Online Conference – ‘Building a Better Society – The Impact of Shared Education’

Sharing From The Start will be featured at an online conference, taking place January 2021. Hosted by SJC Consultancy and National Children’s Bureau, where they will be launching the findings of their Impact Evaluation of Shared Education on behalf of SEUPB and the EU PEACE IV Programme. The conference will provide a valuable opportunity to discuss and reflect on Shared Education’s contribution to improving educational outcomes and promoting good relations.

SJC consultancy, in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NI), were commissioned by The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) to assess the impact of the interventions within the PEACE IV Programme Specific Objective 1, Action 1: Children participating in Shared Education.

The funded projects and delivery partners include:

  • €4.2m, Sharing from the Start (SFTS) – involving early years’ settings. Delivered in partnership by Early Years – the organisation for young children; the National Childhood Network (NCN); and The Fermanagh Trust.
  • €28.8m, Collaboration Through Sharing in Education (CASE) – targeting primary and post-primary schools. Delivered in partnership by The Education Authority and Léargas.

Peter Weir MLA, Minister of Education, Northern Ireland and Norma Foley T.D., Minister for Education, Republic of Ireland will be addressing the conference. Practitioners and pupils who have taken part in shared activities will be sharing their stories and experiences. The guest speaker will be Rima Salah former Deputy Exec. Director of UNICEF.

The €33m PEACE IV Shared Education projects, delivered across Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland, has to date benefited over 400 preschools, primary/national and post-primary schools. At its conclusion, Shared Education will have benefited 144,000 children and 2,100 teachers.

The conference is open to anyone with an interest in furthering the Shared Education agenda across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, including government officials, politicians, academics, schools, early years settings, churches/faith representatives, and organisations within the children and young people’s sectors, and wider civil society.

The Zoom conference will take place Thursday 28th January, 1pm-3pm. For more information, and to reserve your place & access joining details..

CLICK HERE for Eventbrite link

“Our participation in Shared Education has greatly benefited our children and school. We have been able to upskill our teachers, invest in resources, and visit places we never have been before.” (Teacher)

“The benefit is hopefully children are growing up in a different society to what we grew up in, and Shared Education is contributing to that.” (Principal)

“We have absolutely loved being part of this project! We have witnessed huge benefits for our children, parents, staff, school, and community. We hope that this may continue in our normally divided society.” (Teacher)

“Myself and my team have all really enjoyed participating in Shared Education. It has given us the confidence in providing new experiences to our children, encouraged more parental partnership and involvement with the community as a whole, that we would not have been able to experience had we not signed up to the programme.” (Preschool leader)

“We have had a wonderful year being part of this programme and really do hope that this is something that we can continue with in the future. It is so important in helping us meet the needs of our children.” (Preschool leader)

 

Guest speaker:

Rima Salah

(former Deputy Exec. Director, UNICEF)

Rima Salah, Ph.D., served as a Member of the United Nations High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations and as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, U.N. Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad. In addition, Dr. Salah has had a distinguished career with UNICEF. Her service includes: Deputy Executive Director for UNICEF (2004-2007, 2011-2012), Regional Director for West and Central Africa (1999-2004), and UNICEF representative in several countries including Vietnam, Burkina Faso as well as head of office in Queta, Pakistan.

As a highly effective advocate for the rights of children and women in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, she contributed to Security Council (SC) Resolution 1612 on child rights violations and Security Council (SC) resolution 1325 Women, Peace, and Security. Dr. Salah has received many awards of distinction from several non-governmental organizations and U.N. Member States, including the French Legion of Honor.

In October 2015, Dr. Salah was elected to Chair the newly formed Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC) of which Yale is a founding member. The ECPC, launched at UNICEF HQ in September 2013, brought together leaders from international organizations, academia, practice, philanthropy, networks media and development.

Dr. Salah is Volunteer Faculty at the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine. She is co-editor of the volume at MIT Press, Pathways to Peace: The Transformative Power of Children and Families. Britto obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1999.