Developing thriving and peaceful communities

“Delivery of our action plan is already well underway, and it’ll run until June 2029. During that time, we’re expecting to engage with more than 4,500 participants, in cross-community activities.”

Those were the words of Patricia Monahan, chairperson of the PEACEPLUS Partnership, who was MC at Friday morning’s event in the Peace Campus outlining how the latest round of funding is set to be spent on five projects delivering a wide range of benefits.

Monaghan County Council, the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) and the PEACEPLUS Partnership Committee have secured Peace funding of more than €4.5M for the Monaghan co-designed action plan across three themes: Community Regeneration and Transformation; Thriving and Peaceful Communities; and Celebrating Cultures and Diversity.

The official launch on March 20, focused on the second thread of the Local Action Plan entitled ‘Thriving and Peaceful Communities’.

All of the project partners Monaghan Co Council, Monaghan Integrated Development (MID), Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB), The Peace Link and Global Action Plan (GAP), were represented.

“Theme 2 of the PEACEPLUS programme will generate €1.3M of a total €4.5M. It marks a very important moment for our county as we continue to strengthen the relationships and connections that define community life in Monaghan,” Cathaoirleach P.J. O’Hanlon began, adding that he could not think of a more fitting building to host the event.

In his role as Chief Executive of Monaghan Co Council, Robert Burns said that he saw firsthand the power of partnership and how organisations working together can achieve far more than any one of them could alone.

“The PEACEPLUS programme is built on that very principle, and Theme 2 exemplifies it. Today we launched the result of a deep co-design process, shaped by voices of our communities, and strengthened by the expertise and commitment of our core delivery partners here today.”

Presentations followed on MID’s Future Fit Programme, CMETB’s Intergenerational and Peace Youth programmes (see article on page 21), The Peace Link’s Community Health and Wellbeing Programme and GAP with the Environment for All programme.

Future Fit will work with community groups and individuals interested in volunteering, providing support and training in governance, committee skills, diversity awareness, volunteer management, social media and idea creation, also helping groups to network and diversify.

Liza Hackett, PEACEPLUS Co-ordinator with MID began: “We will work with 400 participants i.e. 24 community and voluntary groups over 36 months and have a strong cross-community element.”

The CMETB’s Intergenerational Programme was presented by PEACEPLUS Co-ordinator Priscilla Clements: “This focuses on bringing people of different generations together in meaningful ways. We are working with young people aged 12-18 and older members of the community, creating opportunities for them to connect, share and learn from each other.

“The aim is to reduce social isolation, challenge ageism and connect communities. It is very much a two-way process where older generations share life skills, experience and stories, and younger people bring energy, creativity and new responses.”

One of the most interesting projects undertaken, Priscilla commented, was the mural in An Nead coffee shop in Monaghan Town, where older and younger people enjoyed practicing their cúpla focal while creating a large-scale artwork.

The MC, introduced the Peace Youth Programme, led by the CMETB. This is a cross-community initiative for young people to create new friendships with similar age groups from all communities through sports, music, wellbeing, cyber-awareness, drama, arts, social media and film production. It runs at the Peace Campus and is open to new members.

The Peace Link’s Community Health and Wellbeing Programme was presented by Jason Maguire, PEACEPLUS Co-ordinator working out of Clones: “We are still in the planning and networking part of this journey, if we build communities through health and a sense of belonging, we build resilience.”

There will be a Parent and Toddler Group; a Get Moving programme for people aged 55+; SafeTALK suicide prevention training; Health and Wellbeing webinars; Masculinity workshops; Autism Therapy Play and Domestic Abuse workshops for both men and women. There will also be several sporting initiatives including a North-South Peace Cup.

The Environment for All strand of the programme was introduced by Hans Zommer, CEO of Dublin-based Global Action Plan, an environmental organisation that focuses on people: “Our part of this programme is to work on empowerment and inclusion. We do that through community gardens. We believe that community gardens are a fantastic way of bringing people together. Once you get people together with their fingers in the dirt, harvesting food together, you can bridge all divisions in society.”

GAP’s Adam Ryan confirmed that their community garden model is coming to the county, starting with one in Mullaghmatt, Monaghan Town.

Patricia Monahan concluded: “We’ve heard from all five projects and I think you’ll agree there’s an impressive and a really varied volume of work to be carried out in the coming months and years under this theme, so they’re going to be very busy.”