Glencree Sustainable Peace Project
Developing leaders in sustainable peace
building – within and between Ireland, Britain and South
Africa.
Click here to view the Sustainable Peace Trail Map, a visual presentation of the journey of the Sustainable Peace Network, 2001-2008.
One Day Introductory Workshop: Adaptive Leadership
The Sustainable Peace Network and the Irish Peace Centres organise events that are open to the public. A recent event is a one day workshop on Adaptive Leadership on 18 June 2010 in Barholm, Portaferry. Click here for more.
Aims of the Sustainable Peace Project (SPP):
- To promote sustainable relationships between victims/survivors,
ex-combatants and members of the broader society on the islands
of Ireland and Britain;
- To develop meaningful partnerships
between participants from the global “North” and “South”;
- To nurture leadership in environment friendly peace building;
- To enhance appreciation for the roles of wilderness or
nature-based activities in peace building.
- To provide opportunities for personal development for
a core group of (potential) leaders.
Short History
The project started small. In November
2001 the Glencree CEO and a Dublin-based South African, who
was approached to co-ordinate the new Glencree “Ex-combatants Programme”,
took one loyalist and one republican ex-prisoner to South Africa.
The visit included exposure to South Africa’s political
transition and the socio-economic inequalities arising from
Apartheid. A central feature was a shared wilderness experience,
facilitated by the Wilderness Leadership School. For a few
days two former enemies were walking together in a place of
unspoilt beauty, crossing crocodile infested rivers, sleeping
on the ground, protecting each other while on guard duty against
dangerous animals. The friendship that grew out of this experience
echoed similar results achieved with employing wilderness to
bring South African ex-combatants together.
The positive results of the pilot project encouraged a similar
visit in November 2002. This time the group consisted of 6
ex-combatants and 6 victims. The feedback on the wilderness
experience was again very good, though some participants were
not fully prepared, physically and emotionally, for the unusual
challenges presented.
Based on in depth evaluation of each programme component
a number of adjustments were made:
- even more care was taken in the selection and preparation
of the next group of participants;
- to counter labelling of participants
as “victims” or “ex-combatants”,
and to express the need for other sectors of society to be
involved in peace-building, representatives of churches,
the youth, women and business sectors were also invited;
- the unifying theme of “Towards Sustainable Peace” was
introduced, thus providing a shared challenge to a highly
diverse group, and connecting the preparatory and follow-up
events at Glencree with the various parts of the programme
in South Africa.
These adjustments allowed Glencree to
bring together a group of 18 participants, which went to
South Africa in May 2004. This group was highly diverse and
inclusive on every level (gender, age, region, political/religious
background, role in conflict/peace): there were 10 male and
8 female participants; the group ranged from around 6 people
in their twenties, a number in their 30’s and 40’s and a few in their
50’s; there were 2 participants from Britain, a Protestant
and a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland, 4 people from
the (North) West of Ireland, 1 from Derry, the rest evenly
divided between communities in and around Belfast; there were
2 UVF ex-prisoners, a PIRA and 2 INLA ex-prisoners, a senior
ex-RUC/PSNI officer, a senior ex-British army officer, project
leaders of a republican and a unionist victims’ group,
3 cross-community victims workers, a former British Metropolitan
police survivor of the Harrod’s IRA bomb, a Northern
Irish Presbytarian and 2 Catholic youth/church workers, the
project leader of a Belfast cross-community women’s group,
the CEO from a large Irish construction company.
Again the feedback of most participants
has been very positive. Furthermore, at the evaluation and
follow-up event in June 2004 a number of participants suggested,
unexpectedly, that the 2004 Glencree group should work together
to bring a similarly diverse group of participants to South
Africa in 2005. This process led to the formulation of what
has now become a proposed five year “Glencree Sustainable Peace Project” (SPP).
Contact : Wilhelm Verwoerd: wilhelm.verwoerd@glencree.ie |
