Skip the Northern Ireland Government Bar|


Community relations

The Department of Education, through its Community Relations Branch, has responsibility for the promotion of good community relations among young people in the age range 3 to 25 in the education and youth service sectors.

The main thrust of the Departments community relations policy is to provide opportunities for the two main traditions in Northern Ireland to learn about each other, without excluding other groups or traditions.

The aim is to encourage cross-community interaction and co-operation; to support and develop respect for each other’s beliefs and backgrounds; and to encourage mutual understanding, recognition and respect for cultural diversity.

The Departments budget for Community Relations activities in 2008/09 is approximately £3.5m.  It funds the following programmes:

Cultural Traditions Programme


This programme is funded through the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, who provide a grant, currently running at £200,000 per annum, to projects which seek to enable young people to explore and understand more about their common cultural heritage and to gain a respect for cultural diversity.

Related links
Links below open in a new window
BELB
NEELB
SEELB
SELB
WELB

Downloads