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Glencree Chair Barbara Walshe launches new 5-year Strategic Plan in Dublin Castle

Setting course as a Centre of Excellence in Practical Peacebuilding & Learning Exchanges

Glencree now a Strategic Partner of Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund

18/5/22: The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (Glencree) yesterday launched its new Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026 outlining the 5 key strategic priorities that will guide it’s peacebuilding and reconciliation work over the next 5 years. This includes plans to establish Glencree as a Centre of Excellence in Practical Peacebuilding and Learning Exchanges on the international peacebuilding stage.

Following the recent confirmation by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund that Glencree is now a Strategic Partner of the Fund, the new 5-year plan also provides a framework for Glencree to support the reconciliation and peacebuilding priorities of the Reconciliation Fund in the coming years.

Glencree’s Five Strategic Objectives 2022 – 2026

Support peace, reconciliation and positive relationships within Northern Ireland, on the island of Ireland and on a British-Irish basis
Promote public awareness and understanding of, and engagement with, peacebuilding and reconciliation activities
Support positive community relations, inclusion and diversity by engaging and empowering people and groups affected by political or inter-communal conflict
Develop Glencree as a Centre of Excellence in practical peacebuilding and learning exchanges for local, European and international conflict prevention and transformation
Strengthen and develop our systems, structures, staff capacity and the Glencree site to enhance performance and results

Marking the launch of the Strategic Plan, Glencree Chair Barbara Walshe said:

“This 5-year plan outlines Glencree’s commitment to, and framework for, developing and nurturing the conditions and relationships that support peace and reconciled communities in Ireland, within Northern Ireland, between the UK and Ireland, and at European and international levels. As a Strategic Partner of the Reconciliation Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs, our new plan will help us to better realise our common focus on achieving deeper reconciliation between people and traditions within Northern Ireland, on the island of Ireland, North and South, and between these islands.

“The plan will also take us through our 50th anniversary of the founding of Glencree into the next chapter of our history which will include the establishment of Glencree as a Centre of Excellence in Practical Peacebuilding and Learning Exchanges as one of our key priorities. It also outlines our commitment to strong organisational governance and an undertaking to engage in ongoing monitoring, evaluation, learning and review over the coming 5 years.

“Our new plan was informed by evidence, experience, analysis and reflection. It was supported by over 30 interviews with key stakeholders and the commissioning of a research Scoping Study of international peace centres and peace education bodies. On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) in Geneva who undertook this scoping study, and to the Embassy of Switzerland in Ireland and former Ambassador HE Louis-José Touron for funding the Study, and the development and launch of the plan. I would also like to thank Adam Grennan who project managed the development and social researcher Brian Harvey for his work. Finally, our thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the OPW for their ongoing support of our work.”

Glencree’s Strategic Plan 2022-26 was launched as part of the 4th Annual Una O’Higgins O’Malley Lecture held in Dublin Castle. The keynote address by Lord Gavin Barwell, Member of House of Lords and former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May, explored current Irish-British relations and the outlook for the future in the context of challenges posed by Brexit. This was followed by a panel discussion with Rose Conway-Walsh TD, Brendan Smith TD, Linda Ervine MBE, SDLP Candidate Conor Houston and moderated by Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Aoife Moore.

Click here for more information about this event or view recordings through the links below.

“Where politics is about questions of identity, it is much harder to find a common ground that we can all agree with, or at least live with.” Lord Gavin Barwell.

PLAYBACK: Launch of Glencree Strategic Plan 2022 – 26 & Keynote Address by Lord Gavin Barwell at the 4th Una O’Higgins O’Malley Lecture.

PLAYBACK: Panel discussion with Lord Gavin Barwell, Rose Conway-Walsh TD, Brendan Smith TD, Linda Ervine MBE, SDLP Candidate Conor Houston and moderated by Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Aoife Moore.