eNews: 3 July 2006

NICVA

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CONTENT

Missed out on the Outreach Programme?
Citizens Against Terror
Fair dues for nursery workers
Room to breathe
Belfast 2006
Training opportunities website set to launch
Health trust to showcase its best practice
Learning from Peace ll
Need to find out more about interfaces?
The Battle of the Generations
Storage space needed

Pick of the Website
Make Your Move - new jobs this week on communityni.org
Subscribe to eNews
Submit an Article

Missed out on the Outreach Programme?

Maybe you missed the funding training when NICVA’s Outreach Programme visited your area, or perhaps you had some further questions that you didn’t get a chance to ask? Don’t despair, NICVA’s Funding Advice Outreach Officer can bring the training directly to your community group at an appropriate venue this summer.

The sessions available are:

• Strategic Approach to Fundraising
• Fundraising Methods and Techniques
• Applying to Grant Makers

Please note that a minimum of six attendees for each training session will be required.

To avail of this free service, get in quick and contact Heather Rowan on tel: 028 9087 7777, email: heather.rowan@nicva.org.

Citizens Against Terror

In the run-up to a key session of the UN general assembly in New York in September, which Kofi Annan has set as a deadline to agree a UN convention against terrorism, Citizens Against Terror is organising a series of dialogues around the world to:

• Develop a nuanced picture of people’s experience of terror through victims’ dialogue and amplify their voices;
• Promote understanding of effective non-violent strategies through activists dialogue and research the precedents;
• Mobilise civil society to denounce terrorist tactics as criminal and inexcusable; and
• Build a collective vision of security around human rights and cultivate strategies to implement this goal.

Northern Ireland has plenty of experience of terrorism and of human-rights abuses associated with ‘counter-terror’ strategies. But it also has important experiences, such as the huge peace marches of 1993 that precipitated the paramilitary ceasefires a year later, of civil society alternatives to an endless ‘war on terror’. To add our voice to this global discussion, a meeting will take place at NICVA, from 10.00am to 12 noon on 29 August 2006.

Formal speakers will be Alan McBride (WAVE), Kevin Boyle (Human Rights Centre, Essex University) and Robin Wilson (steering committee, CAT).

Please contact Cathy Breslin, email: cathy.breslin@nicva.org, if you would like to attend.

Fair dues for nursery workers

Government has announced a helping hand for employees in the childcare sector who are paid less than the minimum wage.

Teams from HM Revenue and Customs, which ensures payment of the minimum wage, will begin a year-long enforcement campaign after finding widespread evidence of non-payment of the minimum wage. This will involve a combination of education, targeted enforcement and working with employers.

The National Minimum Wage Helpline exists to provide guidance on pay and is operated in Northern Ireland by Citizens Advice on behalf of the DTI. In 2005 the helpline took over 3,000 calls and passed over 130 complaints to the Northern Ireland Compliance Team for investigation. Since the legislation was introduced in 1999, nearly £2million of arrears has been identified for low paid workers in Northern Ireland.

For more information please contact Diane Wilson, NMW Helpline Manager on tel: 028 9026 2537, email: wilsond@citizensadvice.co.uk.

Room to breathe

The BBC has joined up with the Big Lottery Fund to develop a grants programme to provide funding for small groups who are inspired by its Breathing Places campaign.

Breathing Places is aimed at community groups, schools, businesses and individuals to galvanise the world’s largest ever mass participation conservation campaign. Over four years, a joint project between the BBC and its partners will inspire a million people to transform our landscape by creating breathing places for people and wildlife.

The aims of the Breathing Places Big Lottery grant scheme are to:

• Increase participation and access to local breathing places by encouraging people to become actively involved in them, and by supporting activities that are open and accessible to everyone.
• Make a lasting improvement to the local environment by supporting activities that develop existing breathing places or help create and sustain new ones.

The closing date for applications to the scheme is 26 July 2006.

For more information visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk or email Laura Francis at laura.francis@bbc.co.uk, tel: 028 9033 8207.

Belfast 2006

This international conference for anyone involved in the voluntary and community, children and young people’s and human rights sectors, takes place in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, from 28 August to 1 September 2006.

The aim of Belfast 2006 is to promote the welfare and rights of children. It will provide a unique forum for participants to meet, discuss and exchange information on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, other relevant international human rights instruments and issues impacting on children and young people - family, community and society. The congress programme will incorporate addresses by a superb range of international speakers, plenary sessions, workshops, poster displays, round table discussions and presentations.

Among those addressing the conference will be the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese and Mrs Mehr Khan Williams, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Reduced rate places are available for voluntary and community organisations. Find out more at www.youthandfamily2006.com or contact the Professional Congress Organiser on tel: 028 9045 6451, email: youthandfamily2006@ovation-ni.com.

Training opportunities website set to launch

learningpoint.ie is a new web-based resource on training opportunities for Ireland’s voluntary and community sector.

The Wheel’s new website (launching in September) will provide a sign-posting service to staff and volunteers working in community and voluntary organisations and includes a searchable database of training courses, workshops and training providers.

The Wheel is inviting training organisations to list their courses and workshops. To list your information visit www.learningpoint.ie/register.

To find out more, visit the site or contact Mélanie Gutman on tel: 00 353 1 454 8727, email: melanie@wheel.ie.

Health trust to showcase its best practice

Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust invites you to join it on a learning visit, which is being held as part of the Northern Ireland Best Practice Scheme.

The scheme has been introduced by the Public Service Improvement Unit, in the Department of Finance and Personnel, as part of the Government’s strategy for reforming and modernising public services. It will run for two years and its aim is to highlight and share good practice within the public voluntary and community sectors.

This visit to Downshire Hospital on 7 September 2006 is open to all public, voluntary and community sector organisations in Northern Ireland. The theme for the day will be Focusing on Results using the EFQM Excellence Model in a Public Sector Organisation – Down Lisburn Trust’s Experience.

To book a place or to find out more, please contact Barbara Dunn on tel: 028 9266 5141, email: barbara_dunn@dltrust.n-i.nhs.uk. For more information about the scheme, please visit www.bestpracticeni.gov.uk.

Learning from Peace ll

The Community Relations Council, in conjunction with the Special EU Programmes Body, is pleased to announce the launch of the third and fourth publications in the ‘Learning from Peace ll’ series, ‘Shaping and Delivering Peace at a Local Level?: Learning form the Experience of Peace ll’ (Vol 3) and ‘Bordering on Peace?: Learning from the Cross Border Experience of Peace ll’ (Vol 4). Volume 3 provides comment and analysis on the how the Peace Programme has contributed to peace building work with a ‘local’ focus. It combines case study contributions, contemporary research and an overall critical reflection on the topic. Volume 4 seeks to engage with the role and contribution of cross border peace building work to reconciliation in Ireland, North and South. It is hoped that these publications will act as a stimulus for new debate and provide learning that can shape future initiatives.

Volume one of the series, ‘Beyond Sectarianism?: The Churches and Ten Years of the Peace Process’ which provides key learning around the role of churches and faith based organisations in peace building work is also still available, as is volume two, ‘Prosperity – A Part of Peace?: Learning from the Economic Experience of Peace ll’, which critically assesses the role of economically focused peace building work.

All publications are available to download from www.nicrc.org.uk or can be obtained in print form from the CRC Resource Centre, 21 College Square East, Belfast, tel: 028 9022 7555.

For more information on the ‘Learning from Peace’ series, please contact Sean Pettis on tel: 028 9022 7500

Need to find out more about interfaces?

'Interface Issues' is a compilation of research and comment on interface issues and areas which has been undertaken by voluntary agencies, academic institutions, research organisations, community forums and others. The publication provides a resource for individuals interested in the dynamics of interface communities, aims to assist researchers in their studies on Belfast interfaces, and allows for comparisons to be drawn between research findings. The collection is intended to make existing interface-related material more accessible and to increase the knowledge-base in relation to interface areas and issues.

Has your organisation produced any literature that it may be useful to include in the next edition? You can view the last edition at www.belfastinterfaceproject.org.

If you are aware of any documents that should be included in the update, please forward your suggestions to Chris O'Halloran at Belfast Interface Project by the end of August 2006.

For more information please contact Chris on tel: 028 9024 2828, email:chris@belfastinterfaceproject.org.

The Battle of the Generations

Are you in your 60s?

Do you think you are fitter than a 16 year old and fancy a challenge?

Do you want to prove that your generation has a more active lifestyle?

The BBC is looking for a team of 60 year olds to take on a team of 16 year olds for a prime time BBC1 lifestyle show. If you think you have the physical and mental stamina to take on challenges like swimming, cycling, or a log chop then the BBC wants you.

Whatever your background, if you think you have what it takes to beat the youngsters please email: sukhdeep.ghundale@bbc.co.uk or call 020 8752 6202.

Storage space needed

Brook Belfast is seeking storage room for some archived records, currently held in 14 four-drawer filing cabinets.

Please contact Andrea or Arlene on tel: 028 9032 8866, if you can help out.

Pick of the Website

Community NI

Volunteers to be denied lunch expenses?

Join the VDA against apparent new changes to volunteer expenses guidelines

Government fails its sewage planning duty

Judge hands down judgement against lax government

DHSSPS Issues summer funding call

A tight turnaround for organisations wishing to receive project funding for health

Make Your Move - new jobs this week on communityni.org

This section contains a random selection of the latest jobs from the Community NI website.

Cross Border Project Co-ordinator at 1825 Young Men’s Project

Training Officer at Compass Advocacy Network Ltd

Participation and Poverty Worker at Save the Children

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