Background to the Research

• Since the 1980s, community relations has been a policy priority in resolving the NI conflict. A major part of this process has been the promotion of cross-community contact; however, these initiatives have had limited success despite considerable political progress.
• In the light of this, community relations practice has shifted towards work at an intra-community level. This article considers the contribution of intra-community relations in NI.
  

Research Approach

• Four representatives from the Community Relations Council, 2 from the Central Community Relations Unit and 6 Community Relations officers in District Councils were interviewed in order to establish the range of funded intra-community relations projects in NI (19 were identified).
• Facilitators of the 19 projects completed open-ended questionnaires and from the data provided 4 projects were selected for in-depth case study.
  

Main Findings

The Ulster/Scots Project (Cultural Tradition)

• The impetus for the project came from local people within the Ards district (a predominantly Protestant area in Co. Down) and local councillors who lobbied the district council to make provision for cultural traditions.
• The Project began in 1995 with a 10-week language course in the Ulster Scots dialect attended by 8 people. Two one-day seminars considering the Scottish roots of music played in Ulster (15 participants) and Ulster Scots language, literature, history and politics followed.

Archway (Conflict Resolution)

• The Bogside/Brandywell Initiative was established in 1996 by community-based groups with the aim of initiating a local approach to economic, social and environmental regeneration.
• Archway is a single identity project in the strongly Nationalist areas of Bogside/Brandywell. The aim of the project is to build on the peace process through the active engagement of the local community in conflict resolution by enabling people in the area to investigate and explore their own identity; to create a space for tolerance to enable this identity to be expressed, and to move towards conflict resolution between local communities and the British state.

Newtownabbey Community Development Agency (Community Development)

• This project was established in 1994 by a group of community activists and workers from the Newtownabbey area. Two single identity groups (one Catholic, the other Protestant) were invited to participate in a training programme devised by the Workers Educational Association, followed by a residential weekend for each group.
• The aims of the project are to broaden participants knowledge of the 'other' community; to allow groups to explore their own identity in a intra-community setting; to make contact with other single identity groups and to create a 'ripple out effect' where work undertaken can be extended to other members of the community.

The Church Forum, Armagh (Cultural Tradition)

• This project was established with the support of the local Community Relations Officer in 1996, following the breakdown of the first IRA ceasefire and the events at Drumcree. Single identity groups were set up as an offshoot of the Church Forum (representing the Protestant denominations and the Catholic Church).
• The aims of the project are to explore issues of cultural, political and religious diversity within and between groups; develop single identity work to cross-community contact, and expand the programme within the broader community.

Conclusions

• Intra-community work is best understood as a continuum, at one extreme is work that is 'own culture validation' and makes little effort to embrace a contact agenda or to encourage respect for diversity. At the other extreme is focused cross-community contact work that tries to promote mutual understanding by creating a more integrated society.
• Between the two extremes is intra-community relations work with a contact component that aims to promote 'respect for diversity'. This approach assumes that communities and groups are keen to maintain cultural distinctiveness whilst encouraging an appreciation of differences. In the current climate of continued segregation and deepening polarisation this approach may make a major contribution to improved community relations.