Belfast City Council PIV Local Action Plan - BPR

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The PEACE IV Local Action Plan for Belfast will deliver programmes of work focusing on children and young people; development of shared space in the city and building meaningful, purposeful and sustainable relationships in Belfast and the wider region. Through activities under these themes the Plan will seek to achieve the following overarching objectives. Increased engagement of marginalised communities to participate in peace building and conflict transformation activities for the long term benefit of the city. Enhanced understanding and appreciation of other cultures and heritage leading to an increased acceptance of difference and respect for cultural diversity. Working effectively with local communities to create and safeguard shared space, increasing usage and access to facilities and spaces across the city. Implementation of the Plan will be overseen by Belfast City Council’s Shared City Partnership. Our recent consultation on the Belfast Agenda (Belfast’s community plan) resulted in the development of five emerging citywide outcomes. One of these, ‘Belfast is a welcoming, safe, fair and inclusive city’ identified improving community relations as a top priority for the city. The Belfast PEACE IV Plan will be developed in the context of the emerging Belfast Community Plan. In keeping with this approach to developing the Community Plan for the city it is proposed that Programmes are effectively co-designed with local communities wherever practicable through intensive engagement and facilitation. Programmes will involve extensive engagement with a focus on reaching the most marginalised individuals and communities. Underpinning the entire Plan will be a suite of leadership programmes aimed at new and emerging leaders across the community sector , residents associations etc but also involving the private sector, service providers, faith groups, community safety practitioners etc. These programmes will be designed to increase and improve capacity and capability to focus on how shared space projects and shared services can be developed and delivered in partnership, at a local level. In keeping with the transnational nature of the Programme cross border activity will be supported and facilitated and opportunities for joint working and sharing of good practice with other PEACE Partnerships across Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of Ireland will be identified. Need and Demand: The Belfast PEACE IV Plan was developed through an iterative process based upon a number of building blocks including; alignment with the Policy and Strategic context, the lessons and learning from the Belfast PEACE III Local Action Plan, the needs and challenges facing the City and the response and the demands as reflected in the robust public consultation process. Project Options Considered: The programme options and project elements were developed as describe above. Projects were evaluated against a range of criteria, as were the most effective means of project implementation. The two horizontal themes of sustainability and equality are explored in the context of the plan. Sustainability is considered in term of financial and environmental sustainability and the likely impact of the Programme. By focussing upon the most marginalised members of society the programme is considered to be making a positive contribution to equality. The Lead Partner for the Belfast PEACE IV Plan will be Belfast City Council with overall financial and administrative responsibility for delivery of the Plan. Implementation of the Plan will be overseen by Belfast City Council’s Shared City Partnership. The Partnership is formally established as a Working Group of the Council’s Strategic Policy & Resources Committee and as such, all recommendations of the Partnership are subject to the agreement of that Committee and to ratification by the full Council. For the purpose specifically of delivering the proposed Belfast Peace IV Plan, the following delivery partners have been agreed: the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Belfast Health Trust. A detailed Communications Plan has been developed to ensure awareness and knowledge of the PEACE IV Plan, the key objectives and any arising projects by all stakeholders. The plan as set out will be fully compliant with the regulations and guidelines established by SEUPB. A robust monitoring and evaluation framework has been developed based upon the experience of the Peace III Programme providing timely and effective information at a project and Programme level. This is supported by a Benefits realisation plan. The Plan will ensure an exit from the programme in a way that is effective, cause as little negative impact as possible and provides an opportunity to celebrate and sustain what has been achieved.

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