About Me
Glenshane Community Development Limited is a long-established rural community anchor organisation based in Dungiven, serving the wider Glenshane area for over 36 years. As a registered charity and social enterprise, we focus on rural regeneration, enterprise development, good relations, community wellbeing and social inclusion. Our work includes providing low-cost workspace, promoting business development, delivering education and training, offering a free and impartial Advice Service, supporting marginalised groups and leading community-led regeneration projects that address social and economic disadvantage. We operate from Glenshane House and manage a range of community assets that sustain local jobs and services. As Chief Executive, I provide strategic and operational leadership across all programmes, partnerships and community initiatives. My background in economic development, social enterprise, cross-community peacebuilding and feminist legal theory research - particularly on coercive control, structural inequality, rights, parental alienation and children’s agency - has shaped my commitment to strengthening community cohesion.
Role in PEACEPLUS
I bring over two decades of experience in good relations and cross-border peacebuilding, having served as a Social Partner on every SEUPB PEACE Board since first appointed to PEACE I in 1999. Through my role in GCD Ltd., I have delivered multiple good relations and cross-border programmes and was an organiser of the International Peace x Peace conference at the Waterfront Hall in 2008, which amplified community voices and promoted global peace dialogue. I previously served on the board of the Foyle Multi-Cultural Forum, supporting inclusion and intercultural engagement.
From the PEACEPLUS Programme, I hope to see practical initiatives that address sectarianism, racism and misogyny through targeted interventions, as well as a continued focus on reducing structural inequalities and supporting communities across NI and the border counties with tools, training and resources that enable sustained local engagement and positive cross-community/cross-border relationships.