Borough set to benefit from major EU funding
Thu, January 19, 2017
Approximately £3.6m worth of funding under the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme has been offered to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
The funding will be used to support a number of locally-based projects and initiatives that will promote positive relations between people from different communities and backgrounds.
It will result in an increase in the percentage of people who think relations between Protestants and Catholics have improved and an increased cultural awareness of minority ethnic communities.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council will be responsible for the delivery of a ‘PEACE Action Plan’ focused on three key areas: ‘Children & Young People’; ‘Shared Spaces and Services’ and ‘Building Positive Relations’.
The support will be used in the delivery of local community initiatives for children and young people involving sports, arts, culture and language. It will help make public space in towns and villages more inclusive and facilitate programmes for shared space.
The funding will also be used to assist conflict resolution activities at a local level to encourage positive interaction between residents and groups from divided neighbourhoods.
Match-funding for this element of the PEACE IV Programme has been provided by the Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in Ireland.
An announcement of the total funding offered to all local authorities across Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland was recently endorsed by Ministers from both of these match-funding Government Departments.
Welcoming the funding, the Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Alderman Maura Hickey said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding through the Peace IV programme which will make a real difference to community initiatives right across the Borough. It’s crucial that we continue to invest in our local communities and people, in order to support a peaceful and shared future. I look forward to seeing how this funding will enhance the area, and the lives of those who live here.”
Commenting on the funding offer Gina McIntyre, CEO of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), which manages the PEACE IV Programme, said: “Local authority-led partnership plaid a key role within the previous PEACE Programme, in terms of ensuring that money was distributed at a local level, where it could make the most impact. As such they will play a similar role under the new PEACE IV Programme for the Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council area.
“Representing the public, private and community sectors this partnership is ideally placed to ensure that EU funding is invested within community-based projects that will make real and lasting change,” she continued.