CCCRTE

CCCRTE study visit

NGOs in a divided society: a summary of evaluation sheets

by Rob Fairmichael

The programme was a comprehensive 10 or 11 day one with around 24 scheduled meetings with rather more than that in the way of individuals or groups. Places visited included Derry, Corrymeela (Ballycastle), Belfast, Dublin, Glebe House (Kilclief), Peace Farm (Coleraine). There was little or no free time -- "We hadn't free time at all." Several people would have welcomed more free time, one person suggesting, "We just needed one more day at the middle for us, to think about things we heard and to speak more about our situation ourselfs." One person was relieved it was really about Northern Ireland: "I was just worried it is just a cover to actually work on reconciliation of ex-Yugoslavia people...so I am happy it was really a study trip of Northern Ireland."

For a group which did not necessarily know each other, there may not have been adequate opportunity to get to know each other as a team before being launched into the details of Northern Ireland. One person wanted an "introducing meeting" at the beginning. Another wanted "special sessions for the group only" and another again "more sessions of our group with Clem."

It is difficult in organising a comprehensive programme on Northern Ireland to avoid cramming in all the different facets which make it up. Sometimes a more impressionistic approach may need to be taken, which is easier said than done, as I know myself. Some people found too many meetings with the politicians, or the visit to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, as not relevant. But it was also not a homogeneous group; some wanted more on peace education, some wanted less on education. There are only two possible ways to get around this and both have their own problems: 1) `response programming' on a rolling basis which is difficult in asking someone to meet you tomorrow when they may not be free, or 2) dividing into smaller groups of three or four some of the time, according to interest. This also makes the logistics difficult; if you don't know the group's interests beforehand it's very difficult to plan optional programmes (what if people want to go to both options at a particular time?)

But overall the programme seems to have worked well and there were no dissatisfied customers at the end of the day. Critical comments on the same issue (as above about education), sometimes indicated different or opposing ways of resolution.

The focus

The fact of government funding for NGOs in Northern Ireland was an issue of importance for some, and one person felt it was not relevant to have "meetings with some large NGOs, which are, in some way (from my point of view) quasi-NGO." One person commented that "in practice, we had almost the same number of politicians as respresentatives of NGOs." Another would have liked information in advance about NGOs being visited to get more out of the short meetings with them -- maybe this could have been read in the mini-bus travelling there? The others seemed quite happy with the focus. One way around over-emphasis on the party political arena would have been to have had a session with short presentations and questions, or even this format according to the Pax Christi `role-play'-model, where locals role play party representatives. At one such session an indignant visitor who had missed the introduction explaining about it being a role play, wanted to know why the Sinn Fein representative was being ostracised!

Achievements/expectations

Responses here were uniformly positive: "I achieved much more than I expected" is positive, unless the original expectations were very low. Talking about NGOs, another person said "I achieved to know about their structure, problems, personal experiences and about a god cooperation between NGOs and governmental institutions." The simple statement, "I've learned a lot about Northern Ireland and about myself" indicates a very personal relevance.

On differences to expectations, one person had envisaged a conference and was pleasantly surprised. A couple of people didn't expect to meet so many political party and government representatives (they were being critical) -- though another person who made the same point about political representatives noted "their readiness to speak about peace." They also commented on the way it was organised --"very informal, friendly and full of warmth."

More/less of things

Responses here are really dependent on individual interests, as indicated regarding education. One concrete suggestion was that there could have been "some comparisons with our situation, or dialogues with people from professions involved in conflict. Or presentations of some case studies, detailed presentations of some concrete conflict, and role of different sides in it (e.g. hunger strikes, 'Bloody Sunday')." Other suggestions were for more practical visits "like it was in a school in Londonderry," "workshops in conflict resolution with Northern Irish groups of children or adults from different communities," "more about the techniques of communications and cooperations", "more lawyers, human and minority rights experts", “more about work with children", "longer time with people working on very grassroots level in cross-community relations." On the last point, a look at the work of one of the more dynamic Community Relation Officers locally might have been good, but to encapsulate all of these different interests would have necessitated another ten-day stay.

Clem had told me in discussion before the visit something to the effect that he felt they had had more than enough of theory and techniques. One person said that before arriving "I've imagined there might be some practical skills or methods, but now I realise that concerning the concept of the visit and diversity of the group's interests, it would have been quite inadequate and irrelevant." Nevertheless, some more direct connection with like-minded theorists working in an unlike situation might have been fruitful, if feasible, but that would have been a different program me.

Someone felt there were too many meetings in the day anyhow. One person felt that they were expected to know more about the situation in Northern Ireland than they did, so that papers before arrival or a general introduction at the start might have been useful. There was a request echoed by a few people for free time "useful for clearing up some points of meetings" or "to go through the materials we've got."

Most people felt the visit was about the right length. The evaluation questionnaire asked participants if they would have preferred to spend a couple of days in one organisation and not have such a range of visits; there were four `yes' answers, three people saying `no' and one person felt it would have been difficult for such a heterogeneous group. No consensus there.

Learning

"What did you learn from your visit?" received the short response of "Are you joking?" from one participant, presumably at the prospect of attempting to summarise everything in less than three cms on a page. People did seem very pleased to have got hold of resource material they could use; I already knew that from meeting them and being involved in bargaining for some materials for them! One said, "I am happy for recieving books, which shall be useful for establishing peace education centre."

Inevitably, different people focused on different things learnt; "many different ways in long-term cross-community work, influence that political culture can have on the peaceful life and mutual understanding in divided societies, cooperation between NGOs and government, peace education literature." Another said; "I found that people are not a problem. The problems are rigid attitudes of some leading politicians and their hidden system dirty activities with agggressive groups" -- strong stuff. One person learnt simply "More about the possible approaches to the conflict." Another felt it could be of use to start with some democratic initiatives, but first of all -- to advance the activities (and change the structure) of our own NGO." A few commented that they would be keeping in touch with other participants. One commented in upbeat fashion, "I have ideas for new projects. I will write articles for newspapers and magazines and become famous." Another said that there Col 2 Link NONE will be "so many things" to share with colleagues. I thought I had heard all the world's sayings about building bridges but I don't recall the one that says "You cannot build the bridge from the middle of the river."

A mixed group

One person differed from the rest as to how "mixed" the group was in interests and nationality; "I wish the group had been more mixed" is clear but does not indicate how the group wasn't mixed enough. Another comment was that "it was helpful in realising own national identity and stereotypes, to exchange experiences in peace- and community-building work, to see at the possibilities of peace links across the border." A specific comment was "the last lesson was the best for self respectation." Another said "interaction could have been better if we had more time and perhaps, few sessions of the kind we had last afternoon."

Conclusions

Many conclusions have already been mentioned and I will not repeat them here. One closing comment was "I regret that we haven't enough (official) time to speak about the situation in our country." Perhaps one possibility here would have been to hold an information session in either Derry or Belfast which would have allowed the visitors to share on their work and perspectives, as well as a short panel of contributions and discussion, it could have taken a 'marketplace' format (say after a coffee break) so that locals interested in particular people's work could have talked more at a one-to-one level. Talking about their situation while in Northern Ireland might have helped the process of sorting out relevances and irrelevances in who and what they were meeting.

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