Prison to Peace - Building on Experience Partnership

Over the years various groupings of political ex-prisoners and ex-combatants had formed within the IRA; UVF; UDA; INLA and the Official IRA constituencies.

They worked to help political ex-prisoners re-establish their lives and relationships within local communities and to highlight difficult issues faced by political ex-prisoners and their families due to their position within society.

The Prison to Peace Partnership consortium emerged as a result of a long established working relationship, built between the range of politically motivated ex-prisoner groups and the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland.

Since 1994, the Foundation worked in a funding and support role with these groups, acting as intermediary funding body under the EU Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (1995-1999), as well as under the EU PEACE 11 and the EU PEACE 11 Extension programmes.

Submitting a successful application to the EU PEACE 111 Programme, this allowed work to be undertaken over the period 2009-2011.

The investment focuses on three collective themes:

(i) Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

(ii) Work around Youth Development and Citizenship

(iii) a focus on Social Change and the nature of current challenges at community level.

Our Foundation is delighted to be given this opportunity to contribute to ongoing peace building and conflict transformation through its participation in the consortium.

Paricipant groups:

An Eochair - Representing former Official IRA prisoners

Charter - Representing former UDA prisoners

Coiste na n-Iarchimí - Representing former Provisional IRA prisoners

Ex-Prisoners Interpretive Centre (EPIC) - Representing former UVF prisoners

Teach na Failte - Representing former INLA/IRSP prisoners

Conflict Transformation from the Bottom Up Programme

The Conflict Transformation from the Bottom Up programme is an initiative led by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and encompasses the 13 regional welfare groups for former Republican prisoners operating under the umbrella of the co-ordination body Coiste na Iarchimi.

These groups are spread across the north of Ireland, including in the border counties of the Republic of Ireland, posing particular communication issues and straddling practically all local media outlets.

The Community Foundation’s role is to support Coiste na Iarchimi in the delivery of the programme among it’s constituent groups.