Bill of Rights Programme Closes

One of the most innovative programmes delivered by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is drawing to a close.

Since 2007, eighty-two groups representing diverse interests and a wide spread of geographical locations took part in the Bill of Rights Programmes.  

Funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the programmes delivered training, support and small grants programmes to raise awareness about the consultations around a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, as well as encouraging local community groups to adopt a rights-based approach to community development work.

An event to launch the final publication on the four-year Programme and to inform the development of the Foundation’s new Social Justice Programme will be taking place in September

Feedback from most groups characterised the Programmes as challenging, rewarding and strikingly different from other funded initiatives that they had engaged in.

For some, the demystifying of human rights ‘jargon’ yielded important learning.  

For others, the acquisition of new skills using rights-based tools increased their capacity to effect change in their community.

All groups, to varying degrees, gained an understanding of the international context within which we claim our rights, including the national, European and global rights apparatus.

For more information on the new Social Justice Programme, please contact Kat Healy on 02871 371547 or khealy@communityfoundationni.org for more information.