Active citizenship in Northern Ireland

A Shared Future (2005) - the Government's policy and strategic framework for good relations in Northern Ireland - pointed to the role of the voluntary and community sector in helping create a less divided society. Indeed, in Northern Ireland, the sector is often cited as being at the vanguard of creating an environment within which the old divisions can be tackled and resolved.

This booklet aims to examine the progress made so far, and what more is possible including whether civil society is sufficiently aware, resourced and, indeed, willing to meet expectations. It is based on presentations at a series of special seminars entitled Active citizenship and community relations in Northern Ireland, which took place in Belfast in early 2008.

NICVA, in collaboration with ESRC, ran these series of special seminars which examined a range of important issues in relation to ‘soft’ activities that offers a platform for economic progress. The seminars, which took place between January and March 2008, covered public participation; volunteering and its unintended consequences; and community relations and the voluntary and community sector.

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Download a copy of the ESRC final report "Active citizenship and community relations in Northern Ireland"

Public participation, Northern Ireland

This seminar took place in NICVA on 15 January 2008. It examined a wide range of research that has shown that the level of non-party political collective action is very low in Northern Ireland compared to other regions in the UK.

The seminar explored the following questions:

• How much has the conflict in Northern Ireland precluded or influenced individuals from becoming more active citizens?
• Are there deep seated cultural or historical differences in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK in relation to individuals becoming active and engaged citizens?
• How much of the apathy displayed by the general public towards politics in Northern Ireland manifests itself in a wider malaise in terms of collective non-political action?
• Has the instability in the devolved administrations left individuals feeling detached and remote from the decision making process and therefore less inclined to campaign for change?

Volunteering and its unintended consequences, Northern Ireland

The second seminar took place in NICVA on 13 February 2008. It examined the benefits an individual gets from being involved in voluntary activity and how the wider, often less tangible impacts of volunteerism are not as well developed. Participants also examined a recent study into volunteering in Northern Ireland which found that as a consequence of volunteering an individual's circle of friends and their engagement with individuals from the opposite community demonstrably increased compared to non-volunteers.

It raised the question: does the evidence suggesting that volunteers are exposed to much more engagement with members of the opposite community mean that they are more tolerant and open to change? This seminar explored the following research questions:

• Is being a volunteer a viable pathway towards reconciliation and greater forgiveness and understanding?
• Are the views, attitudes and actions of volunteers more liberal and rational than those of individuals who do not volunteer?
• Does volunteerism have any role to play in easing community divisions in Northern Ireland and are there other examples in post conflict societies where this has been a feature of reconciliation?
• Is this role an interesting and significant by product of volunteerism in which engagement of this type can help bring communities closer together in a post conflict environment?

Community relations and the voluntary and community sector

An invited audience drawn from government, academia and the voluntary and community sector attended the final event, Community relations and the voluntary and community sector at NICVA on 6 March 2008.

This seminar examined a number of studies that explore the role civil society has had in community relations. Almost all of the studies start from the premise that civil society (principally the voluntary and community sector) was essentially the glue that held society together during some of the darkest days in Northern Ireland's history. The seminar also examined the government statement that 'there is a clear recognition that the voluntary and community sector has made a powerful contribution to the achievements of better relations between communities'.

Although this point is not refuted it does beg the question: does civil society still have legitimate claim to have a key role to play in community relations? The seminar also examined the investment of time and money put towards community capacity building programmes. Has this funding helped to reconcile differences between the two communities or has it exacerbated divisions and ultimately created fiefdoms that complete for funding?These questions are controversial but nevertheless important if the voluntary and community sector is to continue to have an integral role in shaping relations between the two communities. The seminar explored the following questions:

• Do community development and community capacity building initiatives actually lead to regeneration and integration of communities or do they strengthen and make more confident single identities to the exclusion of other communities thereby creating a vicious circle?
• What capacity does the voluntary and community sector have to deliver on A Shared Future?
• Has the duplication of services in Northern Ireland led to a separate development of the voluntary and community sector and is the sector mature enough and ready to accept a rationalisation of services?

More information

Please contact Lynn Anderson at NICVA, if you would like a copy of the ESRC's Public Policy Seminar Series, on 028 9087 7777 or email: lynn.anderson@nicva.org.  Copies are free. Alternatively, download a pdf copy of the publication.