Good Relations Executive Summary

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Derry City and Strabane District Council 

Executive 

Summary 

2018-2021 

www.derrystrabane.com/goodrelations

DCSDC Good Relations 

Executive Summary 

The new 2018-2021 good relations 

strategy for Derry City and Strabane 

District Council is rooted within policy 

and needs in the area. 

As an important civic lead body in the 

region Council will be an enabler and 

advocate for communities undertaking 

the work on-the-ground to promote, 

value, support and facilitate good 

practice in good relations work. 

Council will also work closely with The 

Executive Office to help deliver their 

over-arching policy Together: Building a 

United Community utilising their financial 

support for this strategy. 

The audit of good relations needs in the 

District, and Councils response to them 

building on its previous good relations 

strategy, helps to drive the strategy. 

“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 two previous Councils and their 

elected representatives, supporting 

ground-breaking good relations work 

over many years, demonstrated a 

commitment to community that made 

them pioneers and an imagination in 

delivery that created exemplars of good 

practice. 

Building on that, Derry City and Strabane 

District 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.


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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. 

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 well-being 

and belonging, continuing to support 

diversity, working with and supporting 

new and minority communities, and 

further building positive relations. 

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.


This good relations strategy and action 

plan will mean: 

• The continued employment of four 

good relations officers to manage 

and co-ordinate the strategy and 

programmes; 

• A reinforced focus on outcomes and 

changing attitudes; 

• Delivery of 18 specific programmes 

in year one, crossing all four T:BUC 

themes, and which have many dozens 

of different elements and activities; 

• One of those programmes, supporting 

grant aid to community organisations, 

will directly invest £200,000 in local 

communities in year one, expected to 

grow by 2% each succeeding year; 

• An overall investment in the first year 

of nearly £400,000 (£383,446) and 

estimated at £1.2 million over the three 

years of this strategy. 

Vision 

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. 

1. The Good Relations strategy 

“A Sense of Belonging” for 2018-2021 

will seek to make seminal change in 

relationships between people from 

different backgrounds. 

Aims 

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 

Our Shared Community; 

3. Improve feelings of welcome and 

security in Our Safe Community; 

4. 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.


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These will include: 

1. Increase intercultural knowledge and 

encourage intercultural commitment 

from Our Children and Young People; 

Objectives/Outcomes: 

a. Improve attitudes between young 

people from different backgrounds; 

b. Increase engagement between young 

people from different backgrounds. 

This will include three programmes 

amounting to investment in year 

one of £54,000 to provide antiprejudice 

training in post-primary 

schools, a £14,000 investment in a 

cultural awareness initiative in primary 

schools, and a £19,000 investment in a 

programme to engage young people 

within the community. 

2. Enhance Shared Space in 

Our Shared Community; 


a. Increase the use of shared space and 

services; 

b. Increase the amount of shared space 

accessible to all. 

This will include six programmes 

amounting to investment in year one of 

£265,000 including a £200,000 small 

grants investment in local communities, 

£22,000 invested in developing local 

leadership, and £12,000 invested in 

response to critical issues. 

3. Improve feelings of welcome and 

security in Our Safe Community; 


a. Enhance the community so that places 

and spaces are safer for all. 

This will include two programmes 

amounting to nearly £19,000 in year one 

including just under £9,000 at interfaces 

and £10,000 toward enhancing safety for 

children in communities. 

4. Increase a sense of belonging and 

cohesion in our diverse district 

through Our Cultural Expression 


a. Increase a sense of community 

belonging; 

b. Celebrate our diversity and increase 

recognition of its value. 

This will include seven programmes 

amounting to an investment of 

approximately £47,000 in the first year 

including £20,000 toward an Ubuntu 

festival of inclusion targeting minority 

communities, £9,000 to support 

initiatives during Good Relations Week 

in September 2019, £4,000 to explore 

safe bonfires and alternatives, and 

£3,000 to support raising awareness 

of traveller’s issues.


Outcomes 

The sort of outcomes we anticipate achieving through this strategy, in changing 

attitudes and relationships, include: 

• 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 

• More people will feel 

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

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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.



Executive 

Summary 

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 Executive Summary

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