Research Email Briefing 34

NICVA Research Update 34

Index

E-Learning

E-Learning in Social Research Skills.

Recent Research

Results of the 2004 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey are now available online. The survey puts on record the attitudes, values and beliefs of the people in Northern Ireland to a wide range of social policy issues.

'Mystery Man?' is a report published by ARK which focuses on men's issues in Northern Ireland.

Community uptake Analysis of Peace II

Seminars

Is it worth more than small change? Assessing patterns of charitable giving in Northern Ireland.

Reporting civil society. Assessing the media’s view of civil society in Northern Ireland.

Filling the skills gap. Developing a skills strategy for the voluntary and community sector.

Stare into my crystal ball. The attitudes of the sector towards future developments in terms of policy, working practices and funding – how have things changed?

Pay peanuts… Valuing the sector’s workforce and how the sector compares to other employers.

What’s in a name? Is there a difference between voluntary and community organisations – what can we learn from the data?

Community NI

NICVA is encouraging all voluntary and community organisations to use this facility to publish research information, news, reports and events which organisations may think is relevant to the sector.

E-Learning in Social Research Skills

For those that cannot find the time to attend a regular course the Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Policy Studies is offering three new, part-time e-learning programmes starting in the 2005/06 academic year for those who want to learn or develop social research skills.

The programmes are:

* Postgraduate Certificate in Social Research Skills

* Postgraduate Diploma in Social Research Skills with Specialism

* MSc in Social Research Skills with Specialisms.

Further details are available from thefollowing website: http://www.activelink.ie/ce/active.php?id=2292

Recent Research

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey.

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey was launched in October 1998. The survey puts on record the attitudes, values and beliefs of the people in Northern Ireland to a wide range of social policy issues.

In 2004 the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) completed a survey which focused on:

1. Countryside and farming;
2. Grand parenting and family life
3. Men's issues
4. Political attitudes
5. Community relations
6. Religious observance

Fieldwork for the 2004 survey was carried out between October 2004 and mid February 2005. 1800 adults were interviewed. The website provides tables of results for every question, questionnaires and the dataset to download in SPSS format.

To see the report in full visit: www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2004

The ‘Mystery Man?'

Men’s issues have received increased public and academic attention in the past few years. Ark has recently published the “Mystery Man” report which focuses on men's issues in Northern Ireland, and uses data from the 2004 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. It looks at issues such as:

1. Work life balance
2. Paternity leave
3. Support structures
4. Health and health services
5. Family law

This report highlights the strong support for specific policies such as:

• paid paternity leave
• the idea of equal parenting after separation or divorce
• couples to work out custody issues amongst themselves.

To view this report please visit the ARK website: www.ark.ac.uk/publications

Community Uptake Analysis of Peace II

The Special EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Region 2002-2006 (Peace II) represents a continuation of The Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation 1995-1999 (Peace I) and reflects the continued commitment of the European Union to enhance the prospect for peace in Northern Ireland. The aim of the Peace II Programme is to ‘reinforce progress towards a peaceful and stable society and to promote reconciliation’. To date, it as allocated roughly £551 million, some 80% per cent of which was spent in Northern Ireland and 20 per cent in the Border Countries of the Republic of Ireland.

The report analyses the allocation of funding in Northern Ireland and the Border Countries under the programmes for Peace and Reconciliation. It primarily explores the issue of religious community and uptake of available funding the complex relationship between religious background, deprivation, funding and approved funding within Northern Ireland.

The author examined:

1. The number of projects applications and approvals as well as their aggregate value
2. Religious community and relative deprivation profiles of the Census Output Areas (COAs)

The final section of the study presents the results of the statistical analysis of the effect of factors such as population size, religious community background, deprivation and the propensity to apply on the distribution of funding.

For further information on this report contact:

Special EU programmes Body (Belfast Office)

EU House, 6 Cromac Place,

Belfast, Northern Ireland BT7 2JB

+44 (0) 28 9026 6660

+44 (0) 28 9026 6661

info@seupb.org

www.seupb.org

Civil Society and Participation: Civil renewal and active citizenship: a guide to the debate

NCVO has published a guide to the debate on the future of civil society. The guide highlights the essential role the voluntary and community sector has to play in:

• civil renewal
• the need for the sector to ensure that its wider role as part of civil society is recognised
• work with government in strengthening civil society.

The need to renew the institutions and processes of civil society and indeed wider democracy has long been the concern of commentators from across the political spectrum. The perceived unfairness of our ‘first past the post’ electoral system, the erosion of civil liberties, the governance of our public services (and private charities), or the passing of a ‘great generation’ – those who lived through the second world war and built the post-war settlement – has led to calls for change in a number of areas.

This report looks at several aspects of citizenship and civil society:

1. Exploring the concepts of civil society and participation
2. What is civil society?
3. Civil society, the state and the market
4. Citizenship and active citizenship
5. Civic and civil participation
6. Participation and social capital

Conclusion: a review of the key themes

The different conceptions of civil society each have implications for approaches to civil renewal and active citizenship, and in particular for the role of voluntary and community organisations.

For further information on this report visit NCVO website: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk

Seminars

2005-2006 Voluntary and Community Sector

Research Seminars

You are invited to attend a new series of research seminars hosted by NICVA which will examine a wide range of different issues currently affecting the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland.

Time: 11.00 am – 12.30 pm

To register for one or all of these events please contact Andrea Burke on andrea.burke@nicva.org or (028) 9087 7777.

All the events will be held in NICVA’s premises at

61 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, BT15 2GB.

If you have any ideas or are involved in any research that you would like to include in future events please do not hesitate to contact the Research Team at NICVA.

To view the latest research on the voluntary and community sector in NI visit http://www.communityni.org

Community NI

Community NI has been developed by NICVA to promote the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland.

Publish your information

The principle behind the site is that every community, voluntary or charitable organisation will be signposted and have the opportunity to publish their information, whether that be a newsletter, press release, job advertisement or events.

Community NI aims to be the first central online source of information about the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland. It gives charities and voluntary and community bodies the chance to promote themselves on the internet and to share their resources and expertise.

NICVA encourages all voluntary and community organisations to use this facility to publish research information, news, reports and events which organisations may think is relevant to the sector.

Register

To make the most of Community NI you should become a registered user. This entitles you to additional privileges. You can register by contacting Brendan Kane ( brendan.kane@nicva.org) Community NI Outreach Officer, to discuss how your organisation can get involved or to comment on the project.

For more information visit the community NI website: www.communityni.org

Thanks to everyone who sent information that has been included in NICVA Research Update 34. Please remember to send information about research that you have undertaken and requests for information that you would like included in the next update. Also remember to let others know about NICVA Research Updates. To register send an email entitled ‘NICVA Research Updates’ to andrea.burke@nicva.org

Andrea Burke
Research Assistant

NICVA
61 Duncairn Gardens
BELFAST BT15 2GB

(028) 90877790
(028) 90877799
andrea.burke@nicva.org
www.nicva.org