Agenda item

            (Ms. N. Lane, Good Relations Manager, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee approved and adopted the minutes of the meeting of the Shared City Partnership of 6th December, including the following recommendations:

            PEACE IV

i.                  to grant to CYP2 Playing our Part in the City and CYP3 Personal Change a three-month extension to 28th March, 2022 to enable project closure and wrap up; and

ii.                Shared Spaces and Services – to agree to extend the MDL contract to 31st January, 2022.

            Building Positive Relations (BPR)

                     BPR 1 - NIHE

i.              to re-profile £25,000 within the NIHE budget to support residential trips and proposal for a two-night cross-border residential trip for West Belfast 1 participants;

ii.            to approve the use of SLAs with community groups participating in BPR1.  (Previous requests for this approach are still awaiting SEUPB approval);

iii.           to deliver eight hours capacity building on an individual group basis for participants within West Belfast 2 network;

                     BPR5 LINCS

·        to extend the delivery timeframe to 30th September, 2022 to increase capacity building and further develop the Inclusion Forum.

BPR5/Traveller

·        to delegate authority to the PEACE IV Programme Board to agree the rescope of the Traveller Support Hub to a Capacity Building programme, subject to SEUPB approval.

            Good Relations Plan

i.              to direct £10,000 of unspent funding from the Micro Grants budget into the St. Patrick’s Day fund;

ii.            to reallocate the funding allocated to the St. Patrick’s Day Grants programme, along with the £10,000 from Micro Grants underspend (as above), to the Civic Programme being led by the Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Team, to assist with the delivery of the four large-scale events scheduled to be held in Belfast over the week of St. Patrick’s Day;

iii.           to provide funding support of £15,000 towards four separate good relations related projects, proposed by the City and Neighbourhood Services’ East Belfast Team, delivered by East Belfast Alternatives, East Belfast Sure Start, East Belfast Community Development Association and Youth Initiatives. (These proposals relate to BCC 10 Strategic Intervention Programme - East £15,000);

iv.          to agree, in principle, to provide funding of £5,000 to support The Four Corners Festival and to grant delegated authority to the Good Relations Manager to liaise with the group and award the funding, if appropriate; and

v.            to provide funding support of £8,000 towards the delivery of a number of good relations related activities to coincide with the African Nations Cup, to be delivered by the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, in partnership with other organisations.  (These proposals relate to BCC10 Strategic Intervention Programme – South).

            The Good Relations Manager informed the Committee that, following the meeting of the Shared City Partnership, she had been advised that, due to resource issues, the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers did not have the capacity currently to manage the activities referred to in recommendation v. above.

Accordingly, she recommended that the Committee agree that the funding of £8,000 be awarded to a relevant organisation, to be agreed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services, which was already involved in this area of work, to deliver the activities in partnership with the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

The Committee adopted the recommendation.