⇒ Website of "Making Connections Northern Ireland"   This is a three year project supported by the Department for International Development (DfID) which aims to raise the level of knowledge and understanding of global issues within the minority ethnic population across Northern Ireland to enhance their engagement with international development which will in turn promote a positive engagement with the wider society. The project also seeks to strengthen links between the minority ethnic and development sectors through its main activities, which include:

The project aims to create capacity in development education (DE) practice within the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) sector in Northern Ireland. The project is being delivered by the Centre for Global Education (CGE) in partnership with BME groups and is addressing an identified need for enhanced development education practice within the BME sector. The assumption is that by enhancing their development education skills and knowledge, BME practitioners can practice these skills in their own work and raise awareness of development issues within their own contituencies.

The project aim is being achieved through the following activities:
1. The delivery of a new Accredited Training Programme in development education to BME workers to bring a global dimension into their daily work.
This is the first accredited training course on DE offered to the BME sector.
2. The provision of Post-Course Mentoring to course participants.
3. The organisation of an Annual Conference to support the sharing of good practice and networking in the BME sector. The conference includes participation from BME groups in the south of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales where the BME sectors have a greater capacity and stronger tradition of DE activity.
4. The development of a new web site for the BME sector that supports all aspects of project delivery - the conference, training course and post-course mentoring.

Projected outcomes are: the accreditation of 80 BME workers in DE training over the three years of the project; strengthened training capacity and a greater global dimension in BME activities with their target groups; the organisation and delivery of three annual conferences attended by 100 practitioners per annum; and a greatly enhanced understanding of development issues and DE practice, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and DFID's poverty eradication agenda.

As stated in the external evaluation:

"The project has managed to provide a safe and creative environment for learners from different backgrounds to critically explore and enhance understandings about local-global-local relationships through the medium of global education and its interface with BME communities.

A community of enthusiastic and trained practitioners, a better networked global education sector and a much deeper understanding of the experiences and needs of the BME sector and the communities they serve have been some of the most significant outcomes resulting from this project. The project has helped to create an embryonic "rainbow" global education movement comprising multiple stakeholders including the BME sector but this needs to be further nourished and nurtured".

For further information on this project contact charo@centreforglobaleducation.com or tel: 028 9024 1879