This is 'Community Relations Week' and Public Achievement marked the start of the week with the launch of two of our new resources - our handbook for coaches and our international resource for training youth workers in contested societies.  The event was hosted at Queens University by PA Chairperson, Professor Tony Gallagher.

Speaking at the event Tony said, “One of the challenges of contested societies is trying to get people to see themselves as architects of the future –these resources can help support work with young people that gives them the opportunity create a different future”.

Another Board member, Michele Marken, OBE, who many of you will know as the recently retired Principal of St Joseph's College, said “The niche work of Public Achievement is about offering a building block for the society of the future - the resources are worth their weight in gold in terms of supporting work with young people that develops their skills and knowledge and challenges their attitudes”.

Caoimhe and Darryn spoke about their roles as Civic Educators on the 'Breaking the Cycle' and 'Away from Violence' projects, and we were also honoured by an input from Tony McCusker, Chair of the Community Relations Council and Youthnet.  Tony commended the work of Public Achievement and said, “Young People are the future and Public Achievement has made a significant contribution to ensure that the future they face is totally different to the one we had”.

The week happens against a difficult background - with a rise in 'dissident Republican' activity across Northern Ireland on the one hand, and a policy vacuum on the other where the Executive has been unable to agree an alternative to the 'A Shared Future' policy brought forward by the former Direct Rule administration.  For us at Public Achievement and for many other organisations running community relations programmes with young people, this situation is further compounded by the current position of the Department of Education.  The Minister has initiated a review of their community relations policy, and this means that their funding for this work is currently only funded to August.  In the interim rumours abound about the Minister's apparent desire to do away with community relations in favour of an equality agenda.  The rumours are not unfounded, as Ruane and others in Sinn Fein are on record on this issue.

All this is not to say that PA wouldn't also benefit from an Equality policy - and we'd also like to see the Minister support cross-border and international youth work activity - but the current vacuum creates a lot of uncertainty about the future, and the funding we currently receive (which has gone down in real terms in each of the past 3 years) is vital to our overall sustainability.

The Department talks about the importance of long-term thinking and planning, of evaluation and professional standards - but the constant uncertainty and short-termism around funding policy and practice makes it extremely difficult for organisations to live up to these expectations.

Of course another vital issue is that - to paraphrase the Sinn Fein President - the problem of community relations - 'hasn't gone away you know!'.  In particular the violent radicalisation of young people by dissident Republican groups, is evidence - were it needed - that a new generation is being infected by the scourge of sectarianism.  Our recent work for the Department has shown that young people are very concerned about these issues, about the continued segregation of our communities and our education system - and keen to engage with people from other communities and cultures.  A shift in policy at this point is not only dangerous to the future of voluntary organisations, it may also prove to be fairly disasterous in terms of our collective future.