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Description:
The Peace People have three strands to their work:
* Welfare
PSEP funds are used to facilitate Youth for Peace programmes.
Youth for Peace has six strands:
* Youth for Peace - Senior (16-25 year olds) - Belfast
PSEP supports all of the above programmes but mostly Belfast based
Youth for Peace groups and camps.
The events of the Summer has had a negative effect on the Youth
for Peace programme but thankfully numbers are returning and a
positive attitude is being maintained.
Camps and Exchanges :
* Israel
Once again we have organised and facilitated a wide range of camps
both nationally and internationally. This years programme includes
two new camps - one in Austria and a quadrilateral exchange with
Israel/Palestine. We have been inundated with applications for
the Austria camp from far and wide across the province. The Israel/Palestine
camp has taken a long time to organise due to the complexity of
united young people from four different countries i.e. Israel/Palestine/Northern
Ireland/Southern Ireland. We are offering camps to all age groups
which have been a great success to the commitment and dedication
of our staff team throughout difficult period of staff changes.
The success of the German camp last year has encouraged us to
integrate it into our annual programme. A regular camp in Aland
will be held again this year over midsummer's night.
All these camps have been organised by the PSEP funded Youth Department
Administrator, Fiona McKenzie and will be led by the PSEP funded
Youth Worker, Steven Carr.
Durham Camp Age Range 13-14 year olds
Pre-camp ... 7-9 March 1997
Main camp ... 31 March - 6 April 1997
Reunion ... 2-4 May 1997
Host group ... Northern Ireland Youth Encounter , St John's College,
Durham
Warrington 18th - 25th May 1997
Link up with Glencree cross community youth group and Warrington
(Tim Parry Scholarship)
Aland Islands Camp 6-23 June 1997
Exchange Group ... Alands Peace Institute
Israel/Palestine 6-23 July 1997
Exchange Group ... Neve Shalom, School for Peace, Tel Aviv
Youth for Peace
The Youth for Peace weekly meetings have a varied programme which
includes a mixture of socials, workshops and issue based work.
As ever these have all been cross community and within our self
imposed limits of 60/40% in terms of religious mix. The number
of young people is still about 80 members in total. It is difficult
to ensure that the weekly meetings are always balanced due to
the drop-in nature of the work, however the weekend residentials
which we organise for them are always balanced both in terms of
gender and religion.
The style of the programme has been changed this year to be three
weeks on issues followed by one social. For example, we held an
introductory political workshop and followed it up with visits
from the Orange Lodge, LORAG and the police. We then completed
the series with a wrap up session and brainstorm on the marching/parades
issue.
Our two PSEP members of staff are assisting our new Outreach Youth
Worker in the creation and maintenance of Youth for Peace groups
throughout Northern Ireland.
Peer Education
This programme would not have been possible without the funding
received by PSEP, both in terms of our second youth worker and
our youth office administrator who provides back-up. Twelve young
people have come through last year's course and eight are currently
completing a revised version of the course. Our next course will
begin in October 1997.
Another series of courses on community relations issues has been
set up with young football groups. These range from short two
week courses to more intensive three month courses on the subjects
of identity, justice, politics, culture, history and non-violence.
School Talks
Our youth team, two of which are funded by PSEP, regularly facilitate
workshops on a variety of topics such as:
* Prejudice awareness
We also host, plan and facilitate itineraries for visiting groups
from overseas.
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