OUR Generation Launches
The OUR Generation project is a Peace IV funded project that provides a unique opportunity for communities, north and south of the Border, to work together to halt the intergenerational impact of trauma and to build emotional resilience and peace for generations to come.
This three-year project will run to December 2022 and engage with 36,000 children, young people and their key contacts. The project will be delivered in education, youth and community settings aimed at the five Urban Village Areas of Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The cross border partnership of seven regional organisations will be led by Action Mental Health in partnership with Donegal Youth Service, Co-Operation Ireland, Youth Action NI, Youth Work Ireland, PlayBoard NI and Ulster University. Funding for the OUR Generation project has been awarded through the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), match-funding for the project has been provided by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.
OUR Generation will collaborate with existing community–based initiatives to offer accessible, age appropriate prevention, early intervention and recovery activities delivered on a cross-border and cross-community basis to support the mental and emotional well-being of children and young people. Children and young people will engage in programme design and delivery, including provision of peer support, developing skills and confidence to improve well-being within their communities and act as agents of change, building peace for future generations.
The OUR Generation project is a unique opportunity to halt the transgenerational impact of trauma and to build emotional resilience and peace for generations to come.
OUR Generation Team
OUR Generation: Spaces to Be programme
The Our Generation programme delivered by PlayBoard NI will look at, and build on, cross-community development which strives to further improve relations between communities using a play methodology.
PlayBoard’s OUR Generation: Spaces to Be programme is based on the Space’s to Be – Mapping Identity and Belonging toolkit. The toolkit was developed by PlayBoard through its Peace III Diversity in Play initiative and builds on PlayBoard’s many years of Playwork and peace building experience and practice working with children, young people and communities across Northern Ireland. Our focus is on the critical role of play as a means of supporting both the development of childhood resilience and as a mechanism for positively addressing differences at individual, familial and cross-community level. Through a range of practical and playful exercises the Spaces to Be programme will focus on breaking down barriers caused by transgenerational traumas and adverse experiences, such as, those caused by The Troubles. Using play, we will build resilience in children and young people by recognising and celebrating difference, in turn supporting their positive mental health and well-being.
In terms of resilience, research has highlighted the importance of play in offering children access to opportunities to build characteristics closely associated with high levels of resilience. These include the ability to adapt to distinct or changing circumstances or set-backs and recover from same; the ability to learn and grow from mistakes, challenges and difficult situations enhancing both mental and physical capacity to cope with stress and adversity; the capacity to develop positive self-concept and high self-esteem.
From a cross-community perspective, despite perceived differences, the one uniting factor for all children and young people throughout childhood is PLAY. Children and young people’s lives are full of play opportunities and it is through these play opportunities that children learn about others, explore difference and better understand the world around them. Through play they are able to develop the skills required for competence in cognitive, creative and social spheres. Critically, in play all children are equal, and it is through the act of play that children and young people’s learning in cooperation and conflict resolution begins.
