice 

examples that have been funded;


• Funded groups will be asked also to 

engage with at least one other aspect 

of the GR strategy 

• Funded groups will be asked to ensure 

acknowledgement of TEO and Derry 

and Strabane District Council during 

their work. 

• Interfaces; 

• Bonfire sites; 

• BME, refugee and migrant worker 

support centres. 

Experiential Learning and Trust Building 


• Success of the programme to date 

according to feedback; 

• The need for greater awareness, 

information and knowledge within 

the VCSE; 

• The need for delivery of more 

experiential learning; 

• Councillors willingness to engage; 

• The need for some internal targeting 

of knowledge and participation; 


to date. 

We will roll out a programme of 

development and experiential learning 

for staff, Councillors and communitybased 

people that will engage with the 

staff. This will include facilitated site visits 

and experiencing at first hand issues, 

conversations with key players and 

needs/solutions. It will also include staff 

being inducted on good relations. 

We anticipate facilitated site visits to, 

for example: 

• Traveller sites; 

• Tower Museum, the Siege Museum 

and the Museum of Free Derry; 

• Space considered contested; 

In addition, the programme will develop 

a cross Council understanding of issues 

with site visits to Strabane and outlying 

areas, and Derry City. It will explore issues 

in each area and how good relations are 

helping to progress the issues. 


• Induction of new staff in good 

relations; and also newly elected 

Councillors after the May 

2019 elections; 

• Council will further promote diversity 

in the workplace; 

• Funded groups will be asked to 

participate or help organise visits 

by staff and Councillors. 

Networking and Clustering 


• Success to date; 

• The flexibility of what can be 

offered to meet needs; 

• Continued need to work 

in partnership; 

• Ongoing cross community demand.


The programme will operate at local 

level using local community planning 

partnerships in each DEA. Through the 

partnerships specific good relations need 

identified and plan agreed for addressing 

those needs for the year. There will be a 

focus on rural and urban issues, interface 

and shared space issues, youth, trust in 

public agencies and others. 

The GROs will organise events during the 

year to bring together relevant players 

within the public, community and private 

sectors as relevant to discuss the needs 

and develop actions to work together 

(cross-sectoral and cross-community) 

to tackle the need identified. 

These clusters will work on common 

issues, constantly monitoring and refining 

their activities, and their impact on the 

need identified. 

The GROs will organise sessions on a 

cross-DEA basis depending on the need 

and actions identified. 


• A review of the effectiveness of the 

programme in 2019. 

Legacy and Commemorations Dialogues 


• Upcoming important anniversaries 

with ongoing legacy issues; 

• Launch of the report on PUL Migration 

from the Cityside and the reaction to 

it; 

• Feedback on the need to address 

cross-generational attitudes arising 

from the past; 

• Success of the decades of centenaries 

programme to date across Northern 

Ireland, and the positive opportunity 

these anniversaries present to have 

open dialogue on issues and events 

that formed and sustained negative 

relational attitudes. 

The GROs will map the important 50th 

and 100th anniversary dates related to 

sectarian conflict in the past that are 

to impact in the difficult years for this 

from 2018-2022. This will incorporate 

anniversaries such as the start of the 

Anglo Irish War (War of Independence), 

partition and establishment of 

Northern Ireland, the civil rights march 

on 5th October 1968, Bloody Sunday and 

other incidents of note in the Council 

area 1968-1972. 

GROs will explore vehicles for discussing 

how to approach the anniversary of these 

events in the Council area such as the 

work already led by Community Relations 

Council/Heritage Lottery Fund, the Nerve 

Centre and others. It will also explore 

published research such as the major 

piece of work undertaken by the PFC on 

the Protestant migration from the west 

bank in the 1970s and 1980s. This report, 

developed with academics and leading 

members of the local PUL community, 

may provide a basis for dialogue and a 

framework to discuss acknowledgement. 

A programme of dialogue surrounding 

these legacy issues will be undertaken 

shaping the difficult conversations that 

are needed; and through that explore 

the impact of those periods up to now 

and how negative perceptions may be 

addressed. This may involve other players 

in taking a more direct role and exploring 

the role of Council separately. This may 

include exploring cross-border partners.



• Further developing strategic partners; 

• Exploring imaginative ways to 

remember, to discuss and address 

sensitive issues. 

Officers Initiative/Critical Response 


• Success of the interventions to date; 

• Outstanding issues and needs 

identified through consultation; 

• Evidence of potential flare-ups 

near interfaces; 

• Sensitive anniversaries to come; 

• Linkage to community development 

team and community-based activity 

that can be utilised further; 

• Focus on areas without significant 

engagement with Council to date and 

where there can be problematic Good 

Relations needs. 

Monitoring of tensions and identification 

of issues will be done through the local 

community planning partnerships in each 

DEA and with community organisations 

directly. The focus will be to: 

• Respond to need when it 

arises requiring critical and 

quick intervention; 

• Encourage community organisations 

not engaged in Good Relations work 

to do so; 

• Build the capacity of community 

based organisations to undertake 

Good Relations work. 

The support will be relevant in rural 

and urban areas, and in those areas 

where there has been less focus on 

Good Relations issues, an ambivalent 

relationship with Council; but where 

there continues to be a significant Good 

Relations need. 

We anticipate many indirect beneficiaries 

through the resolution of issues, 

engaging with people within communities 

not directly impacted and with parents 

where young people are involved. 


• Further development of the themes 

of trust in the Council and other public 

bodies related to building community 

cohesion; 

• Focus on rural areas and those 

not already engaged substantially 

with Council. 

Leadership Initiative 


• Success of the programme to date; 

• The importance of leadership within 

the community that is skilled and 

aware of how to combat racism and 

sectarianism; 

• Identified need for further learning 

and integration re BME and racistrelated 

issues; 

• Relative lack of public inter-faith work; 

• The need to explore alternatives and 

new experiences relevant to inter-faith 

and BME needs.


The programme will recruit 20 civic 

leaders to develop an understanding 

of the issues that cause hatred and 

segregation, and understand various 

responses and techniques for engaging 

with others and overcoming hatreds 

through relationship. 

The programme will combine skills 

training with a visit to a place of learning, 

with participants then asked to deliver a 

project upon their return. 

The skills training will relate to skills for 

delivering good relations work. The visit 

will be to a place such as Auschwitz 

or Srebrenica (more recent, politically 

relevant and involving Christian/Muslim/ 

Jewish relationships), and they will be 

asked on return to demonstrate their 

learning by organising an activity that 

promotes better inter-faith relationships 

and demonstrates their learning. This 

may be a talk, commemorative event or 

writing articles or engaging a local group 

with the local Muslim or other 

minority community. 


• Seek to link community development 

and Good Relations support with the 

activities on return to expand their 

impact and sustainability; 

• Develop the public profile of activities 

on return and support that anti-racism 

message activity. 

Bonfires and Alternatives 


• Continuing problems associated 

with bonfires on either side of 

the community; 

• Engaging with the Peace IV 

programme on bonfires 

and alternatives; 

• The need to help that Peace IV bonfire 

programme with GR organisations in 

the Council area; 

• Related issues throughout the Council 

area including in rural areas; 

• The need to sustain relevant 

intervention beyond the lifetime of the 

Peace programme. 

The programme will complement the 

Peace IV bonfire programme. The 

support will focus on working on a crosscommunity 

basis with the Council-wide 

community-based bonfire group being 

established by the Peace Programme. 

We will support pilot interventions in a 

small number of areas, good practice 

visits, a bonfire management leaflet and 

a Council-wide seminar. We anticipate 

indirect benefit through those receiving 

the leaflet and benefiting from fewer/ 

no tyres on bonfires, those within 

communities learning about the good 

practice visits without having taken part, 

and young people who would be involved 

in bonfire construction.


Community Cohesion Festival 


• Feedback including the desirability of 

people moving out of their own areas 

and changing patterns of behaviour; 

• Continuing need to facilitate cross 

community contact; 

• Building on successes of the 

community cohesion festival to date 

• Audit support for festivals 

and opportunity for cross 

community engagement. 

Council will work with local community 

organisations especially in an area that is 

considered contested space. The festival 

will encourage people to go somewhere 

they usually don’t go to, and interact 

with people that they usually wouldn’t. 

These small steps, replicated elsewhere, 

will help change established patterns of 

behaviour and established patterns 

of relationship. 

We anticipate at least 300 people will 

attend these mini festivals. We anticipate 

the area selection will be extended 

to rural areas outside the main urban 

populations to ensure it is located in 

different parts of the Council area with 

different community backgrounds. 


• A review of locations for the festival 

in the future to ensure delivery across 


• Involvement of people, areas and 

organisations not previously engaged 

with the festival and Council; 

• A media and communications plan to 

further raise awareness of the festival. 

Good Relations Week 


• Success of Community Relations/ 

Cultural Awareness (CR/CA) Week in 

the Council area to date; 

• Success of the process last year that 

asked local organisations to take 

greater responsibility for management 

and delivery of CR/CA Week activities; 

• Desirability of showcasing 

good practice; 

• Importance of engaging Council staff 

and the wider community in specific 

GR activities; 

• Importance of media coverage of 

good practice. 

At least 20 events will be supported 

for Good Relations Week annually; 

and additionally there will be a day of 

reflection event. This may be linked to the 

leadership programme. 

Council will again ask community 

organisations to lead on the Good 

Relations Week events linking to the 

theme set by the TEO and Community 

Relations Council. 

These events will be launched locally 

a month before Good Relations Week 

which starts in September each year and 

will generate substantial media coverage. 

The Peace IV anti-prejudice campaign 

which will utilise the winner of the poster 

design competition in programme one, 

will assist with gaining media traction. 

Future years will include:


• Building the number of events 

supported to 30; 

• Involvement of those that have gone 

through the leadership programme; 


further raise awareness. 

Island Voices 


• Success of the Island Voices 

project to date; 

• Desire to broaden it out of the 

city alone; 

• Desire for more experiential learning 

and pro-active engagement; 

• Potential to provide linkage to 

Ulster-Scots traditions as well as 

Irish language. 

We anticipate supporting five events 

– possibly talks or musical exhibitions 

or both – that highlight Irish and Ulster 

Scots language commonalities and 

meanings, complemented by Irish and 

Ulster Scots musical traditions. 

The five events will take place across 

the Council area, meaning that we 

expand the programme to areas such as 

Castlederg, Strabane and Faughan. 

We will explore support from other 

strategic areas and external expert 

speakers such as Linda Ervine and 

musical support from organisations such 

as the North West Cultural Partnership. 

We will expect participants to take 

learning home and to their places of work 

with hand-outs and short quizzes that 

can be taken away that highlight Irish and 

Ulster Scots language commonalities and 

meanings, complemented by Irish and 

Ulster Scots musical traditions. 


• Taking the events to additional 

communities that have not been part 

of the programme to date or that 

might find the topics challenging; 

• Involving outside personalities. 

Traveller Awareness 


• Continued priority to raise awareness 

of Traveller needs and challenge 

Traveller discrimination; 

• Identification of need in surveys 

and discussions; 

• Potential support from Traveller 

support organisations outside 

the District.



• Continue to support pilot interventions 

to better manage bonfires or 

explore alternatives; 

• Be determined by the community-led 

group and the member-led bonfire 

working group within Council; 

• Expand the work out of the city and to 

rural areas impacted by bonfires; 

• Continue to challenge recognition 

that cultural celebrations should be 

respectful and address good relations 

and hate-related problems if they 

arise. 

Interfaces and Contested Space 


• Continued need for diversionary and 

summer intervention; 

• Focus on youth and bringing new 

people and areas in to the Good 

Relations work; 

• The need for strategic longer-term 

input beyond diversionary 

summer interventions. 

Many new people and organisations were 

involved in the interfaces programme in 

2017 that then became more active in 

good relations work including in 

local areas. 

The programme will support work outwith 

summer interventions alone. We 

intend to design a framework for that 

purpose. While supporting summer 

interventions still, we will ensure there 

is sufficient support for projects from 

September 2018 in order to obviate as 

much need for summer intervention 

by 2019. 

We will also encourage greater capacity 

building and integration with other 

strategies and additional support for 

work beyond this programme. 

We anticipate significant community 

benefit with many indirect beneficiaries 

that either would have been affected 

by issues resolved before becoming 

significant, or benefiting from resolution 

of issues. 


• Based on longer-term interventions 

planned and started after each summer 

with a priority the next summer; 

• Work more closely with communities 

and community-based organisations 

not previously engaged. 

Safe Children, Safe Community 

The programme will be delivered in 

partnership with the Policing and 

Community Safety Partnership. 

It will be in response to: 

• Clear community desire for a focus on 

young people; 


on issues such as racism and 

sectarianism; 



• Desirability and benefit of working 

in partnership with the Policing and 

Community Safety Partnership; 


to date.


This project will be delivered in 35 

schools throughout the District in rural 

and urban areas. 

Workshops will be delivered by the 

community safety wardens to 1,500 

children and young people in years 6-7 in 

primary schools. We anticipate a further 

2,500 parents will engage through 

the take home sheets and work of the 

children and young people. 

These workshops will be highly targeted 

on issues around racism, sectarianism, 

bullying and creating a safe 

environment in schools for people 

from all backgrounds. 

The programme will also involve parents 

in seeing and hearing from the children 

about the life lessons learned, and 

appraising their work. 

We expect to get substantial media 

interest to spread the message of 

local young people learning about, 

and doing their bit to tackle, racism 

and sectarianism. 


• A review in 2019 of the programme 

and its delivery in association with 

other programmes. 

Ubuntu Festival 


• Engagement of BME organisations; 

• Breadth and diversity of the BME 

sector in the District Council area; 

• Building on successes of the Ubuntu 

festival to date which included 

1,766 participants, 32 workshops, 82 

performers, 14 cultures represented 

and 100% feedback from participants 

surveyed that the event had increased 

respect for other cultures and 

traditions as well as 100% surveyed 

believing it had increased a sense 

of belonging. 

We will work with the Councils festivals 

team to deliver an Ubuntu Global 

festival including: 

- Musical performances on a staged area 

throughout the festival featuring different 

countries and cultures including diversity 

of BME cultures and British/Irish/Ulster 

Scots identities. 

- Workshops, talks and discussions aimed 

at building knowledge and capacity of 

people from diverse BME backgrounds as 

well as developing understanding of the 

diversity of 

BME cultures and British/Irish/ 

Ulster Scots identities. 

- Exhibition space on topics relating to 

cultural and ethnic diversity, identity, 

global issues and challenging racism 

and sectarianism. 


• A review of locations for the festival 

in the future to ensure delivery across 



further raise awareness of the festival.


The new programme will draw heavily 

on learning from the Out of Sight Out of 

Mind report produced by the Northern 

Ireland Human Rights Commission in May 

2018. In particular, of its 13 key systemic 

failings, Council will investigate its 

response to: 

• Participation in decision-making 

and Traveller advocacy; 

• Discrimination and the framing of 

public opinion; 

• The management of Traveller sites. 19 

The programme will include a capacity 

related programme for working directly 

with a group of Traveller women and 

youth. This will utilise existing youth 

programmes and their focus on racism 

including that directed against the 

Traveller community. 

A group of Traveller women and youth 

will design and deliver a schools 

workshop with the assistance of an 

established and experienced local 

community-based organisation. 

The workshop will be delivered to 200 

young people from up to six local schools 

to highlight myths and perceptions about 

the Traveller community and make further 

links between the Traveller community 

and local communities. 


• Broadening the involvement of 

members of the Traveller community. 

BME Support Programme 


• Feedback and survey responses 

that continue to highlight the need 

to challenge racism; 

• Development of BME support 

organisations; 

• The Peace IV Beyond Tokenism 

programme and what it will be 

delivering for and with BME 

communities, and in association with 

other peace IV programmes. 

The Good Relations team will develop 

a series of workshops to ensure elected 

members, Council staff and local 

communities have substantial contact 

with members of the BME community 

and the issues they face in each of 

the DEAs. 

Workshops will be delivered each quarter 

in locations throughout the Council 

including the urban and rural locations. 


• Continued complementarity with 

the Peace programme; 

• Development of leadership within 

the BME community; 

• Linkage of BME organisations 

and leaders with the political 

representatives of Council. 

19 

NIHRC, March 2018, Out of Sight Out of Mind


The Money 

The Good Relations Strategy for Derry 

City and Strabane District Council for 

2018-2019 will include the delivery of 18 

specific programmes. 

This will include programmes that 

address issues across the four T:BUC 

strategic outcome strands. 

Children 

& Young 

People 

Our Shared 

community 

Our Safe 

community 

Our 

Cultural 

Expression 

DCGRP 

Total 

Total no. of 

programmes 

Total no. 

of direct 

participants 

Unit cost of 

programme 

activity 

Total cost of 

programmes 

3 6 2 7 18 

5,350 21,620 1,700 6,940 35,610 

£10.11 £12.21 20 £10.98 £6.72 £10.77 

£54,112 £264,000 21 £18,667 £46,667 £383,446 

The small grants programme has been 

included under the strategic priority Our 

Shared Community as much of the activity 

will be relevant to that theme, but not 

exclusively so. 

The 18 programmes by strategic theme, 

anticipated direct and indirect participants 

and budget allocation 

as outlined: 

20 

Includes the grant aid programme with estimated numbers of 

participants, which pushes up total and unit costs for this theme 

21 

Includes £200,000 grant aid programme

Outcome Name 

2018-2019 

No. Direct 

Participants 


No. Indirect 

Participants 

2018- 

2019 

Cost £ 

2019- 

2020 

2021 

Cost £ 23 

Cost £ 22 2020- 

T:BUC Theme - Children and Young People 

1.1 Improved attitudes between 

young people from different 

backgrounds 

Post Primary Anti-Prejudice 


750 32,500 21,112 21,534 21,965 



backgrounds 

Primary School Cultural 

Awareness Initiative 

4,000 6,000 14,000 14,280 14,566 



backgrounds 

Engaging Youth in 

Communities 

600 1,000 19,000 19,380 19,768 

T:BUC Theme – Our Shared Community 

2.1 Increased use of shared 

space and services 

Good Relations Grant Aid 24 50 projects 5,000 199,000 202,980 207,040 

2.2 Shared space is accessible 

to all 

Good relations experiential 

learning and trust building 

400 300 10,000 10,200 10,404 



Networking and Clustering 500 300 12,000 12,240 12,485 



Legacy and commemoration 

dialogues 

300 500 9,000 9,180 9,364 



Officers initiatives/critical 

response support 

400 1,000 12,000 12,240 12,485 

2.2 Shared space is accessible 

to all 

Leadership programme 20 500 22,000 22,440 22,889 

22 

Rounded 2% uplift applied in line with current inflation 

23 

Further rounded 2% uplift applied 

24 

Grant in Aid outcomes cross all T:BUC themes.

Outcome Name 


No. Direct 

Participants 


No. Indirect 

Participants 

2018- 

2019 

Cost £ 

2019- 

2020 

2021 

Cost £ 23 

Cost £ 22 2020- 

All 

T:BUC Theme – Our Safe Community 

3.2 A community where places 

and spaces are safe for all 

Interfaces and contested 

space 

200 1,000 8,667 8,840 9,017 

3.2 A community where places 

and spaces are safe for all 

Safe Children Safe 

Community 

1,500 2,500 10,000 10,200 10,404 

T:BUC Theme – Our Cultural Expression 

4.1 Increased sense of 

community belonging4.1 

Increased sense of community 

belonging 

Bonfires and alternatives 60 25,000 4,000 4,080 4,162 

4.2 Cultural Diversity is 

celebrated 

Ubuntu 3,500 2,500 20,000 20,400 20,808 


celebrated 

Community cohesion festival 500 1,000 5,000 5,100 5,202 

4.1 Increased sense of 

community belonging 

CR Week 2,000 5,000 9,000 9,180 9,364 


celebrated 

Island voices 300 1,000 3,667 3,740 3,815 


celebrated 

Traveller awareness 220 400 3,000 3,060 3,121 


celebrated 

BME Support Programme 360 200 2,000 2,040 2,081 

383,446 391,114 398,940


This is a major commitment by the 

Council and requires major resourcing to 

make all of these programmes happen 

with quality and efficiency. Council is 

fortunate to have a team of four 

Good Relations Officers with experience, 

commitment and skills that are respected 

and acknowledged by all of the 

stakeholders for the contribution they 

make to the Council and Council area. 

Element – 2018-2019 100% 

75% - TEO 

commitment 

Cost £578,107.68 £433,580.76 

Total programme cost £390,000 £292,500 

Total staff cost £188,107.68 £141,080.76 

Element – 2019-2020 25 100% 

75% - TEO 

commitment 

Cost £589,669.83 £442,252.38 

Total programme cost £397,800 £298,350 


Element – 2020-2021 26 100% 

75% - TEO 

commitment 

Cost £601,417.23 £451,062.92 

Total programme cost £405,710 £304,282.50 



is appreciative of the support provided 

by The Executive Office both financially 

with 75% commitment to the overall 

programme budget, and through the 

ongoing advice and support offered by 

the officers of that department. 

25 

Rounded 2% uplift 

26 

Further rounded 2% uplift


Delivering in Partnership 

Council recognises the role of the 

different stakeholders in the delivery of 

its strategy and wishes to pro-actively 

nurture those partnerships at relevant 

levels in the delivery of the strategy. 

As a funder, facilitator, organiser and 

evaluator of the strategy, the GRO team 

will work closely with the good relations 

working group and elected members 

generally, and staff, to ensure Council is 

fit to implement the strategy with the 

other sectors involved. 

Council will work closely with its partners 

within the VCSE to continue to deliver 

programme activities, and support 

Council in its tasks and continue to 

innovate in how it meets the demands of 

the new strategy. 

Council with its VCSE partners 

will engage increasing numbers of 

participants (both direct and indirect) 

from civil society, and manage the 

essential volunteering that contributes 

so much, often unrecognised, to this and 

other work for people in the District. 

Council will work continuously with 

its partner in central government, The 

Executive Office, which formulates policy 

and provides such significant funding to 

the programmes. 

Through Council’s work in each DEA, 

across a variety of programmes, its 

partnerships with other public agencies 

and with other sectors, Council will 

use its place to support those other 

stakeholders to improve the context for 

cohesion and good relations.


Monitoring and Evaluation 

Council will produce an agreed 

monitoring and evaluation template in 

the first months including critical targets, 

time frames and monitoring 

information required. 

The monitoring framework will be linked 

to the T:BUC outcomes and indicators for 

inclusion in the quarterly progress reports 

to be returned to The Executive Office. 

Key monitoring and evaluation themes 

during the course of the three-year 

strategy will include: 

• Awareness of others and improved 

attitude and behaviour of participants 

toward others; 

• Improved sense of belonging of 

participants own identity and toward 

those of other identities; 

• Further enhanced trust of public 

agencies across the community; 

• Improving relationships within the 

general population, and people from 

different political, religious and 

ethnic backgrounds; 

• Support for good relations work, and; 

• Positive impact of good relations work. 

As such, the monitoring of this strategy 

consistent with outcomes-focused 

strategy and the T:BUC alignment, will 

not just focus on engagement at events 

and how many people participate, but 

explore the quality of engagement, and 

changes in attitude and behaviour. 

Monitoring will be built in to the planning 

stages of all programmes to facilitate 

baseline measurement, the agreement 

of indicators, and agreement on how 

the information is collected by the 

good relations team or/and 

programme managers. 

As such, each year the good relations 

team will oversee a baseline audit of 

key statistics for each programme to 

provide a snapshot of attitudes relevant 

to the target group for each programme. 

This may be carried out by the officers 

directly or through the agents asked to 

deliver each programme. 

A similar short survey will be carried out 

toward the end of each programme to 

measure progress, impact and outcomes. 

Components of the strategy monitoring 

and evaluation process will include responses 

to the following key questions:


Targets 

Baseline 

Outcomes 

Impact 

Need established – where are we now? 

Ambition realistic but achievable – what change do we wish to 

effect? 

What happens within the community/target group - 

consequences of that change? 

Targets 

Measurement 

Data 

Use of Data 

What are appropriate indicators and outcomes? 

What information is needed to measure change? 

When is data needed and how it will best be used afterwards? 

Targets 

People 

Skills 

Money 

Who is best placed to carry out monitoring and evaluation? 

Do people understand their role, understand why M&E is 

important, and have the necessary knowledge and skills to 

undertake it? 

Is there sufficient time and money to carry out the monitoring 

and evaluate the impact/learning? 

Targets 

Partners 

Funders 

Community 

Have partners in the process been identified and are they willing 

to participate? 

Are funders needs being met including the TEO and Council, and 

any partners that have inputted money or staff? 

How will the community – as ultimate recipients and deliverers 

of better community relationships – be involved as informed 

participants? 

Targets 

Mid-term 

Programme 

End 

Next Year/ 


To provide scrutiny and provide comfort that delivery is likely 

to deliver by programme end, and demonstrate support to the 

programme 

To demonstrate success against outcomes identified with 

programme managers at programme start 

Learning what will change, refine and improve strategic priorities 

for next year and the next strategy

DCSDC Good Relations 

67 

Risks and Mitigation 

The activities identified in the action 

plan are ambitious, especially in a region 

coming out of conflict and moving, 

hopefully, from a form of peaceful 

co-existence to greater integration. 

While ambitious, the Council believe it 

is achievable and wish to be more rather 

than less ambitious. 

There are risks associated with the 

achievement of the activities outlined. 

The Council would wish to be realistic 

about the risks, identify them and offer 

realistic mitigation against them. 

Issue Risk Mitigation 

Civil society 

does not 

engage 

adequately 

or accept the 

value of the 

good relations 

programmes. 

Funded 

organisations 

do not provide 

adequate 

support or 

sufficient 

focus and 

energy. 

Council and 

Councillors, 

senior 

management 

and TEO do 

not provide 

adequate 

support. 

If civil society is not aware 

of Council activities or 

fails to understand the 

potential benefit, then few 

people will get involved 

and the impact of the 

work will be relatively 

small. The activities will 

rest with a few people 

and the events will be 

poorly attended. 

Community organisations 

may not be as fully 

committed to the strategy 

and may lose focus on the 

work in hand. 

The strategy programmes 

are building on previous 

programmes that worked 

well and received support 

and endorsement from 

Council corporately and 

civil society. 

Council has involved civil society 

extensively in developing the 

strategy, and further consulted 

upon it. An inclusive approach, 

it is hoped, will help continue 

to engage local communities 

and enhance the potential of 

their participation. Feedback 

about the GRO team has been 

overwhelmingly positive and 

engagement is enhanced by their 

efforts and commitment. 

Many community organisations 

are committed to improving 

good relations and many are well 

experienced in managing staff and 

delivering projects. 

The Council corporately will 

encourage people with experience 

and who are enthusiastic to get 

involved. The involvement of 

experienced community-based 

providers will assist Council or/and 

Councillors. The GR working group 

established by Council, led by 

Councillors, will significantly help 

engage elected members.


Issue Risk Mitigation 

Communities 

locally do not 

engage in 

helping with 

activities and 

workload. 

Politicians 

and civil 

servants are 

not sufficiently 

aware, 

understand or 

engaged and 

do not value 

good relations. 

Activities 

become 

imbalanced 

in favour of 

particular 

aspects of 

good relations 

or s75 groups. 

There is little 

evidence of 

real change 

in process or 

delivery, or 

in the lives of 

those who it 

is hoped will 

benefit i.e. 

citizens. 

Few people take part 

and the GR activities are 

thwarted by gatekeepers 

in local communities. 

Indeed, opposition may 

lead to a deterioration of 

good relations work. 

Politicians and senior civil 

servants need to buy in to 

good relations work in the 

long term for any impact 

to be meaningful, and in 

Northern Ireland there 

may be some suspicion 

about it. 

The focus of the strategy 

becomes imbalanced to 

a particular aspect of 

good relations work or 

s75 category. This may be 

caused by the balance of 

the community or by the 

interest of the GR team or 

Councillors. 

The activities may be 

delivered but response 

from the various sectors 

may be more rhetorical 

than delivery focused, 

and members may not 

see tangible change. 

Motivation may decline 

and new people involved 

in delivering Good 

Relations work may 

be hard to identify as 

cynicism increases. 

Civil society has been included 

as far as possible in planning 

activities, and that effort to 

increase ownership will hopefully 

enhance the potential for 

members to help deliver. The 

strategy and action plan contains 

review mechanisms and has been 

developed mindful of the need for 

community organisations to deliver 

actions beyond the GRO team and 

GR working group. 

Actions include liaising with 

politicians and senior Council 

officers, raising awareness and 

knowledge of benefit to them 

of good relations. The range 

of activities and meetings are 

intended to keep good relations 

interesting and relevant to the 

needs of politicians and officers. 

The Council will engage frequently 

with members to ensure all 

interests are being considered 

and met as far as possible. An 

awareness of all aspects of the 

priorities will be a core part of 

planning and reporting. Using 

expertise and specialisms from 

all aspects of good relations 

is included in activities and 

awareness of a continuing need 

to so do will be part of agenda 

planning by the GR team. 

The plan includes potential for “low 

hanging fruit” and possible quick 

wins. It also provides for some 

easily measured wins in the first 

year. It also reinforces the need for 

political and civil society buy-in 

with identification of benefits for 

good relations work going forward.

DCSDC Good Relations 69


Good Relations 


and Plan 

2018-2021 


Derry 98 Strand Road, Derry, BT48 7NN 

Strabane 47 Derry Rd, Strabane, BT82 8DY 

Tel: (028) 71 253 253 

E: info@derrystrabane.com 

Website: www.derrystrabane.com 

Good Relations Officers 

Amanda Biega, Derg and Waterside 

E: amanda.biega@derrystrabane.com 

Angela Askin, Ballyarnett and Foyleside 

E: angela.askin@derrystrabane.com 

Carol Stewart, Moor and Strabane Town 

E: carolstewart@derrystrabane.com 

Pauline O’Neill, Faughan and Sperrin 

E: pauline.oneill@derrystrabane.com

Good Relations Strategy and Plan 2018-2021

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