Protestants and Catholicslearn to get on

A number of free training courses and informal lunchtime dialogue events including Conflict Resolution, Equality and Good Relations training opportunities will take place during the week and will be free and open to all.

Sue Divin, Derry City Council Community Relations Officer said: “This programme represents an open opportunity for community workers, volunteers, employers and interested individuals to benefit from free training or to broaden their awareness of local Equality and Good relations issues through the informal lunchtime dialogue events.

“We aim to ensure our training and dialogues are innovative, creative, relevant and interesting in their approach – no prior knowledge is needed, so why not sign up?”

Conflict Resolution and Mediation Training, facilitated by the Peace and Reconciliation Group, will run on Tuesday, May 15 from 9.30am to 4.30pm in the Shared Future Centre.

As an introductory course, it promises to be a lively free training day to equip participants with basic mediation and conflict resolution skills and awareness.

On the agenda also, are two dedicated Equality and Good Relations Training sessions.

The ‘Equality and Good Relations Training for Employers’ in the City Hotel (9.30am – 1pm) on May 17 includes presentations from the Labour Relations Agency and The Equality Commission on current legislation and best practice for employers.

The ‘No Offence But…’ Half Day Equality and Good Relations Training is interactive and based on real case studies, the law and discussion as well as getting participants to chat with a panel from diverse backgrounds.

And for those who prefer a more informal discussion to help raise their awareness, the two lunchtime dialogue events (which include lunch!) might appeal.

‘Deep Breaths, Small Steps’, on at the Shared Future Centre, Irish Street, Wednesday, May 16 (1pm-3.30pm), is based around this year’s CR Week theme.

The magazine published for CR Week locally is based around a range of articles from local people as to how they have taken ‘Deep Breaths and Small Steps’ to either personally or within their organisations take practical action to help build a better and shared future for all.

This informal dialogue will allow people to share their experiences of taking small steps for community relations and how it impacted on them – hopefully it will inspire you and help you reflect on what you can do! Alternatively the ‘Let’s Talk Sectarianism…’ dialogue in the Tower Hotel on Thursday 17th May 1pm – 2.30pm promises to be a lively frank discussion about where we are with the issue of sectarianism locally. A must for all opinionated folk, especially if you think you have any solutions or hope to learn about the complexity of the issues!

For more than ten years now the Community Relations Council has successfully coordinated Community Relations Week with a number of planned events from voluntary and community groups, District Councils and other public bodies. More information on Community Relations Week can be found on http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/GoodRelations.