16.06.2023 Views

Good Relations Strategy 2022 2025

Derry City & Strabane District Council - Good Relations Strategy 2022-2025 This Good Relations Strategy, 2022-2025, 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.

Derry City & Strabane District Council - Good Relations Strategy 2022-2025

This Good Relations Strategy, 2022-2025, 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.

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

DERRY CITY AND STRABANE<br />

DISTRICT COUNCIL<br />

GOOD<br />

RELATIONS<br />

STRATEGY<br />

AND PLAN<br />

<strong>2022</strong>-<strong>2025</strong><br />

www.derrystrabane.com/goodrelations<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 1


CONTENTS<br />

1 Executive Summary 4<br />

2 Background and Process 11<br />

3 Regional and District Context 21<br />

4 Other Strategies and Programmes 27<br />

5 Derry City and Strabane District Action Plan 36<br />

6 Surveys 37<br />

7 Consultation and Interviews: TBUC themes 45<br />

8 Conclusions and Recommendations 52<br />

Appendices<br />

xx<br />

2<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 3


EXECUTIVE<br />

SUMMARY<br />

DERRY CITY AND STRABANE<br />

DISTRICT COUNCIL HAS<br />

UNDERTAKEN AN INDEPENDENT<br />

AUDIT OF GOOD RELATIONS<br />

NEEDS IN THE DISTRICT TO<br />

INFORM THE NEXT GOOD<br />

RELATIONS STRATEGY AND<br />

ACTION PLAN FOR <strong>2022</strong>-<strong>2025</strong>.<br />

The audit was carried out between<br />

January and March <strong>2022</strong>.<br />

There were a range of issues identified<br />

during the various parts of the audit<br />

process which are summarised in key<br />

findings sections in the report.<br />

Of importance for the audit and its<br />

recommendations are:<br />

• Generally positive support for the<br />

good relations team and the work<br />

they undertake within Council<br />

recognising the ongoing need to<br />

deliver good relations across the<br />

district including in rural areas;<br />

• A need to re-examine the small<br />

grants programme to ensure<br />

groups working on issues that cut<br />

across the whole district can access<br />

funding, that rural areas continue<br />

to receive a fair share, and that the<br />

strategic focus is reinforced;<br />

• The need to deepen Council’s work<br />

on anti-racism and anti-sectarianism<br />

including exploring systemic issues<br />

of relevance especially for younger<br />

people and decision-making<br />

processes in public agencies;<br />

• The ongoing need to profile<br />

anti-sectarianism work and the<br />

important role played by elected<br />

representatives;<br />

• A continuing need to support some<br />

single identity work especially<br />

working in areas where radicalising<br />

younger people is an issue and<br />

within PUL communities as they<br />

re-build trust in the area and with<br />

institutions and agencies, post-<br />

Covid;<br />

• The exploration of relationships<br />

between deprivation and the<br />

absence of a good relations<br />

commitment;<br />

• The continued acknowledgement of<br />

the importance of exploring good<br />

practice on these islands;<br />

• The continued refinement toward<br />

ensuring the hard issues are tackled.<br />

Based on overall feedback a number of<br />

recommendations arise from the audit<br />

supporting the existing good relations<br />

action plan.<br />

The new good relations strategy builds<br />

on the previous good practice, refines<br />

and renews elements of the existing<br />

strategy and includes significant new<br />

programmes.<br />

A new programme called Breaking<br />

Barriers is included with a focus on<br />

tackling racism and sectarianism. The<br />

new programme has six key themes:<br />

review systems and procedures in<br />

Council to ensure fairness and equity;<br />

training for staff and Councillors on<br />

systemic racism and sectarianism;<br />

identification of role models to<br />

promote inclusion; promotion of<br />

contributions to inclusion and diversity<br />

locally and regionally; dialogues on the<br />

impact of racism and sectarianism and<br />

how to tackle them; exploration of the<br />

relationship between good relations<br />

and socio-economic deprivation. The<br />

new programme may also include a<br />

Mayor’s advisory panel consisting of<br />

different faith backgrounds.<br />

A greater strategic focus for the<br />

small grants programme is included.<br />

Council is to be acknowledged for<br />

the availability of such a significant<br />

small grants programme. The strategy<br />

suggests that a £50,000 cross -cutting<br />

strategic element is included in the<br />

£200,000 current allocation, which<br />

would work at a district-wide level and<br />

be targeted each year on a particular<br />

theme. For the first year youth is<br />

a suggested target mindful also of<br />

rural needs and the balance of youth<br />

provision across the district, as well<br />

as ongoing radicalisation issues. In<br />

the second year the strategy suggests<br />

a strategic focus on racial justice<br />

coinciding with the final year of the UN<br />

decade for people of African descent.<br />

Future years’ priority would be<br />

determined by feedback to GROs and<br />

the good relations working group.<br />

We suggest projects that acquire<br />

funding for an event during <strong>Good</strong><br />

<strong>Relations</strong> Week from 2023 onwards are<br />

also eligible to put the event on during<br />

Black History Month in October.<br />

The bonfire engagement programme<br />

has been successful to date and<br />

while challenges remain, Councillors<br />

have participated well across parties,<br />

although that consensus has been<br />

challenged in recent times. The<br />

programme is titled Burning Issues? It<br />

seeks to incorporate the two different<br />

thoughts on the future: a) why there<br />

is a need for bonfires and whether<br />

alternatives can be identified, and<br />

b) that some believe bonfires would<br />

benefit from greater focus on their<br />

historical context and why they were lit<br />

in the first place, trying to complement<br />

other festivities in the district.<br />

The strategy seeks to mark Holocaust<br />

Memorial Week as a key event in<br />

itself but also to draw in many other<br />

minority groups that had been then<br />

and since, discriminated against. This<br />

includes the LGBTQ+ community,<br />

Traveller and Romani, trades unions,<br />

and may include sacrifices by people in<br />

the 20 th century from different parts of<br />

Eastern Europe, and it is very relevant<br />

given the situation in Ukraine in <strong>2022</strong>.<br />

The new strategy includes new<br />

programmes, a new focus and a<br />

slightly harder edge. These good<br />

relations activities and projects need<br />

normalised and so a new project is<br />

added to help raise the profile of the<br />

good relations function and in so doing<br />

encourage others to speak publicly<br />

about the good relations work they do.<br />

The new strategy will present<br />

challenges to the good relations<br />

team to develop new programmes<br />

and provide a harder edge to<br />

understanding and tackling racism and<br />

sectarianism. The new programmes<br />

will take time to bed in but feedback<br />

and evidence suggests Council has<br />

a professional and well-regarded<br />

good relations team that will<br />

successfully introduce the<br />

new programmes and will<br />

continue to deliver<br />

the existing or<br />

further refined<br />

programmes.<br />

4<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 5


BACKGROUND<br />

AND PROCESS<br />

DERRY CITY AND STRABANE<br />

DISTRICT COUNCIL IS AN<br />

AMALGAMATION OF TWO<br />

PREVIOUS COUNCILS: DERRY<br />

CITY AND STRABANE. ONGOING<br />

POSITIONING AROUND THE NEEDS<br />

THROUGHOUT THE COUNCIL AREA,<br />

THE URBAN/RURAL STRAINS AND<br />

BACKGROUNDS ARE MATTERS OF<br />

SUSTAINED CONSIDERATION IN<br />

THIS STRATEGY.<br />

Process<br />

This good<br />

relations audit<br />

was carried out in<br />

January - March<br />

<strong>2022</strong>. The audit<br />

process involved<br />

over 250 people<br />

and organisations<br />

including the<br />

activities below.<br />

• Carried out a community and youth<br />

survey with 79 responses;<br />

• Conducted a staff and Councillor<br />

survey with 104 responses;<br />

• Conducted approximately 20<br />

interviews;<br />

• Met with staff and the <strong>Good</strong><br />

<strong>Relations</strong> committee;<br />

• Facilitated six community<br />

workshops involving minority<br />

ethnic, faith based, youth, rural,<br />

elected members, LGBTQ+,<br />

unionist, nationalist and other<br />

groupings;<br />

• Engaged more directly with<br />

elected representatives<br />

individually and with a<br />

survey.<br />

Conclusions and<br />

recommendations arising<br />

from the audit findings may<br />

impact on the delivery of<br />

the action plans for the<br />

good relations function<br />

on Council as a whole.<br />

These recommendations may then be<br />

taken forward by Council, with elected<br />

members and stakeholders, and<br />

obviously with The Executive Office.<br />

<strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong><br />

The Council’s<br />

good relations<br />

strategy works<br />

within the<br />

context of the<br />

Northern Ireland<br />

regional strategy for reconciliation,<br />

Together: Building a United<br />

Community. As a result, like T:BUC,<br />

Council’s strategy works to the four<br />

key themes:<br />

In addition, TEO includes two further<br />

factors within the T:BUC headings as<br />

relevant:<br />

• Enabling women to have a greater<br />

influence on decisions made in their<br />

community/Northern Ireland;<br />

• Increase engagement with statutory<br />

bodies on good relations issues.<br />

Both of these are factors in different<br />

strands of this strategy.<br />

Our Children and<br />

Young People<br />

• Improved attitudes<br />

between young people of<br />

different backgrounds<br />

• Young people engaging in<br />

bringing the community<br />

together<br />

Our Safe<br />

Community<br />

• Reduction in hate crime<br />

and intimidation<br />

• Places and spaces are safe<br />

for all<br />

Our Shared<br />

Community<br />

• Increased use of shared<br />

space and services<br />

• Shared space more<br />

accessible to all<br />

Our Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

• Increased sense of<br />

community belonging<br />

• Cultural diversity is<br />

celebrated<br />

6<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 7


“We have got great support within our<br />

organisation from the good relations team”<br />

Quote from a stakeholder<br />

<strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Team<br />

<strong>Good</strong> relations<br />

as a function<br />

is increasingly<br />

embedded<br />

throughout<br />

Council, with<br />

staff performing good relations work<br />

alongside a community development<br />

function.<br />

The good relations team in Derry<br />

City and Strabane Council consists<br />

of four good relations officers, with<br />

administrative support to:<br />

• Oversee, manage and facilitate<br />

the delivery of the good relations<br />

strategy and action plan;<br />

• Manage the delivery of the action<br />

plan activities;<br />

• Promote, manage and oversee the<br />

delivery of funding programmes;<br />

• Provide advice to Council on good<br />

relations issues;<br />

• Provide ongoing input into other<br />

aspects of Council work, delivery<br />

and funding;<br />

• Attend and input into a range of<br />

advisory and issue-specific forums<br />

and boards;<br />

• Engage with local communities<br />

to generate interest in the good<br />

relations programme and undertake<br />

good relations work generally.<br />

• Provide accountability to The<br />

Executive Office for financial and<br />

outcome reports, liaising with groups<br />

and ensuring compliance with<br />

proper processes and procedures.<br />

The good relations team works within<br />

a range of other policies within Council<br />

and with a variety of working groups,<br />

partnerships and internal and external<br />

management groups.<br />

Under its good relations function<br />

the team broadly seeks to develop<br />

better relations between people from<br />

different political, religious and racial<br />

backgrounds as defined in section<br />

75(2) of the Northern Ireland Act, 1998.<br />

Therefore, the core function of the<br />

good relations team is to develop<br />

relationships with a view to tackling<br />

sectarianism and racism, and promote<br />

diversity. This is core to the support it<br />

gets from The Executive Office which<br />

assists with up to 75% of funding for the<br />

Council’s good relations action plans.<br />

District Council <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong><br />

Programme Budget and Themes<br />

The overall<br />

budget for the<br />

good relations<br />

programme for<br />

<strong>2022</strong>-2023 is<br />

£572,600 including<br />

staff costs.<br />

The £354,500<br />

programme cost is shared between<br />

the four T:BUC themes. The<br />

programme delivers 19 programmes<br />

in total allocated as below (excluding<br />

£200,000 of small grants allocated<br />

under Our Shared Community):<br />

The strategy recommends a slight<br />

reduction in the overall number of<br />

programmes, but also some significant<br />

new programmes (some of which are<br />

already included in the action plan for<br />

<strong>2022</strong>-2023), and changes to how the<br />

small grants programme will work.<br />

17%<br />

23%<br />

35%<br />

25%<br />

Allocation % Programmes<br />

Children and Young People<br />

Shared Community<br />

Safe Community<br />

Cultural expression<br />

8<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 9


Allocation by theme is summarised below:<br />

Themes CYP Shared Safe CE Total<br />

Programmes 3 7 3 6 19<br />

Cost (£) 39,000<br />

% (exc small grants<br />

because these grants<br />

sit within Shared<br />

Community but run<br />

across all themes.<br />

254,000<br />

54,000 when<br />

excluding £200k for<br />

a grants programme<br />

26,000 35,500 354,500<br />

25% 35% 17% 23% 100%<br />

The overall allocations per programme is reasonably balanced and the smallest<br />

allocation to Our Safe Community includes additional Council and government<br />

funding streams through the Policing and Community Safety Partnership. The<br />

proportionate spend on the Our Safe Community theme is broadly in line with<br />

TEO spend on the same theme.<br />

There is a strong link between Council and community’s delivering good relations<br />

work including through delivery of a small grants programme and the need<br />

for a significant focus on strategic outcomes associated with the small grants<br />

programme including ensuring delivery that is relevant to young people, peoples<br />

from minority ethnic backgrounds, equitable rural delivery, and the impact of<br />

Covid.<br />

There are a number of interesting and imaginative features about the delivery of<br />

the good relations programme:<br />

• The programmes target antiprejudice<br />

work in schools at a<br />

primary and post-primary level;<br />

• Grants allocations are weighted and<br />

distributed according to population<br />

size per DEA and weighted for<br />

rurality and deprivation indices to<br />

ensure fair allocations across DEAs;<br />

• Council officers are conscious of<br />

the need for rapid response to<br />

situations during the year and are<br />

able to do so in collaboration with<br />

local communities and through<br />

local partnerships;<br />

• There is an emphasis on further<br />

linking elected members with<br />

communities, and a focus on further<br />

facilitating civic leadership;<br />

• There is great awareness of<br />

inclusion of minority communities<br />

whether a minority due to political<br />

opinion, religious belief or racial<br />

background.<br />

Council will continue to be mindful of<br />

the core focus of good relations and<br />

the support from TEO concentrated on<br />

the T:BUC strategy.<br />

Grant Aid<br />

In total, the<br />

Council <strong>2022</strong>/23<br />

programme<br />

provides £200,000<br />

in support through<br />

small grant aid.<br />

Small grants are allocated towards the<br />

start of each financial year and broadly<br />

spread equally through each DEA with<br />

weighting for population, deprivation,<br />

and rurality. The small grant allocation<br />

could deliver activities under any of the<br />

T:BUC themes but has been allocated<br />

under Our Shared Space as closest<br />

proximity to the work undertaken<br />

within the community.<br />

The criteria for the good relations small<br />

grants specifically ask those applying<br />

to address T:BUC criteria, contribute<br />

to the shared community theme and<br />

to the core good relations aims of<br />

tackling sectarianism, racism and<br />

prejudice.<br />

Community groups are provided with<br />

criteria for small grants in addition to<br />

other grant aid available through the<br />

Council. Council staff liaise closely<br />

with each other and community<br />

organisations to advise and support.<br />

As summarised later the feedback on<br />

small grants was very positive from<br />

community organisations, and equally<br />

for Council and staff.<br />

However, some feedback did query<br />

whether they had started to be<br />

taken for granted, and whether they<br />

extended delivery for some groupings<br />

that were spread throughout the<br />

district rather than be concentrated in<br />

one DEA. Consultees raised questions<br />

about their strategic fit, and indeed,<br />

whether they achieved sufficient<br />

impact. We have therefore made some<br />

recommendations about the level<br />

of small grant, how to make greater<br />

strategic impact, and how to align<br />

more closely with the strategy.<br />

Corporate Plan<br />

The corporate plan<br />

for Derry City and<br />

Strabane District<br />

Council emphasises<br />

community<br />

engagement and<br />

participation<br />

with a focus<br />

on the strategic growth plan and<br />

outcome development partnerships,<br />

incorporating delivery at local and<br />

neighbourhood levels. A social pillar<br />

is identified but good relations and<br />

equality are themes that run through<br />

all parts of the plan.<br />

In addition, Council has recently<br />

established a Dealing with the Past<br />

Task and Finish Working Group which<br />

will explore how the recent past<br />

impacts still on the district. The good<br />

relations team is mindful of the need to<br />

ensure consistency between this and<br />

their own work exploring the past.<br />

10<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 11


Motions<br />

Two motions<br />

that were<br />

recently passed<br />

unanimously<br />

by Council<br />

have particular<br />

relevance. The<br />

motions on antisectarianism<br />

and<br />

racial injustice are reproduced below.<br />

The strategy also needs to respond<br />

to these motions taking forward the<br />

wishes of the elected members of the<br />

Council.<br />

Anti-Sectarianism Motion<br />

That sectarianism and<br />

sectarian segregation<br />

remain major barriers to<br />

building a better future.<br />

They represent<br />

significant blockages<br />

to achieving a future<br />

defined by respect,<br />

inclusion and equality.<br />

For as long as we fail to successfully<br />

address sectarianism and division,<br />

then intolerance, bigotry and fear will<br />

continue and the potential for instability<br />

and conflict will be ever present.<br />

Therefore, this Council will devise,<br />

adopt and implement an Anti-<br />

Sectarianism policy by reviewing<br />

its current <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Policy<br />

and ensuring that sectarianism is<br />

specifically included.<br />

Furthermore, Council acknowledges<br />

that poverty and inequality can be<br />

exploited to promote sectarianism and<br />

sectarian division.<br />

Therefore, in addition, Council agrees<br />

that encouraging working class<br />

communities across our district to unite<br />

for better housing provision, better<br />

wages, better public services, better<br />

amenities etc. to actually challenge<br />

inequality and social injustice is critical<br />

to undoing the virus of sectarianism<br />

and all forms of discrimination.<br />

Racial Injustice Motion<br />

Derry City and Strabane District<br />

Council is committed to eradicating and<br />

ending racial injustice and anti-black<br />

racism. The Council recognises the<br />

work already undertaken by our staff<br />

and elected representatives to promote<br />

good relations and tackle prejudice.<br />

In pursuit of these twin aims, Council<br />

resolves to formally recognise and mark<br />

the United Nations International Decade<br />

for peoples of African Descent, running<br />

from 2015 – 2024. In proclaiming this<br />

Decade, the international community<br />

is recognising that people of African<br />

descent represent a distinct group<br />

whose human rights<br />

must be promoted and<br />

protected. Around 200<br />

million people identifying<br />

themselves as being of<br />

African descent live in<br />

the Americas, while many<br />

more live in other parts of<br />

the world (including this<br />

council area), outside of<br />

the African continent.<br />

In marking the International Decade,<br />

Council will bring forward a paper to<br />

advise how it will:<br />

• Work with schools and community<br />

organisations to ensure that the<br />

educational histories and narratives<br />

of black people are properly taught<br />

and celebrated in schools across the<br />

Council area all year round;<br />

• Ensure that the end of the decade<br />

is marked in 2024, celebrating<br />

progress made in moving towards<br />

racial justice;<br />

• The Council will also write to the<br />

Department of Education calling<br />

on it to work with local, black- led<br />

organisations, the Black Curriculum<br />

organisation, and local historians/<br />

academics to provide relevant<br />

educational resources and to review<br />

the Northern Ireland Curriculum<br />

in order to develop an anti-racism<br />

policy for schools.<br />

In this report and for the purposes<br />

of the recommendations we assume<br />

sectarianism is a sub-set of racism,<br />

as defined by the International<br />

Convention on the Elimination of all<br />

Forms of Racial Discrimination and<br />

supported by the Northern Ireland<br />

Human Rights Commission (NIHRC).<br />

The NIHRC also argues there is<br />

intersectionality between religious<br />

and racial discrimination. In line with<br />

this approach the report will later<br />

recommend the amalgamation of<br />

the existing two programmes in the<br />

Council <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Action Plan<br />

(DS06 and DS19) which separately<br />

support anti-sectarian and antiracism<br />

work, to a larger single<br />

programme Tackling Systemic<br />

Racism and Sectarianism – Breaking<br />

Barriers.<br />

We include sectarianism in the<br />

title to ensure the fundamental<br />

needs of building better relations<br />

between two of the three S75(2)<br />

categories, political opinion<br />

and religious background, are not<br />

underplayed especially given the<br />

demographic profile of the District.<br />

Sectarianism will also include religious<br />

differences beyond the obvious<br />

Protestant and Catholic dynamics.<br />

12<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 13


Racism<br />

Racism is defined in<br />

many ways in different<br />

sources, but the<br />

fundamentals come<br />

back to:<br />

• Feelings of inherent<br />

superiority based on<br />

race which is also why there is often<br />

considered a link to colonialism<br />

whether through empires or<br />

conquest in areas like North<br />

America;<br />

• Prejudice and disrespect;<br />

• The continued play out of issues<br />

at a local level through things like<br />

graffiti and vocalisation of prejudice;<br />

• Systemic or institutional racism<br />

developed sometimes over a<br />

prolonged period;<br />

• Subsequent issues around<br />

decision-making processes, lack of<br />

involvement in decision-making and<br />

lack of recognition of contributions<br />

made.<br />

As a result, the report will make<br />

recommendations around:<br />

- Review of systems and procedures<br />

within Council and encouragement<br />

to do that in other agencies;<br />

- Training for key staff and<br />

councillors on systemic racism and<br />

sectarianism;<br />

- Identification of role models;<br />

- Promotion of historic contributions<br />

by people of minority community<br />

and racial backgrounds;<br />

- Dialogues on the consequence of<br />

racism and how to challenge it.<br />

Sectarianism<br />

Sectarianism is defined in many ways in<br />

different sources, but the fundamentals<br />

come back to:<br />

• Narrow-minded or parochial<br />

attitudes toward people of different<br />

faith beliefs;<br />

• Being confined to the limits of a<br />

particular denomination or being<br />

biased toward people and beliefs of<br />

a particular denomination;<br />

• Sectarianism in Northern Ireland<br />

especially relates to people from a<br />

Protestant or Catholic background,<br />

but could equally relate to<br />

differences between people of other<br />

faith backgrounds;<br />

• There are often links from the<br />

denomination to other cultural,<br />

historical and political differences.<br />

As a result, the report will make<br />

recommendations around:<br />

- Inter faith collaboration because while<br />

there can be a diluted relationship<br />

between religion and political,<br />

historical and cultural differences,<br />

nevertheless it still plays a part;<br />

- Parochialism or limited engagement<br />

and loyalty locally is important to<br />

sectarianism and we will reinforce<br />

the benefit of looking beyond the<br />

local and exploring good practice<br />

elsewhere.<br />

Key issues include:<br />

• Enabling women is also a focus for<br />

the T:BUC strategy though not a<br />

core section 75(2) category – T:BUC<br />

also stresses increasing engagement<br />

of communities with statutory<br />

bodies on good relations issues;<br />

• Council’s allocation by four T:BUC<br />

themes is roughly proportionate;<br />

• Council provides a significant<br />

budget for a small grants<br />

programme;<br />

• Council delivers significant antiprejudice<br />

work in schools already;<br />

• Two motions recently unanimously<br />

passed at Council, on sectarianism<br />

and racism, need to be a focus for<br />

the new strategy;<br />

• There are relevant<br />

recommendations in this report<br />

as a result of those two motions<br />

including around systemic<br />

sectarianism and racism and<br />

seeking to be outward looking,<br />

amongst others.<br />

14<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 15


REGIONAL &<br />

DISTRICT CONTEXT<br />

Regional<br />

The current<br />

Programme for<br />

Government is the<br />

Northern Ireland<br />

government<br />

template which<br />

will be revisited<br />

in months to come if and when the<br />

Northern Ireland Executive establishes<br />

its priorities within a new Programme<br />

for Government. The existing<br />

Programme for Government includes<br />

several strategic goals that promote<br />

good relations or reconciliation. These<br />

are included in T:BUC, itself being<br />

reviewed, and include:<br />

• A safe community where people<br />

respect the law and each other;<br />

• A shared society that respects<br />

diversity;<br />

• A confident, welcoming and<br />

outward-looking society;<br />

• We give children and young people<br />

the best start in life 1 .<br />

1 Programme for Government, NI Executive, 2017<br />

The programme respects diversity<br />

and seeks respect for the law and<br />

for each other. There is no single,<br />

clear and ambitious strategic goal for<br />

reconciliation or cohesion.<br />

Derry City and Strabane District<br />

Council’s good relations strategy<br />

is developed in the context of the<br />

over-arching regional good relations<br />

strategy Together: Building a United<br />

Community (T:BUC).<br />

The District Council <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong><br />

Programme is delivered as part of<br />

T:BUC and is the consistent approach<br />

from the department across all local<br />

government areas, investing up to 75%<br />

of the funding for all Councils’ good<br />

relations delivery.<br />

The T:BUC strategy includes the four<br />

thematic priorities within T:BUC:<br />

• Our children and young people;<br />

• Our shared community;<br />

• Our safe community; and<br />

• Our cultural expression.<br />

- The 11 local authorities have<br />

reasonable and proportionate<br />

allocation across the four T:BUC<br />

themes, as does Derry City and<br />

Strabane District Council<br />

- However, it is worth noting that<br />

many areas of work cut across<br />

different T:BUC themes and<br />

contribute to the achievement of<br />

multiple outcomes.<br />

Council allocation per theme is broadly<br />

consistent with the allocations by<br />

TEO and other Councils, with the<br />

exception of the investment by TEO in<br />

Our Children and Young People (much<br />

higher) and Our Shared Community and<br />

Our Safe Community (much lower).<br />

Across Northern Ireland the district<br />

council programme in 2020-2021<br />

delivered 132 projects and involved<br />

over 100,000 direct and indirect<br />

participants through the £4 million<br />

allocated to Councils. Of the people<br />

engaged, 100% said their attitudes to<br />

people from a different background<br />

were either maintained or improved<br />

and 99% said participation had played<br />

a positive role in bringing people from<br />

different backgrounds together.<br />

Focusing on young people TEO had<br />

engaged 1,579 young people in T:BUC<br />

camps with the completion of 75 camps.<br />

Of those responding 94% of young<br />

people said they had made new friends<br />

with someone from a different religious<br />

or community background, and 90%<br />

were open to making new friends from<br />

different religious backgrounds. Said<br />

one participant: “I wouldn’t have had any<br />

Catholic friends before this and now I<br />

get along with them”.<br />

TEO also promoted a T:BUC trees<br />

initiative which supported the planting<br />

of 600 trees with more than 100 young<br />

people taking part. TEO are keen to<br />

support the use of other outcomes to<br />

facilitate good relations learning and<br />

cross community contact.<br />

The Executive Office (TEO) also works<br />

through its Racial Equality <strong>Strategy</strong> to:<br />

• Tackle racial inequalities;<br />

• Eradicate racism and hate crime;<br />

• Promote good race relations and<br />

social cohesion.<br />

There are several relevant aspects to<br />

the racial equality strategy for Derry<br />

City and Strabane including the work<br />

of racial equality champions and<br />

the Vulnerable Persons Relocation<br />

Scheme with 1,800 Syrian refugees<br />

placed in Northern Ireland including<br />

in Derry City and Strabane District,<br />

and many other asylum seekers and<br />

refugees from other countries and<br />

regions.<br />

60%<br />

25%<br />

20%<br />

10%<br />

33% 35%<br />

The Minority Ethnic Development Fund<br />

(MEDF) allocates just over £1 million<br />

and supports 35-40 projects. The racial<br />

equality strategy also includes a focus<br />

on participation to increase a sense of<br />

belonging of people from minority ethnic<br />

backgrounds in all aspects of public,<br />

political, economic, social and cultural<br />

live; and it also targets equality of service<br />

provision, improving social cohesion and<br />

safeguarding peoples’ rights to maintain<br />

their own cultural identity.<br />

Breakdown Across T:BUC Themes - TEO, 11 Councils and Derry City and Strabane District Council<br />

70%<br />

60%<br />

50%<br />

40%<br />

30%<br />

20%<br />

10%<br />

0%<br />

Our Children and<br />

Young People<br />

Our Shared<br />

Community<br />

5%<br />

16% 17%<br />

Our Safe<br />

Community<br />

Central GR Fund 11 Councils DCSDC 22-23 AP<br />

31%<br />

25% 23%<br />

Our Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

16<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 17


According to the census estimates by<br />

mid-2020 Derry City and Strabane<br />

district had a population of 151,109.<br />

Around a fifth of the Derry City and<br />

Strabane population (22%) are 15<br />

years of age or younger compared<br />

to approximately 21% of the overall<br />

Northern Ireland population. The<br />

District has a slightly lower than<br />

average older population with 15.5% of<br />

the district being 65+ years compared<br />

to 17% in Northern Ireland.<br />

Community Background<br />

25%<br />

3%<br />

72%<br />

Catholic Protestant Other<br />

The community background of<br />

the Council area is approximately<br />

72% Catholic and 25% Protestant<br />

community background; with 3% from<br />

other faith backgrounds.<br />

FICT Commission<br />

The Flags, Identity<br />

and Cultural Tradition<br />

Commission (FICT)<br />

was established in<br />

2016 as part of the Stormont House/<br />

Fresh Start Agreement. It consisted of a<br />

membership drawn almost equally from<br />

political parties and civil society, though<br />

some civil society representatives also<br />

had links to political parties. It was asked<br />

to make recommendations on a range of<br />

related flags, identity and culture related<br />

issues that would help move these issues<br />

to a place where they were no longer<br />

contested. After some delays and a<br />

prolonged period when the NI Executive<br />

had collapsed, the Commission finally<br />

reported in 2021.<br />

The Commission was tasked with a<br />

programme of work including:<br />

• Scoping the range, extent and<br />

nature of issues relating to flags,<br />

identity, culture and tradition;<br />

• Mapping the benefits and<br />

opportunities in terms of flags<br />

related issues whilst highlighting<br />

where challenges remain;<br />

• Producing a report and<br />

recommendations on the way<br />

forward.<br />

On the main issues the findings and<br />

recommendations of the Commission<br />

were:<br />

• Murals/Memorials/Flags –<br />

emphasising the responsibilities of<br />

the landowner.<br />

• Flags – Detailed discussions but no<br />

agreement on how new legislation<br />

would work.<br />

• Flags – Paramilitary flags should be<br />

removed from lamp posts.<br />

• Flags on public buildings – range of<br />

options but no consensus.<br />

• Bonfires – Comprehensive<br />

recommendations – gateway<br />

legislation was the removal of<br />

the restrictions on burning waste<br />

material as a bonfire, and emphasis<br />

subsequently on responsibilities of<br />

landowners.<br />

• Murals – Need to support public art<br />

in communities.<br />

• Murals – Removal of paramilitary<br />

murals and development of<br />

guidelines and possible new<br />

legislation.<br />

• Memorials/commemoration – need<br />

for a protocol.<br />

• Executive Action Plan – produced<br />

and with TEO in confidence.<br />

Some of the work is more relevant<br />

to Council than others. Some are not<br />

areas where Council has any direct<br />

responsibilities though it could still<br />

have an influence and its obligations<br />

under legislation such as the Cleaner<br />

Neighbourhood and Environment Act<br />

give Council relevant powers.<br />

NIHE<br />

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive<br />

(NIHE) is coming to the end of its fiveyear<br />

community cohesion strategy<br />

which focuses on five core aims:<br />

• Creating a common vision and<br />

sense of belonging;<br />

• Valuing and appreciating people<br />

from different backgrounds and<br />

circumstances;<br />

• Providing similar life opportunities<br />

for people from different<br />

backgrounds;<br />

• Developing strong, positive<br />

relationships between people<br />

from different backgrounds in the<br />

workplace, in schools and within<br />

neighbourhoods;<br />

• Brokering good relations between<br />

groups and communities.<br />

Within these aims the five main<br />

themes are: Communities in Transition;<br />

Race <strong>Relations</strong>; Interfaces; Flags,<br />

Emblems and Sectional Symbols; and<br />

Segregation and integration. As part<br />

of its shared housing commitment,<br />

alongside The Executive Office, the<br />

NIHE and Department for Communities<br />

(DfC) has committed to another 27<br />

shared housing schemes on top of the<br />

existing ten. These new schemes are<br />

anticipated to bring the total shared<br />

housing units across Northern Ireland<br />

to 1,298. Of these new schemes the<br />

following are located in the district:<br />

• Ballynagard, Derry/Londonderry;<br />

• Coolnafinney Road, Eglinton;<br />

• Ballygudden Road, Eglinton;<br />

• Ebrington PS site, Derry/<br />

Londonderry.<br />

Almost all of these schemes in<br />

Northern Ireland, and in the district, are<br />

developed and managed by housing<br />

associations with funding from the<br />

Department of Communities and NIHE,<br />

including Apex Housing, Radius, Choice<br />

and Habinteg. Council developing a<br />

relationship with these social housing<br />

providers is as important as with the<br />

NIHE and other agencies.<br />

Overall, there has been little shift in<br />

shared housing since 1998 with over 90%<br />

of social housing in Northern Ireland still<br />

segregated just as it was in 1998.<br />

18<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 19


OTHER STRATEGIES,<br />

PROGRAMMES AND INFLUENCES<br />

Key Issues<br />

Taking the above policy context into<br />

account, the, key issues for the audit<br />

include:<br />

• The TEO Racial Equality <strong>Strategy</strong><br />

identifies the need to increase a<br />

sense of belonging of people from<br />

minority ethnic backgrounds driven<br />

by participation in all aspects of<br />

public, political, economic, social<br />

and cultural life.<br />

• There will be four shared housing<br />

schemes in the Council area for the<br />

first time under a current round<br />

of schemes anticipated to be in<br />

Eglinton and Ebrington. However,<br />

two out of the initial 37 schemes is<br />

proportionately less than the size<br />

of population of the district may<br />

deserve.<br />

• The proportionate of spend of the<br />

Council on the four T:BUC themes is<br />

consistent with other Councils;<br />

• The District has a broadly 3-1<br />

split of community background<br />

between those from a Catholic<br />

“We need to address deprivation and recognise<br />

the link between high levels of deprivation and<br />

good community relations” Quote from a stakeholder<br />

and Protestant community<br />

background placing responsibilities<br />

and expectations on people from<br />

both the majority and minority<br />

backgrounds;<br />

• Responsibilities of landowners<br />

is a theme for the<br />

FICT<br />

Commission though only after a<br />

gateway legislation change around<br />

bonfires.<br />

THE GOOD RELATIONS PROGRAMME WITHIN THE 11 DISTRICT COUNCILS ALSO<br />

SITS WITHIN A WIDER CONTEXT OF RECONCILIATION AND PEACE BUILDING<br />

ACTIVITIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND. IN SOME WAYS THESE ACTIVITIES ARE<br />

HELPING TO MOVE NORTHERN IRELAND FROM A NEGATIVE PEACE (THE<br />

ABSENCE OF VIOLENCE) TO A POSITIVE PEACE (CREATING POSITIVE ATTITUDES,<br />

INSTITUTIONS AND STRUCTURES THAT CREATE AND SUSTAIN PEACE).<br />

According to the Global Peace Index, the eight pillars of<br />

creating a positive peace include six that are directly relevant<br />

to Derry City and Strabane District Council good relations<br />

action plan, and to the wider context of peace building. The six<br />

most impactful for this audit are:<br />

The other two of the six pillars are low levels of corruption and<br />

a sound business environment. 2<br />

Additionally, peace building and reconciliation are recognised<br />

as highly cost-effective activities while requiring ongoing<br />

investment. It is estimated that the cost of not undertaking<br />

peace building is x16 given subsequent likely social, economic<br />

and security costs. 3<br />

A positive peace, therefore, in also acknowledging the<br />

cost-effective nature of reconciliation work, leads to knockon<br />

desirable socio-economic benefits including economic<br />

performance, social inclusion and more ambitious policy<br />

making.<br />

2 Global Peace Index, 2019<br />

3 Global Peace Index calculation, 2019<br />

Equitable<br />

distribution<br />

of resources<br />

Skilled<br />

human<br />

resources<br />

Government,<br />

local or<br />

regional, that<br />

functions well<br />

Positive Peace<br />

Acceptance<br />

of others and<br />

their rights<br />

<strong>Good</strong><br />

relations<br />

Open and<br />

accessible<br />

decisionmaking<br />

20<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 21


This audit works within The Executive<br />

Office T:BUC strategy but also<br />

acknowledges the importance of<br />

these six pillars in its summary and<br />

recommendations.<br />

PEACE Programme<br />

The Peace IV Programme<br />

provides significant investment in<br />

peacebuilding and reconciliation<br />

activities in the city. The Council is<br />

responsible for delivering the PEACE<br />

PLUS Local action Plan which has<br />

a budget of £110million overall in<br />

Northern Ireland and the border<br />

counties for local initiatives most<br />

directly related to good relations.<br />

There is complementarity with the<br />

Council’s good relations programme.<br />

The Peace Programme is timelimited<br />

with the Peace Plus<br />

programme due to be available from<br />

the end of <strong>2022</strong> or the start of 2023,<br />

and will end by 2027 as currently<br />

envisaged.<br />

For PEACE PLUS, the team wish to<br />

develop more strategic interventions<br />

developed early with local communities<br />

through a co-design process and<br />

tendered opportunity of around £1.2<br />

million locally. These will focus on:<br />

1. Local community regeneration and<br />

transformation;<br />

2. Thriving and peaceful communities;<br />

3. Building respect for all cultural<br />

identities.<br />

The strategic context for the PEACE<br />

Programme is important and sometimes<br />

overlooked. It was the PEACE<br />

Programme that generated one of the<br />

best definitions yet of reconciliation that<br />

is at the heart of its delivery and has<br />

resonance for other related programmes<br />

including on good relations. These<br />

reconciliation criteria are:<br />

1. Developing a shared vision of an<br />

interdependent and fair society<br />

Challenging political and civic leaders<br />

to agree a vision of a shared future<br />

requiring the involvement of the whole<br />

society, and which is interdependent,<br />

just, equitable, open and diverse.<br />

2. Acknowledging and dealing with<br />

the past<br />

Acknowledging the hurt, losses, truths<br />

and suffering of the past including<br />

individuals and institutions.<br />

3. Building positive relationships<br />

<strong>Relations</strong>hip building or renewal<br />

following violent conflict addressing<br />

issues of trust, prejudice, intolerance<br />

in this process, resulting in accepting<br />

commonalities and differences, and<br />

embracing and engaging with those<br />

who are different.<br />

4. Significant cultural and attitudinal<br />

change<br />

Changes in how people relate to, and<br />

their attitudes towards, one another<br />

where each citizen becomes an active<br />

participant in society and feels a sense<br />

of belonging.<br />

5. Substantial social, economic and<br />

political change<br />

The social, economic and political<br />

structures which gave rise to the<br />

conflict and estrangement are<br />

identified, reconstructed or addressed,<br />

and transformed.<br />

The good relations agenda is an<br />

important part of the reconciliation<br />

process, therefore, which is more<br />

than just about cross community<br />

relationships. The impact of economic<br />

and social deprivation, changing<br />

structures that estranged people,<br />

encouraging a sense of belonging<br />

of all including those people and<br />

communities feeling estranged<br />

(before, during or after the conflict),<br />

acknowledgement and a common<br />

vision are all critical elements.<br />

Perhaps just as significantly, the<br />

Hamber and Kelly definition also<br />

recognises the reconciliation<br />

paradox in the conflict between an<br />

acknowledgement of a painful and<br />

harmful past while searching for a<br />

longer term and interdependent<br />

future. 4<br />

Brexit<br />

4 A Working Definition of Reconciliation, Hamber and Kelly, 2004, p4<br />

The Brexit debate continues to be<br />

contentious across the district. There<br />

are reports of an increasingly polarised<br />

response to the Brexit and the NI<br />

Protocol within unionist and nationalist<br />

areas. However, the two constituencies<br />

that include Derry City and Strabane<br />

District recorded amongst the highest<br />

pro-Remain votes.<br />

90%<br />

80%<br />

70%<br />

60%<br />

50%<br />

40%<br />

30%<br />

20%<br />

10%<br />

0%<br />

56%<br />

44%<br />

78%<br />

Covid, the<br />

regulations<br />

and a pause in<br />

relationshipbuilding<br />

may require<br />

some further<br />

reflection post-Covid, not just of<br />

relevance to people from all sides<br />

of the community but between<br />

communities and public agencies.<br />

Remain v Leave in Foyle & West Tyrone<br />

22%<br />

67%<br />

33%<br />

NI Foyle West Tyrone<br />

Remain<br />

Leave<br />

22<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 23


Other Groups<br />

A recent study by ARK Social Policy<br />

initiative of Queen’s University and<br />

Ulster University into the Missing T:<br />

Baseline Attitudes Toward Transgender<br />

People in Northern Ireland, found that<br />

21% self-identified as having some<br />

prejudice, most marked amongst<br />

males and people from a Protestant<br />

background.<br />

However, it also found that prejudice<br />

was three times higher amongst those<br />

who did not know anyone who is<br />

transgender (26%) than those who do<br />

know someone who is transgender<br />

(9%).<br />

The report concludes there are positive<br />

attitudes to transgender people and<br />

fairly high levels of support for the<br />

realisation of their rights. 5<br />

Youth<br />

Derry City and Strabane<br />

District Council prioritises<br />

a child-centred approach<br />

to any work with children<br />

and young people.<br />

This is as defined and encouraged by<br />

UNICEF, an agency established by the<br />

United Nations to support the health and<br />

education of children and their mothers.<br />

The approach prioritises:<br />

• Putting children and young people,<br />

as individuals, at the heart of<br />

decision making that affects them;<br />

• Developing individual actions for<br />

children and young people relative<br />

to their needs, family and social<br />

situation;<br />

• Puts children and young people in<br />

control of their own learning as far<br />

as possible. 6<br />

A recent report on Sectarianism in<br />

Northern Ireland overseen by members<br />

of the Sir George Quigley Fund<br />

Committee, made several conclusions<br />

and recommendations including<br />

that the pattern in educational<br />

participation indicates that “the<br />

educated population living in Northern<br />

Ireland is becoming proportionately<br />

more “Catholic” and more female” 7 . It<br />

highlights that Catholics (45.4%) are<br />

more likely than Protestants (39%) to<br />

take the higher education route and<br />

of those who do Catholics (73.8%)<br />

are more likely to attend institutions<br />

in Northern Ireland than Protestants<br />

(60.5%).<br />

In October 2019 Youth Pact, the<br />

quality and impact body for the EU<br />

PEACE IV Children and Young Peoples’<br />

programme produced a paper for a<br />

round table entitled The Role of Youth<br />

Work in Peacebuilding: Challenges and<br />

Opportunity.<br />

The paper indicates a shift toward<br />

an employability paradigm of<br />

peacebuilding in youth work through<br />

the T:BUC strategy as with the Fresh<br />

Start agreement in 2015. It also<br />

references an academic report in<br />

2019 Result of a Hard Border due to<br />

Brexit or a Rushed Border Poll by Daly,<br />

Dolan and Brennan, which explores<br />

the risks for youth catalysed by the<br />

Brexit process, anticipating that a<br />

hard border would lead to a return to<br />

violence and that, rather dramatically<br />

and soberingly, suggests that Northern<br />

Ireland is in a pre-conflict not postconflict<br />

scenario. 8<br />

The United Nations through resolution<br />

number 2250 on youth, peace and<br />

security anticipates the inclusion<br />

of young people in shaping peace<br />

initiatives and contributing to decisionmaking<br />

including, in this case, on good<br />

relations work.<br />

However, as evidenced in the Northern<br />

Ireland Life and Times survey and<br />

Young Life and Times survey in 2019<br />

one fifth of young people in Northern<br />

Ireland do not report a sense of<br />

belonging to their neighbourhood and<br />

19% do not have a sense of belonging<br />

to Northern Ireland. This is higher than<br />

adults (11%).<br />

A further 10% of young people feel<br />

they could influence decision making<br />

in their local area and just 7% believe<br />

they could influence decision-making<br />

in Northern Ireland.<br />

Gender<br />

Women are also considered<br />

critical to peacebuilding through<br />

the United Nations security<br />

resolution 1325 which recognises<br />

the contribution women have<br />

made to peacekeeping and peace building<br />

but in Northern Ireland peace making<br />

and peacekeeping are often seen as male<br />

preserves. This is accentuated when issues<br />

such as reproductive rights and marriage<br />

equality are regarded as contested issues.<br />

Hate Crime<br />

According to PSNI statistics in the<br />

last 12 months (financial year 2021/22<br />

compared to 2020/21) there has been<br />

an increase in the number of hate<br />

incidents and crimes reported. In fact<br />

racist, homophobic and disability hate<br />

incidents and crime are at their highest<br />

point since police started recording<br />

them in 2004. There are more racerelated<br />

incidents and crime in Northern<br />

Ireland than sectarian. In Northern<br />

Ireland in 2021/22 there were 1,334<br />

racist incidents (+341 on previous<br />

year) and 931 racist crimes (+213). This<br />

compares to 1,067 sectarian incidents<br />

(+133) and 780 sectarian crimes (+106).<br />

In the same year there were 462<br />

homophobic incidents (+96) and 336<br />

homophobic crimes (+90).<br />

In Derry City and Strabane racist<br />

incidents recorded are fewer than<br />

sectarian incidents contrary to the<br />

trend in Northern Ireland as a whole.<br />

The number of racist incidents and<br />

crimes in the Council area were lower<br />

than sectarian incidents and crimes,<br />

but had increased in number more<br />

than sectarian incidents and crimes<br />

had increased. While racist crime<br />

had increased by more than 50%<br />

in the Council area, sectarian crime<br />

had increased by around 20% in the<br />

last year. These are numbers from a<br />

relatively low base to start with. 9<br />

5 ARK Research Update, The Missing T; Baseline Attitudes towards Transgender people in Northern Ireland, June 2019<br />

6 https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/<br />

7 Sectarianism in Northern Ireland, Duncan Morrow, 2019, p35<br />

8 The role of youth work in peacebuilding, Andy Hamilton, p3<br />

9 PSNI Hate Crime bulletin May <strong>2022</strong><br />

24<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 25


Derry City<br />

and Strabane<br />

District<br />

Incidents<br />

Flags and Bonfires<br />

The Northern Ireland<br />

Life and Times survey<br />

in 2020 reflects a very<br />

divided public opinion<br />

on flags. Typically, there<br />

is significant variance<br />

between people from a Protestant and<br />

Catholic religious background.<br />

There has been a little change over the<br />

last five years as shown in the table<br />

above.<br />

Attitudes to the Union Flag being<br />

flown on public buildings are also<br />

equally divisive. The Northern Ireland<br />

Crimes<br />

Year 20/21 21/22 Change 20/21 21/22 Change<br />

Racist 62 92 +30 47 76 +29<br />

Homophobic 32 39 +7 26 34 +8<br />

Sectarian 90 114 +24 72 86 +14<br />

Life and Times Survey also evidences<br />

that with 38% of Protestants believing<br />

it should be flown at all times on public<br />

buildings compared to 2% of Catholics.<br />

While 4% of Protestants believe it<br />

should never be flown that rises to<br />

54% of Catholics. A small majority of<br />

Protestants (51%) believe it should only<br />

be flown on designated days compared<br />

to 35% of Catholics.<br />

Just as with flags there is significant<br />

disparity of opinion between people<br />

from a Catholic and Protestant<br />

background on the legitimacy of<br />

bonfires – but not on accountability as<br />

a result of damage or injury as a result<br />

of a bonfire. The table from NILT 2020<br />

shows 17% of Catholics think bonfires<br />

are a legitimate culture expression<br />

compared to 64% of Protestants.<br />

A very significant majority from<br />

both sides of the community agree<br />

that bonfire organisers should be<br />

accountable if there is damage or<br />

injury due to the bonfire – 94% in<br />

total (91% of Protestants and 95% of<br />

Catholics).<br />

100%<br />

80%<br />

60%<br />

40%<br />

20%<br />

0%<br />

70%<br />

60%<br />

50%<br />

40%<br />

30%<br />

20%<br />

10%<br />

0%<br />

Bonfires Organisers Should Be Accountable for Damage<br />

or Injury - 2020<br />

94%<br />

95%<br />

38% 41%<br />

17%<br />

91%<br />

Agree/Strongly Agree<br />

56%<br />

Agree/Strongly Agree<br />

2%<br />

All Catholic Protestant<br />

Bonfires are Legitimate Cultural Expression<br />

- 2020<br />

1%<br />

64%<br />

2%<br />

Disagree/Strongly Disagree<br />

24%<br />

Disagree/Strongly Disagree<br />

Key Issues<br />

Key issues in this section include:<br />

• Critical to peace building are<br />

issues such as the functioning<br />

of government, good relations,<br />

transparent decision-making and<br />

equitable distribution of resources,<br />

all relevant to the delivery of good<br />

relations in the Council area;<br />

• The cost of not undertaking peace<br />

building work including good<br />

relations may be much higher than<br />

the initial investment of doing the<br />

work;<br />

• As evidenced in the research on<br />

prejudice toward transgender<br />

people amongst other research,<br />

relationship is key to reducing<br />

prejudice;<br />

• The reconciliation criteria of the<br />

PEACE programme reinforce<br />

the importance of relational and<br />

attitudinal change;<br />

• There is considerable overlap<br />

between the good relations and<br />

the PEACE IV programme but<br />

also considerable effort to ensure<br />

complementarity – the PEACE PLUS<br />

programme will deliver significant<br />

local spend on good relations<br />

projects up to 2027;<br />

• Derry City and Strabane district<br />

recorded the highest pro-Remain<br />

vote on the islands;<br />

• Young people are less likely than<br />

adults to feel a sense of belonging;<br />

• There continues to be obvious<br />

disagreement about flags and<br />

bonfires between people from<br />

a Catholic and Protestant<br />

community background.<br />

All Catholic Protestant<br />

26<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 27


GOOD RELATIONS,<br />

ACTION PLAN <strong>2022</strong>-2023<br />

The current good relations action plan<br />

for Derry City and Strabane District<br />

Council is complementary to T:BUC,<br />

adding considerably to its delivery in<br />

Northern Ireland and to the delivery<br />

of other strategies and programmes<br />

locally by Council and other public<br />

agencies.<br />

The Council good relations team<br />

also has other responsibilities within<br />

Council including linking community<br />

development and good relations.<br />

The current good relations action plan<br />

across the four overarching strategic<br />

themes from T:BUC anticipates 19<br />

good relations programmes - four<br />

programmes focusing on children<br />

and young people, four programmes<br />

on our shared community, two<br />

programmes on our safe community<br />

and two programmes on our cultural<br />

expression.<br />

The recommendations made in this<br />

report will build on the successes<br />

of the existing action plan and will<br />

compliment these policies and<br />

“The good relations team are excellent but their<br />

work and commitment isn’t always reflected<br />

across the work of the Council” Quote from a stakeholder<br />

strategies, regional and local. A<br />

summary in the appendices includes a<br />

brief summary and comment for each<br />

Action Plan action.<br />

The small grant allocation will cross<br />

many of the T:BUC themes and is<br />

difficult to allocate to just one of them.<br />

Indeed, that is reflected in the good<br />

relations unit analysis of community<br />

spend within the small grants<br />

programme which also indicates<br />

community support for the fund. The<br />

small grants programme includes<br />

an overall budget of £200,000.<br />

Community groups appreciate the<br />

time officers spend with them though<br />

community feedback also suggested<br />

they would encourage further councilcommunity<br />

liaison and networking<br />

with Council and between community<br />

groups.<br />

The good relations action plan<br />

complements other parts of Council<br />

delivery. The linkage with community<br />

development and the PEACE<br />

programme is especially understood.<br />

SURVEYS<br />

As part of the audit, surveys were<br />

undertaken with distinct groupings<br />

including:<br />

• All staff and Councillors within<br />

Derry City and Strabane District<br />

Council with 104 returns;<br />

• The public and community<br />

organisations including minority<br />

ethnic, unionist, nationalist and<br />

youth organisations with 79 returns.<br />

With 183 responses, given the<br />

population size of the Council and the<br />

strong proportionate response by age,<br />

gender and community background,<br />

we estimate in the survey responses<br />

overall a confidence rate of 94% and a<br />

margin of error of +/- 4%.<br />

Results are given for overall within<br />

the community, then by sector and<br />

data sliced by different backgrounds<br />

where results are markedly different<br />

and relevant. Where data slicing takes<br />

place, results are relevant but may have<br />

a higher margin of error.<br />

We have provided some of the key<br />

results only at this stage including for:<br />

• Awareness and involvement;<br />

• Council corporately and staff;<br />

• Respect for culture and shared<br />

history;<br />

• Prejudice.<br />

28<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 29


Awareness and Involvement:<br />

Culture and Shared History:<br />

Survey findings<br />

• 93% believe good relations in the<br />

district is highly or very important -<br />

just 2% say it is not at all important<br />

• 92% are aware of Council’s good<br />

relations team and 81% of staff, 79%<br />

have attended a good relations<br />

event, and 26% of staff attending<br />

believe it had a major positive effect<br />

on their work<br />

• No specific venue was identified as<br />

being inaccessible for GR reasons;<br />

• Awareness of, and participation<br />

in, GR activities was consistently<br />

lower by people from a Protestant<br />

background such as 60% of<br />

Protestant staff aware of the GR<br />

team compared to over 80% of<br />

Catholic staff<br />

• Nearly 100% of community<br />

responses were aware of the small<br />

grants programme (96%)<br />

• Critical issues are considered to<br />

be dealing with sectarianism and<br />

racism, involving young people,<br />

tackling homophobia and the<br />

alienation of minorities.<br />

• Barriers raised including<br />

gatekeepers, awareness and political<br />

profile<br />

Inherent impact - outgoing strategy<br />

• Well regarded and impactful good<br />

relations work by the Council<br />

• Significant awareness of delivery on<br />

GR by the Council<br />

• Community organisations very<br />

aware of the GR small grants<br />

support<br />

• Attendance at GR events was still<br />

high despite Covid<br />

• Ongoing significant involvement in<br />

GR activities within communities<br />

and with staff<br />

• Some Covid-related issues, such as<br />

relationships within and between<br />

communities, and with agencies<br />

such as Council may have longlasting<br />

legacies<br />

• Consistent focus on young people,<br />

education and tackling racism and<br />

sectarianism<br />

• Homophobia as a continuing<br />

concern for prejudice throughout<br />

the immediate s75(2)categories<br />

• Some concerns continue around<br />

engagement of PUL communities<br />

and Council staff<br />

Residual impact - incoming strategy<br />

• Communication and engagement<br />

continue to be important, perhaps<br />

with some targeting required<br />

• Events should continue to be well<br />

branded<br />

• Focus on involving young<br />

people, education at all ages and<br />

backgrounds, going beyond the<br />

gatekeepers<br />

• Small grants should continue to play<br />

a significant role in the new strategy<br />

though responsive to community<br />

priorities and needs<br />

• Further consideration of the<br />

meaning and response to concerns<br />

about minority alienation<br />

• Prejudice more broadly could<br />

be a theme including other s75<br />

categories<br />

• Identification of strategic priorities<br />

• Potential help from significant<br />

leaders from civil society that<br />

would benefit from a formalised,<br />

recognised role such as a Mayor’s<br />

initiative<br />

Survey findings<br />

• While 61% believe managing<br />

bonfires and dealing with flags and<br />

emblems are very important, just<br />

39% say managing parades is as<br />

relevant a priority<br />

• 61% believe single identity work is<br />

still highly important<br />

• 68% believe that cross border<br />

engagement should be a very<br />

important consideration for the new<br />

strategy<br />

• Working on legacy and<br />

commemoration events is regarded<br />

as very important by over half (51%)<br />

• The lowest level of importance is<br />

given to managing memorials (25%)<br />

and working with ex-combatants<br />

(32%).<br />

Inherent impact - outgoing strategy<br />

• Our cultural expression delivery is<br />

still an important part of delivery<br />

especially regarding bonfires and<br />

flags and emblems as part of the<br />

existing strategy<br />

• Shared history programmes are well<br />

regarded and ongoing dialogue<br />

around legacy is regarded as<br />

important by many<br />

• The increasing contacts being made<br />

by Council with southern partners,<br />

through joint delivery, is also<br />

reflected in a significant proportion<br />

thinking it important.<br />

Residual impact - incoming strategy<br />

• Finding mechanisms for dialogue<br />

around the shared past remains<br />

important especially in the context<br />

of 50-year anniversaries just passed<br />

and still to come<br />

• Links across the border<br />

areconsidered increasingly<br />

important<br />

• Many people believe there is a<br />

significant need still for single<br />

identity work.<br />

• Exploration of the meaning<br />

of minority ethnic relative to<br />

the different communities and<br />

individuals<br />

• Importance of diversity sessions in<br />

schools and youth groups<br />

• Training and education initiatives,<br />

not just for young people<br />

30<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 31


Council Corporately + Staff:<br />

Prejudice:<br />

Survey findings<br />

• 83% believe Council promotes good<br />

relations very well/well compared to<br />

17% who think it does it very poorly/<br />

poorly. This stands in contrast to<br />

perceptions of how Councillors<br />

promote good relations<br />

• Many people refer to political<br />

barriers in promoting good relations<br />

• Other barriers identified include lack<br />

of funding (73%) though the Council<br />

funding is well regarded<br />

• No one identified a particular<br />

Council venue that was inaccessible<br />

for GR-related reasons though 20%<br />

said there might be<br />

• Many perceived a barrier to GR is<br />

lack of support (58%) from public<br />

agencies generally (not Council<br />

specifically)<br />

• Council employees find the Council<br />

a good place to work, being a<br />

largely neutral or culturally diverse<br />

workplace - though a minority do<br />

feel they have to change the way<br />

they refer to things or keep quiet<br />

about personal background (this is<br />

mainly from PUL employees)<br />

Inherent impact - outgoing strategy<br />

• The existing strategy touches on<br />

many issues raised by staff<br />

• Many staff have engaged with the<br />

GR team and activities, and that has<br />

made positive impact<br />

• Council corporately and elected<br />

members continue to be perceived<br />

in different ways<br />

• There continues to be awareness<br />

and engagement needs for PUL<br />

employees greater than employees<br />

from a CNR background<br />

• Council as a workplace is broadly<br />

well regarded but should continue<br />

to explore increasing the perception<br />

of it as culturally diverse not just<br />

neutral<br />

• Council funding continues to be a<br />

significant feature for communities<br />

Residual impact - incoming strategy<br />

• The new strategy should continue<br />

to provide funding support though<br />

it may be time to reassess aspects<br />

of it<br />

• Supporting civic and political<br />

leadership could be a priority<br />

for the new strategy, including<br />

bringing elected members closer to<br />

communities and staff<br />

• Council could explore how to further<br />

enhance its status as a culturally<br />

diverse workplace<br />

• The GR team may wish to consider<br />

how to reach out further especially<br />

to PUL employees.<br />

• Making training and education<br />

as interesting and engaging as<br />

possible.<br />

Survey findings<br />

• Few people suggest there is no<br />

prejudice in the Council area.<br />

Where it impacts most, where<br />

people report a lot of prejudice, is<br />

against Travellers (65% say a lot of<br />

prejudice), Migrant workers (41%),<br />

minority ethnic communities (39%),<br />

and LGBTQ+ (29%). Least prejudice<br />

identified is against Protestants<br />

(20%) and Catholics (12%)<br />

• Meanwhile 39% say that racism<br />

is very significant in the District<br />

and 32% sectarianism - though,<br />

while 62% say they have witnessed<br />

sectarian behaviour just 38% have<br />

witnessed racist behaviour<br />

• Percentages are lower for Council<br />

staff than the community but<br />

still 49% of Council staff say they<br />

have experienced or witnessed<br />

sectarianism and 37% racism<br />

• Respondents suggest that<br />

education, training, working with<br />

young people and leadership are<br />

critical elements to countering<br />

racism and sectarianism.<br />

Inherent impact - outgoing strategy<br />

• The focus of the existing strategy is<br />

to challenge prejudice generally and<br />

racism and sectarianism specifically.<br />

It includes a specific commitment<br />

on Travellers and programmes on<br />

racial justice<br />

• The strategy works in schools and<br />

through education with young<br />

people<br />

• Leadership continues to be a<br />

theme not just in making policy but<br />

demonstrating anti-prejudice work<br />

and commitment at civil and Council<br />

streams<br />

• Council has engaged in the refugee<br />

schemes and is aware of ongoing<br />

refugee-related issues that may<br />

develop through the Ukrainian<br />

conflict<br />

Residual impact - incoming strategy<br />

• Education work may need to extend<br />

further than young people and<br />

through schools - many victims and<br />

protagonists are not young people<br />

• Continued focus on prejudice<br />

against Travellers and migrant<br />

workers and refugees will be a focus<br />

of the new strategy<br />

• Leadership and linking the<br />

leadership initiatives with<br />

issues locally around prejudice,<br />

discrimination and relationahip<br />

building is important<br />

• That more people say they have<br />

witnessed sectarianism than racism,<br />

speaks to the continued need to<br />

have input significantly to sectarian,<br />

political and religious issues<br />

• While not a core part of the s75(2)<br />

groups homophobia continues to<br />

be reported locally as a related<br />

issue that may have resonance<br />

throughout the new strategy.<br />

32<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 33


Surveys: Qualitative Feedback<br />

Survey participants were asked for<br />

qualitative feedback on the most<br />

important good relations issues,<br />

barriers to better good relations, and<br />

how Council may respond to the issues<br />

and barriers. There was significant<br />

repetition in feedback such as those<br />

listed below, where the same or<br />

broadly similar comment was made at<br />

least five times.<br />

Important <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Issues<br />

Feedback, where broadly similar<br />

feedback was received at least five<br />

times included:<br />

• Work with younger people;<br />

• Deal with sectarianism;<br />

• Lack of cross community contact;<br />

• Political leadership;<br />

• Flags and emblems;<br />

• Racism;<br />

• Cultural diversity.<br />

A word cloud of the most mentioned<br />

words is highlighted, right, the<br />

larger words being mentioned most<br />

frequently.<br />

flags emblems engagement<br />

young people Building<br />

communities Racism<br />

Cross community issues<br />

Working young people<br />

Barriers to <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong><br />

The issues raised most often regarding<br />

barriers echoed those issues identified<br />

earlier. They included:<br />

• Political instability and the nature of<br />

political engagement;<br />

• Gatekeeping at a community level;<br />

• Funding.<br />

A word cloud of the most mentioned<br />

words is highlighted, right, the<br />

larger words being mentioned most<br />

frequently.<br />

groups people<br />

communities<br />

politicians Lack funding<br />

political<br />

What Council and Others Should Do?<br />

When asked to identity what Council<br />

or other agencies could do to deal with<br />

the barriers most numerous feedback<br />

included:<br />

• Involve young people;<br />

• More education and training;<br />

• More cross community engagement;<br />

• Funding.<br />

A word cloud of the most mentioned<br />

words is highlighted, right, the<br />

larger words being mentioned most<br />

frequently.<br />

opportunities engagement<br />

working areas schools work local<br />

together shared<br />

education make<br />

community educate<br />

training sectarianism racism bring<br />

people Council funding<br />

Key Issues<br />

Key issues from the surveys include:<br />

• There is a need to review and<br />

communicate with people across<br />

the community including the<br />

Protestant and Unionist community<br />

within, and external to, Council;<br />

• Small grants play a strategic role<br />

and communities are responsive to<br />

the funding;<br />

• The Mayor has a recognised role in<br />

the district being a representative<br />

for, and advocate for, all<br />

communities and could help focus<br />

the leadership potential of civil<br />

society;<br />

• Dialogue on a shared past remains<br />

important, including on significant<br />

and symbolic 50-year anniversaries;<br />

• Many people still believe there is<br />

a need for single identity work<br />

especially post-Covid for younger<br />

people;<br />

• Leadership is considered a key<br />

quality for promoting better<br />

community relations;<br />

• However, many report ongoing<br />

gatekeeping issues within local<br />

communities;<br />

• Education, work in schools, and<br />

community-based training are all<br />

mentioned as potential priorities.<br />

34<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 35


WORKSHOPS<br />

AND INTERVIEWS<br />

Overall, nearly 100 people were<br />

engaged in consultation and interviews<br />

including through:<br />

• Consultation with Councillors from<br />

all political parties individually, with<br />

independents or/and with party<br />

groups;<br />

• Interviews with key stakeholders,<br />

and workshop with Councillors;<br />

• A workshop for key stakeholders<br />

working with young people;<br />

• A workshop in rural areas;<br />

• A workshop with PUL and<br />

nationalist community<br />

representatives;<br />

• A workshop with inter faith and<br />

inter church organisations;<br />

• A workshop with minority ethnic<br />

communities.<br />

Feedback from the interviews and<br />

focus group is summarised under the<br />

T:BUC themes.<br />

Feedback is provided when an issue<br />

was raised or discussed three or more<br />

times.<br />

Comments raised by three or more<br />

people during interviews and<br />

consultation meetings are included,<br />

and some significant issues raised by<br />

fewer than that. These include:<br />

Our Children and Young People<br />

The teenage age group was<br />

considered the most vulnerable to<br />

negative influences and most in need<br />

of interventions both formally and<br />

detached. They were also thought to<br />

have possibly been most affected by<br />

lockdown during Covid and where<br />

some of the positive work prelockdown<br />

had been negated by its<br />

impact. It was thought that post-Covid<br />

interventions should have a focus on<br />

that age range.<br />

However, the need to reconnect some<br />

of the less experienced or smaller<br />

community based organisations with<br />

public agencies and support post-<br />

Covid was also stressed. This may<br />

include those organisations that<br />

depend greatly on volunteer efforts<br />

such as sporting clubs and flute bands.<br />

Segregated living and education, and<br />

the existence of significant pockets<br />

of single identity communities, may<br />

present ongoing challenges for how to<br />

engage children and young people and<br />

the wider community in good relations<br />

activities. The need for continued<br />

singly identity intervention was a<br />

theme for many of the interviews and<br />

workshops.<br />

Significantly, interviewees had noticed<br />

paramilitary influence in some areas<br />

including ongoing radicalisation of<br />

young people. Some reported that<br />

due to lockdown and resourcing<br />

there had been less community and<br />

neighbourhood engagement from the<br />

PSNI, and that with tensions over some<br />

aspect of civic and political life or<br />

another, young people had been drawn<br />

into conflict with the police locally on<br />

both sides of the community.<br />

Young people were often unable<br />

to understand how people had<br />

been negatively affected during the<br />

Troubles, and sometimes had the<br />

impression of the past conflict as a<br />

glamorous time for some. Education<br />

of the younger generation, therefore,<br />

was required still, or, some feared they<br />

would get that education from people<br />

elsewhere who were looking to exploit<br />

that generation of people who had not<br />

lived through the Troubles.<br />

The education of younger people<br />

was even more important because<br />

many were educated in a segregated<br />

environment and lived in segregated<br />

households “in a bubble”.<br />

Council’s work in the schools was<br />

regarded positively by almost all<br />

consultees, including working in both<br />

primary and post primary schools on<br />

issues of race and prejudice.<br />

Our Safe Community<br />

Ongoing issues were reported on both<br />

sides of the community regarding<br />

sporadic conflict between young<br />

people and with the police. This<br />

included sectarian related violence but<br />

was as often intra community.<br />

Amongst others, it was felt that<br />

flute bands and organisations such<br />

as Loyal Orders and the GAA were<br />

organisations that could contribute<br />

positively to accessing support for and<br />

with younger people and contribute to<br />

dealing with safety related concerns or<br />

perceptions.<br />

<strong>Relations</strong>hip development may<br />

enhance the safety of people from<br />

different backgrounds in unfamiliar<br />

spaces. But safety, it was felt by many,<br />

required more than that. It required<br />

greater cultural competency from<br />

communities and public agencies,<br />

and an understanding of the law and<br />

implementation of the law regarding<br />

hate incidents and hate crimes.<br />

There was broad recognition of<br />

progress regarding bonfires though<br />

there was also some discussion about<br />

the efficacy of funding. Council’s<br />

position on bonfire engagement<br />

continued to be misunderstood by<br />

some. However, some within the<br />

PUL community also thought others<br />

involved beyond Council should be<br />

advocating a return to the original<br />

historic meaning of bonfires.<br />

Our Shared Space<br />

While the allocation of such a<br />

significant small grants fund for<br />

good relations work was welcomed<br />

by all those providing feedback,<br />

many questioned whether it was<br />

adequately tackling priority and<br />

important issues and whether some<br />

specific good relations were being<br />

overlooked because of the focus on<br />

DEA allocations. Some feedback was<br />

received that the level of funding<br />

meant that at times the impact was<br />

small, while some also reported<br />

difficulty in accessing the grants<br />

because they were larger than in other<br />

Council areas.<br />

There was particular support for<br />

Council grants to be available on a<br />

Council-wide basis for youth and<br />

minority ethnic supported projects that<br />

may be disadvantaged, according to<br />

consultees, from a DEA-only approach.<br />

36<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 37


Some within the faith community, and<br />

especially Christian faiths, thought<br />

they were being excluded from public<br />

space. One example provided was<br />

with the Council support of a rainbow<br />

coloured pedestrian crossing.<br />

Some faith-based organisations and<br />

churches were, however, undertaking<br />

significant under-the-radar work or<br />

socially beneficial activities such as<br />

the provision of foodbanks, on a cross<br />

community basis. That linked to many<br />

people’s views that socio-economic<br />

need was increasing and could not be<br />

ignored as a significant good relations<br />

issue – both as a cause of cross<br />

community tension and as a common<br />

need across the community.<br />

Council’s programmes were generally<br />

supported and few, if any, suggested<br />

changing or stopping support for<br />

any of the programmes. The civic<br />

leadership programme received<br />

positive feedback from those<br />

consultees that had participated. There<br />

was some thought that more attention<br />

should be paid to using the learning<br />

within communities after the visit.<br />

Within the minority ethnic consultation<br />

Council was asked to support the<br />

international decade of people of<br />

African descent 2015-2024 as declared<br />

by the United Nations General<br />

Assembly in December 2014. While<br />

nearly a decade old already, there<br />

is clearly still work required on the<br />

three aims of the UN in declaring it:<br />

a) work toward equal participation, b)<br />

increase respect for diversity and c)<br />

strengthen legal frameworks against<br />

discrimination. Each year Black History<br />

Month provides an opportunity for<br />

closer examination of some of these<br />

historical issues. If Council were to<br />

engage in this work it was suggested<br />

minority ethnic people should help<br />

lead any design of a programme and in<br />

the actual activities.<br />

Many within the PUL community who<br />

were consulted, referenced Council’s<br />

initial decision not to commemorate<br />

the Queen’s jubilee as alienating<br />

of the unionist community in the<br />

district especially when contrasted<br />

with funding for Bloody Sunday 50 th<br />

anniversary funding; although some<br />

did then acknowledge Council opening<br />

aspects of community funding to<br />

include the jubilee.<br />

Our Cultural Expression<br />

The integration of increasing<br />

numbers of people from minority<br />

ethnic backgrounds was a challenge<br />

reported by many interviewees, and<br />

the need to move from stereotyping<br />

minority ethnic communities<br />

through festivals that focus on food<br />

and cultural celebrations such as<br />

dancing, to have more significant and<br />

serious conversations about racism,<br />

discrimination and integration.<br />

Continuing to meet the needs of<br />

refugees whether from Ukraine<br />

more recently or other areas was<br />

considered important, promoting the<br />

district’s reputation as a welcoming<br />

place. Meetings or education sessions<br />

focusing on race and ethnicity may<br />

be educational for the newcomers<br />

but also important for people local<br />

to Derry City and Strabane District to<br />

better understand the dynamics of<br />

migration and the contribution migrant<br />

workers make to the region. This might<br />

include a focus on culture as well as<br />

backgrounds and myth-busting.<br />

“Education in schools and workplaces – bring in<br />

a Council-sponsored scheme recognising a zero<br />

tolerance to-isms” Quote from a stakeholder<br />

Language continued to be a barrier<br />

as newcomers and migrant workers<br />

sought to access services and make a<br />

life in the region.<br />

Other<br />

Rural versus urban support was<br />

consistently raised in meetings by<br />

those from a rural background. This<br />

included what was delivered, the<br />

level of support, inequitable access to<br />

services, and the impact of isolation<br />

post-Covid, amongst other issues.<br />

The grant aid from Council is well liked<br />

by those consulted and the community<br />

feedback suggests awareness of<br />

the grant aid programme is high<br />

although many of the attendees at the<br />

community meetings already had a<br />

relationship with Council.<br />

However, some suggested they found<br />

it difficult to access the grant aid<br />

either because of the administration or<br />

because the DEA allocation meant they<br />

were disadvantaged as organisations<br />

working on issues across the district.<br />

Some also thought the nature of the<br />

grant allocation may lose impact given<br />

the size of grants and the inability<br />

to work on more significant projects<br />

across the Council.<br />

Civil society leaders and political<br />

leaders needed to have regular<br />

engagement beyond some of the<br />

existing meetings with long-standing<br />

relationships that could be rejuvenated<br />

with the inclusion of others. That<br />

included church leaders across the<br />

faiths who should have a regular<br />

dialogue with political leadership from<br />

all political parties. That could be a<br />

38<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 39


two-way process with church leaders<br />

also being empowered to speak in the<br />

public arena on sensitive issues.<br />

Groups appreciated the relationship<br />

they had with Council and hoped the<br />

relationship could be renewed after<br />

Covid. Within minority communities,<br />

including PUL communities, this<br />

may be particularly important as a<br />

trust enhancing need with Council<br />

corporately rather than officers.<br />

Promoting the good relations work<br />

being undertaken in the district,<br />

normalising the practice of good<br />

relations, and challenging civic and<br />

political leaders to do better publicly<br />

was raised by a number of interviewees<br />

and in workshops. However, this should<br />

not ignore the sometimes quiet work<br />

being done by civic leaders that could<br />

not be brought into the light.<br />

However, the greater public profile<br />

was not just wanted for work related<br />

to ongoing work but in challenging<br />

racial discrimination and promoting<br />

racial literacy, as well to encourage the<br />

reporting of hate crime regardless of<br />

origin and victim.<br />

Inter-generational work, across the<br />

community and within communities,<br />

was identified as both a need and a<br />

positive influence on younger people. It<br />

was thought that during Covid younger<br />

people had gotten to know the world<br />

of older people less.<br />

Some feedback suggested Council<br />

needed to engage more directly on<br />

good relations in those communities<br />

and areas particularly carrying<br />

some of the legacy-related issues<br />

of the Troubles on either side of the<br />

community, including towns like<br />

Castlederg, inner-city areas as well as<br />

those areas with PUL communities that<br />

had moved from the cityside in the<br />

1970s. These were areas that still felt<br />

left behind or that were still carrying<br />

hurt from what had happened in the<br />

previous generation or two.<br />

A recurrent theme was that the district<br />

was in a generally good place and had<br />

changed for the better in the last 20<br />

years in terms of relationships and how<br />

sectarianism and racism manifested<br />

themselves. The good relations<br />

strategy it was suggested, should also<br />

look 20 years ahead not just the three<br />

or so years of the funding cycle.<br />

Key issues include:<br />

• There was consistent positive<br />

support for Council’s good relations<br />

activities, programme and for the<br />

good relations team. Even when<br />

some criticism was made of Council<br />

corporately, consultees usually<br />

excepted the Council staff and GR<br />

team from any negative comment.<br />

• The impact of Covid on relationships<br />

within and between communities,<br />

and with public agencies, had been<br />

negative and feedback suggested<br />

various implications for good<br />

relations. Some cognisance of<br />

what needed to happen to recover<br />

relationship should be incorporated<br />

in Council’s overall reconnection<br />

with communities including on good<br />

relations.<br />

• There was consistent support for<br />

continuing to support some single<br />

identity work especially when<br />

involving younger people.<br />

• Teenagers were considered to have<br />

been worst affected by lockdown<br />

but reports also suggested there<br />

continued to be paramilitary<br />

grooming on both sides of the<br />

community.<br />

• Ongoing paramilitary influence<br />

and community gatekeeping were<br />

regular themes.<br />

• Local organisations such as the<br />

GAA and bands could positively<br />

contribute to ground level work.<br />

• Some within the PUL community<br />

acknowledged progress on bonfires<br />

and wanted to return to the<br />

traditional meaning of bonfires,<br />

without the issue of burning<br />

inappropriate materials and flying<br />

flags.<br />

• While some faith based<br />

organisations felt alienated by<br />

aspects of good relations especially<br />

around discussion on issues such as<br />

same sex marriage, some were also<br />

undertaking significant work across<br />

the community based on poverty<br />

and social good.<br />

• The United Nations decade of<br />

African descent is closing in 2024<br />

but still provides opportunity for<br />

acknowledgement.<br />

• There was frustration around equity<br />

and resourcing, especially for<br />

youth provision, in rural areas when<br />

contrasting allocations in urban<br />

areas especially in Derry/<br />

Londonderry.<br />

• Rebuilding trust, post-Covid, was<br />

going to be an issue that required<br />

attention, not just between<br />

communities but also with public<br />

agencies such as Council.<br />

40<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 41


CONCLUSIONS<br />

AND RECOMMENDATIONS<br />

Conclusions<br />

Derry City and Strabane District<br />

Council’s good relations team is<br />

well regarded and respected by the<br />

community. They deliver the good<br />

relations action plan in a practical and<br />

pragmatic way. The good relations<br />

action plan also includes many of<br />

the six pillars of building a positive<br />

peace including building better<br />

relationships, its acknowledgement of<br />

socio-economic factors, and equitable<br />

distribution of resources as part of the<br />

reconciliation process.<br />

The conclusions and recommendations<br />

in this report reinforce that the Council<br />

overall and the good relations team has<br />

been doing timely and well-regarded<br />

work, much of which should continue.<br />

It also reinforces that the Council has<br />

dealt with many challenging good<br />

relations issues in a positive way<br />

and that is evidenced in the overall<br />

feedback.<br />

While the Council and others fund<br />

important and impactful work by local<br />

communities, the post-Covid years<br />

will also provide an opportunity for<br />

relationship building as Council helps<br />

overcome the consequence of isolation<br />

and building back afterward and helps<br />

the natural relationship-building driven<br />

by practical community development<br />

work involving largely single identity<br />

communities.<br />

Bearing in mind the importance of<br />

four of the six key pillars for building<br />

a positive peace, we have also made<br />

some specific recommendations<br />

for Council to consider for its<br />

next strategy. These include<br />

recommendations relating to:<br />

• Government that functions well –<br />

exploring structures and systemic<br />

issues tackling sectarianism and<br />

racism – exploring good practice<br />

with other Councils on these islands<br />

– training and development for<br />

Councillors and senior staff;<br />

• <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> – including<br />

exploring how Council may<br />

approach both the reconciliation<br />

paradox and stimulating cross<br />

community contact when local<br />

areas are proportionately more<br />

single identity – recognising the<br />

need for single identity work still –<br />

diversity and GR sessions in schools<br />

and communities – small grants<br />

funding – strategic grants funding;<br />

• Transparent decision-making –<br />

including the engagement of GROs<br />

with elected members locally –<br />

reach out to communities especially<br />

post-Covid – democracy in action<br />

sessions – transparency in grant<br />

making;<br />

• Skills development – including civic<br />

leadership – training and education<br />

initiatives – dialogues, talks,<br />

seminars and events;<br />

• Sensitive issues - understanding<br />

how good relations can work longterm<br />

to reduce the flaring of those<br />

sensitive issues and thereby help<br />

reduce the long-term cost if the<br />

issue is allowed to fester and the<br />

opportunity lost for social and<br />

economic improvement through<br />

cross community collaboration –<br />

DEA special initiatives – grant aid.<br />

It is striking that the cost of not<br />

undertaking good relations and<br />

reconciliation work may be x16 the<br />

added costs if it is not done.<br />

Council’s commitment to diversity and<br />

of working with children and young<br />

people, and for and with minority<br />

ethnic communities, is striking and<br />

positive. Council, however, should not<br />

lose sight of the central importance<br />

of relationship development between<br />

people from Protestant and Catholic<br />

community backgrounds as a core part<br />

of the recent civic conflict and that<br />

was both caused by, and has caused,<br />

segregation and separate living.<br />

We are also mindful of the significance<br />

of small grant allocation to the<br />

strategy. Council wishes to further<br />

strengthen the strategic impact of<br />

the small grants funding through a<br />

cross-cutting strategic priority each<br />

year with a substantial allocation of<br />

funding out of the existing £200,000.<br />

The strategic theme should be decided<br />

well in advance. While the allocation<br />

for <strong>2022</strong>-2023 is already set, a new<br />

“There is good work being done but a long way<br />

to go. Keep up the great work, it takes time.”<br />

Quote from a stakeholder<br />

strategic theme will be introduced<br />

for the 2023-2024 financial year, with<br />

a £50,000 budget, and the theme<br />

(youth) being announced by the end of<br />

the <strong>2022</strong> calendar year.<br />

The small grant funding will allow some<br />

single identity work to a level and for<br />

specific purposes.<br />

Overall, however, the good relations<br />

action plan by Derry City and Strabane<br />

District Council meets the needs as<br />

identified in the audit, is effective and<br />

supported by the local community,<br />

responds to the demography and<br />

changing environment of the Council<br />

area and as outlined in the appendices,<br />

is broadly consistent with the<br />

requirements of the T:BUC strategy.<br />

Recommendations<br />

The purpose of this audit is to inform<br />

the development of the Council’s <strong>Good</strong><br />

<strong>Relations</strong> Action Plan for <strong>2022</strong>/23 and<br />

a subsequent new strategy for <strong>2022</strong>-<br />

<strong>2025</strong> which draw down 75% funding<br />

from The Executive<br />

The core recommendation is that the<br />

current action plan is consistent with<br />

T:BUC and includes many relevant,<br />

imaginative and worthwhile responses<br />

to the needs of building a positive<br />

peace within a limited budget, in<br />

current Covid circumstances.<br />

As the strategy evolves programmes<br />

evolve. Compared to the previous<br />

year there is a slight reduction in<br />

programmes, a greater strategic focus,<br />

which includes the following main<br />

changes:<br />

42<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 43


• A new programme exploring and<br />

challenging racism and sectarianism<br />

through a review and change of<br />

systems and policies, training,<br />

dialogues and research;<br />

• Significant change to the grants<br />

programme to provide a more<br />

strategic focus, greater dexterity in<br />

tackling new and emerging issues,<br />

and challenging grant recipients to<br />

deliver more, positive impact;<br />

• A new programme marking the<br />

holocaust and other genocides<br />

that promote current messages of<br />

inclusion for minority communities.<br />

Minority communities are not<br />

confined to people from a minority<br />

ethnic background but other<br />

section 75 categories including<br />

religious groups depending on their<br />

geographic location;<br />

• Continuing to work on exploring<br />

bonfire management or alternatives<br />

on the Burning Issues? programme<br />

developing thinking of aligning<br />

bonfires to the historical celebration<br />

or/and challenging whether they<br />

are needed; and where there is<br />

insufficient community agreement<br />

for a bonfire whether alternatives to<br />

bonfires can be identified;<br />

• Further developing the global<br />

festival;<br />

• Linking young people to public<br />

agencies and Council more strongly<br />

through a new Democracy in Action<br />

programme;<br />

• Providing a greater focus on<br />

communicating the good relations<br />

messages, its importance and the<br />

good practice;<br />

• Continuing with successful<br />

initiatives in schools, with youth<br />

clubs and community groups,<br />

with legacy and commemoration<br />

dialogues, and providing rapid<br />

response interventions.<br />

In identifying role models to help<br />

promote the normalisation of the<br />

involvement of minority communities<br />

in civic and public life (not just minority<br />

ethnic backgrounds) the following<br />

criteria may be considered and refined<br />

further by Council. Do role models:<br />

a) Live or work in the Council area;<br />

b) Make, or have made, a significant<br />

contribution to community and<br />

good relations;<br />

c) Demonstrate the ethos and<br />

values of inclusion and antiprejudice<br />

work;<br />

d) Demonstrate passion and<br />

commitment for good relations<br />

and for the community;<br />

e) Speak positively and consistently<br />

about diversity and intercommunity<br />

understanding;<br />

f) Have no other roles or<br />

background that would make<br />

being a role model problematic.<br />

International role models would not<br />

necessarily still be living but might<br />

have made a global difference on<br />

issues that Council and GROs work on<br />

at a more local level. This may relate to<br />

policy or practical delivery of activities<br />

that challenge racism and sectarianism.<br />

RESULTS, INDICATORS AND IMPACT<br />

The strategy, like all strategies, is<br />

organic and Council will respond<br />

and refine or amend as the context<br />

shifts. It should be monitored with<br />

regard to timeframes, achievement of<br />

performance indicators and budget.<br />

Indeed, the indicators and impacts<br />

identified should be a regular feature on<br />

the agenda of good relations working<br />

group meetings going forward.<br />

Over the three years of this strategic<br />

plan and the two years that remain,<br />

we highlight below the outcomes<br />

that Council wishes to achieve, the<br />

indicators they will work to to assess<br />

whether they are on track, and how<br />

they will measure whether or not they<br />

have achieved change.<br />

The measurement of success also<br />

puts an onus on the Council good<br />

relations team, and requires some<br />

thought to operationalise the proposed<br />

indicators and measurements. Given<br />

the timeframe and the fact that it takes<br />

time for these to bed in they may be<br />

more robust for the next strategy from<br />

<strong>2025</strong> onwards.<br />

44<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 45


Results Indicators Outcome or Impact<br />

• Sustaining projects of good practice;<br />

• Further development of existing relationships<br />

across the community;<br />

• Identification and establishment of new<br />

relationships across the community;<br />

• Schools, youth clubs and community groups<br />

working with young people involved on a cross<br />

community basis with socio-economic and<br />

geographic spread;<br />

• Mechanisms developed for involving parents and<br />

teachers to share learning;<br />

• Production of mainstream and social media tools<br />

for widening the learning further;<br />

• Skills and experience development;<br />

• Identification of role models and attitude<br />

enhancers;<br />

• Positive media coverage and awareness of public,<br />

civic, community leadership to promote good<br />

relations;<br />

• Development of new good relations initiatives;<br />

• Better management of contentious or sensitive<br />

events and activities;<br />

• Better relations across interfaces;<br />

• Greater sense of identity, culture and langaue being<br />

respected;<br />

• Budget spent with opimum impact.<br />

• Numbers of projects<br />

supported<br />

• Number of participants/<br />

beneficiaries<br />

• Number of other<br />

stakeholders engaged<br />

• Media coverage<br />

• Numbers of non-direct<br />

beneficiaries engaged<br />

• New ideas or projects<br />

• New people and<br />

communities engaged<br />

• Additional stakeholder<br />

engagement<br />

• Increased awareness<br />

• Increased understanding<br />

• Enhanced skills<br />

• Increased confidence<br />

• Greater numbers travelling to<br />

events or activities to different<br />

locations<br />

• Better relationships<br />

• Additional resource identified.<br />

APPENDIX A<br />

Outline 2023-2024 Action Plan<br />

46<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 47


APPENDIX A<br />

APPENDIX B<br />

100% 75%<br />

Total cost £570,388.56 £427,791.42<br />

Consultation<br />

Total programme costs £328,253.44 £246,190.09<br />

Total staff costs £242,135.12 £181,601.33<br />

Activities/Events<br />

Cushnie Richard The Executive Office<br />

Programme name Code Key Aim Total Cost<br />

Post Primary Anti-<br />

Prejudice and Training<br />

Initiative<br />

Culture Quarter –<br />

Primary Schools<br />

Post Primary Anti-<br />

Prejudice and Training<br />

Initiative<br />

DCS1<br />

DCS 2<br />

DCS 3<br />

Our Children<br />

and Young<br />

People<br />

Our Children<br />

and Young<br />

People<br />

Our Children<br />

and Young<br />

People<br />

Grant Aid DCS 4 Shared<br />

Community<br />

Breaking Barriers –<br />

Tackling Racism and<br />

Sectarianism<br />

Legacy and<br />

Commemoration<br />

Dialogues and<br />

Acknowledgement<br />

Special DEA <strong>Good</strong><br />

<strong>Relations</strong> Initiatives<br />

DCS 5<br />

DCS 6<br />

DCS 7<br />

Shared<br />

Community<br />

Shared<br />

Community<br />

Shared<br />

Community<br />

£17,000<br />

£17,000<br />

£17,000<br />

£200,000<br />

£5,000<br />

£5,000<br />

£11,000<br />

Holocaust Week DCS 9 Shared<br />

Community<br />

Burning Issues DCS 10 Safe<br />

Community<br />

Interfaces and<br />

Contested Spaces<br />

DCS 11<br />

Safe<br />

Community<br />

One World Festival DCS 12 Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

Democracy In Action –<br />

Let’s Talk<br />

DCS 13<br />

Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

GR Week DCS 14 Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

Other Voices DCS 15 Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

Travellers Support DCS 16 Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

Support for people<br />

from ethnic minority<br />

backgrounds<br />

DCS 17<br />

Cultural<br />

Expression<br />

£2,000<br />

£8,000<br />

£8,000<br />

£12,753.44<br />

£3,000<br />

£11,500<br />

£2,500<br />

£500<br />

£3,000<br />

<strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Committee DCSDC<br />

DUP grouping<br />

Londonderry Bands Forum focus group<br />

Holywell Dialogue focus group<br />

The Churches Trust focus group<br />

Rural focus group<br />

Youth focus group<br />

Independent Councillor grouping<br />

North West Migrants Forum focus group<br />

LGBTQ+ focus group<br />

Sinn Fein grouping<br />

Survey of businesses<br />

Survey of community sector<br />

Survey of staff<br />

Survey of youth<br />

Ulster Unionist grouping<br />

Anderson Lisa An Droichead Project<br />

Askin Angela DCSDC<br />

Biega Amanda DCSDC<br />

Day Peter Community <strong>Relations</strong><br />

Council<br />

Divin Sue Peace Plus<br />

Dougherty Brian North West Cultural<br />

Partnership<br />

Fagan Fiona The Churches Trust<br />

Gallagher Paul, Cllr Independent<br />

Gallagher Martin DCSDC<br />

Hussey Derek, Cllr UUP<br />

King Gavin The Executive Office<br />

McCallan Derek NILGA<br />

Moore Derek Londonderry Bands Forum<br />

O’Doherty Patrick DCSDC<br />

O’Neill Pauline DCSDC<br />

O’Neill Colleen The Rainbow Project<br />

O’Reilly Martin, Cllr SDLP<br />

Pollock Catherine An Droichead Project<br />

Seenoi-Barr Lilian, Cllr SDLP<br />

Civic Leadership<br />

Programme<br />

DCS 8<br />

Shared<br />

Community<br />

£21,000<br />

48<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 49


APPENDIX C<br />

Published Year (where known) Name<br />

CFNI 2017 Galvanising the Peace<br />

Community <strong>Relations</strong> Council 2016 Peace Monitor Report<br />

Community <strong>Relations</strong> Council 2018 Peace Monitor Report<br />

Community <strong>Relations</strong> Council 2015 A <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Framework<br />

Derry City and Strabane District Council 2018 <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong><br />

Derry City and Strabane District Council 2019 Other Council plans, reports and strategies<br />

ECNI 2015-2018 Race Equality Audit<br />

ECNI 2010 Embedding <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> in Local Authorities<br />

Flags, Identity and Cultural Tradition Commission 2021 Report by the FICT Commission<br />

ICR/CRC 2017 Peace-building and the Women’s Sector in NI<br />

ICR/CRC 1999 Cost of the Troubles<br />

Morrow and Byrne 2018 Bonfire Scoping Exercise<br />

NI Life and Times Surveys 2021 Life and Times Survey Results<br />

NIARIS 2018 <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Matters<br />

NIHRC 2018 Out of Sight, Out of Mind<br />

NISMP 2016 Migrant and Minority Ethnic Profiles for Councils<br />

OFMdFM 2015 Racial Equality <strong>Strategy</strong><br />

OFMdFM 2013 Together: Building a United Community<br />

PSNI 2021 Statistics and Security Situation<br />

Scottish Government 2018 Defining Sectarianism<br />

SEUPB 2019-<strong>2022</strong> Peace Plus programme guidelines and programmes<br />

The Executive Office 2018 What Difference Did We Make?<br />

The Executive Office 2019 District Council <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Programme<br />

The Executive Office 2019 <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> Indicators Update<br />

50<br />

DCSDC - <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Relations</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong> 51


Derry City and Strabane District Council<br />

Derry – 98 Strand Road, Derry, BT48 7NN<br />

Strabane – 47 Derry Road, Strabane, BT82 8DY<br />

Tel: 028 71253253<br />

E: info@derrystrabane.com<br />

E: goodrelations@derrystrabane.com<br />

Website: www.derrystrabane.com/goodrelations<br />

52

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!