Young people often experience isolation and little sense of acceptance or safety. In a variety of ways, Corrymeela seeks to share and understand young peoples’ experiences and make meaningful connections. This is particularly important in a society that is coming out of conflict, where we need to accept diversity. Our youth programme includes conference events, community relations, and various issues-based work. Our seasoned and skilled staff offer a wide range of resources to enable youth to develop mutual understanding, prejudice-reduction and conflict-resolution within a community context.
The Corrymeela Community YOUTH in COMMUNITY Project Corrymeela’s YOUTH in COMMUNITY project is a cutting edge programme of personal and social development enabling young adults 18-25 years old to develop and facilitate their own modular community relations/good relations programmes, focused on the section 75 agenda (1998 NI Act) based on the principles of equity, diversity and interdependence, for local youth & community groups in highly marginalised areas (Noble Index top 25%). The project begins by focusing on examining each young adult’s personal identity. This ‘Identity’ module is integral and essential to the whole programme.
The Corrymeela Community -YOUTH in COMMUNITY project recognises that every young adult living in N.I. has had an individual life experience whatever their shared history may be. Through creating a ‘safe’ space each young adult is given the opportunity to talk about their life experience, their personal history, and encouraged to begin to make connections to the role they play in society today. The content of each programme seeks to address issues that impact upon equality of opportunity. The programme is set within the residential setting, one weekend per month over five months, where time is set aside to ensure that relationships are developed and nurtured. Within the group participants will live in ‘community’ and share in all the day to day tasks that go with this. As they begin to build a new awareness of the ‘self’ each individual is also in active participation to be in relationship with others each session encouraging participants to share opinions, explore their values and beliefs, enabling prejudice and discrimination to be constructively challenged.
The programme aims to enable young people to develop communication, personal and social skills; decision-making and problem solving skills; an understanding of role and responsibility issues; teamwork, co-operation and leadership skills; confidence and self-esteem; skills in respecting diversity, mutual understanding and reconciliation. All the young adults involved received advice and support and have full participation in the project including needs review, programme design, delivery, and review.
For further information, please contact Tara McHugh Logan 028 2076 2626
