Schools Across Borders continues to pilot active collaborative partnerships with selected practitioners of Community Relations and/or Human Rights Education projects in both formal and non-formal sectors. We have therefore been able to secure working agreements with the following organisations/practitioners on a number of operational and strategic levels:

School Year Programme

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Aungier St., Dublin

Schools Across Borders has developed links with Mr. Will Peters, Coordinator and Lecturer of an M.Sc course on Community Development & Project Appraisal, will arrange for one or two student placements, of 3 - 4 months during each school year, with a view to either researching and assisting project monitoring and evaluation and/or providing additional facilitation assistance;

Self Help Development International (SHDI)

CBS schools network Development Education partnership project: CBS Carlow, St. Leo's, Carlow; CBS, Portlaoise; as piloted in the present school year, Schools Across Borders prepared a three-session programme based on the three strands of the Preparatory Module. To be renewed on a similar basis in forthcoming school years.

Cooperation Ireland
Civic-Link Programme at Belfast Boys Model School; as piloted in the present school year, Cooperation Ireland has agreed to permit thematic linkage to our own programme: students to relate aims and achievements of Civic-Link programme to global aspects of Schools Across Borders aims and objectives and to communicate this linkage in posters and video presentation for Israeli and Palestinian school groups.

Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People (NICCY)
Ms Monica Mallon, Participation Officer at NICCY shall continue to facilitate one-session workshops in all four Belfast school groups. The aim of the workshops is to reinforce the relevance of the Rights of the Child to young people and the role of NICCY.

Intercommunity Development Project (Intercomm)
Intercomm is a North-Belfast based organisation whose mission is to provide community inspired peace building initiatives, youth programmes and job creation programmes. As piloted in present school year, Intercomm staff member to meet with visiting Israeli and Palestinian student groups and accompanying Dublin students: i) to inform on cross-community actions in Belfast, implemented and planned by Intercomm, and ii) to bring students on 2 hour walking tour of “peace wall” and “interface” areas of New Lodge and Tiger's Bay.

Cross-Border Weekend Event 2007

Ms Naylor is well-known to practitioners of Community Relations programmes in Northern Ireland. She has published a number of resources on transforming sectarianism and on development education methods for both schools and youth sectors. Ms Naylor facilitated a workshop on anti-sectarianism at our Cross-Border Event, May 2007, and shall hopefully be able to lead similar workshops at our future Summer Camps (July 2008 + 2009);

Intercomm and Local Initiatives for Needy Communities, Belfast (LINC):

LINC is a Nazarene Compassionate Ministry working for Peace, Reconciliation and Social Justice in Northern Ireland. It is a community-based initiative working mainly in the Greater North Belfast, Newtownabbey and East Antrim. We expect to invite both Intercomm and LINC to co-facilitate workshops and/or field visits both during the school year programme and summer camps, in order to reinforce cross-community themes and to promote future actions.

Trocaire Summer School

Trocaire shall host annual summer school programmes, based on development and justice issues, for students of its own school year programme. From 9 -13 July 2007, it shall host a summer school programme on the themes of conflict, with specific focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Schools Across Borders has been invited to organise a workshop and follow-up actions, to be co-facilitated by two past-participant students of the Schools Across Borders programme.