Project Directory - Project Entry

CCRU home background on CCRU community relations equality and equity research

Project Title: CR Training Audit
Contact: Karin Eyben
Duncan Morrow
Derrick Wilson
Address: School of Social and Community Sciences
University of Ulster
Coleraine
BT52 1SA
Telephone: 028 70 324550/324620
Fax: 028 70 324904
E-Mail: k.eyben@ulst.ac.uk


Description:

PSEP funds assisted the development and completion of this action research programme. Subsequently a three year programme with major agencies in different sectors has evolved: 'A Worthwhile Venture ?' Serious community relations in Northern Ireland is a search for practical ways for people of different identities, backgrounds and goals to live and work with one another with mutual respect. The real and expensive effects of the division and the tensions associated with it across many areas of life are undeniable. Better working relations therefore constitute one of the most important political and social tasks. Community relations needs to become embedded in public and private institutions, encouraging and supporting change in organisational structure and practice. 'A Worthwhile Venture ?' has evolved out of practical work and action research ongoing since 1980, initially under the auspices of the Corrymeela Community, and then supported by the Understanding Conflict Trust.

The need for 'A Worthwhile Venture?'
From earlier research it was clear that there was a major need to promote training support within the informal adult community group sectors. The Report on Staff Deployment in the Northern Ireland Civil Service by Maurice Hayes highlights the importance of the development of relationships of trust and respect in which even delicate and divisive issues can be discussed... to achieve this degree of trust and openness requires training and the development of human relations and the building of confidence. If such training provisions were complemented by schemes of support for staff in other Public Services who are also part of a divided society, and not above it, a significant contribution could be made to creating a more peaceful and just society. It is therefore important to assess what is already happening within different organisational contexts for 'business' and / or ethical objectives.

This research programme was therefore established to :

* Assess the impact of inter-cultural and inter-community thinking on community relations training provision over the last ten years (1986-95) through a sample of people's experiences on courses and their use of the training subsequently.

It is our hypothesis that this relationship infects the practices of all agencies in Northern Ireland and that finding ways of acknowledging and releasing this tension, and understanding the very practical problems it causes need to be addressed. We argue that an 'equity, diversity and interdependence' approach informing three different levels of change - policy, structures and procedures, and training - is a crucial step in addressing the divisions in this society.

With an eighteen month time frame we sought to employ a variety of methods which would enable us to get beyond the polite and illuminate the scale and nature of learning opportunities in a wide variety of adult settings. From the outset we deliberately combined quantitative and qualitative approaches. In an area subject to social taboo, quantitative approaches are notoriously unreliable as indicators of preferences and context. Nonetheless, qualitative methods, especially within the short time scale of this project, can easily degenerate into anecdotal studies if they are not supported by a more objectively structured quantitative study.

Publications:
Eyben, Morrow, Wilson (1997) : A Worthwhile Venture - Practically Investing in Equity, Diversity and Interdependence in Northern Ireland.

Eyben, Morrow, Wilson (1997) : Executive Summary of Research Findings of a Worthwhile Venture - Practically Investing in Equity, Diversity and Interdependence in Northern Ireland.

A paper on Diversity to the IPD Conference at Newcastle, June 1997

A paper on Diversity Training to The Permanent Secretaries Committee, NICS, Stormont, June 1997

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