Glencree
Co. Wicklow
Glencree
Ireland
- Gender
- International/Cultural relations
- Others
- Religion
- Youth and education
The Glencree Community consists of 34 staff members (part and full-time), 12 residential, international volunteers, and 3 residential education interns. Several other NGOs work with Glencree on programmes, such as Corrymeela in Northern Ireland and the Global Partnership for Conflict Prevention. Resources available to Glencree include several historical and large buildings that house offices, 55 beds for overnight guests, and a building that is home to 15 volunteers and interns. Glencree receives funding from the European Union, governments (Ireland, UK, International Fund for Ireland), Glencree Business Club, and the “Friends of Glencree”, who are individual and private people. Glencree has a budget of roughly €1.2 million each year. The Ulster Bank Resource Centre (library) provides a stock of books with themes like history, politics and conflict management. Project work consists of dialogue workshops, training, peace education with youth, women, survivors, former combatants, and international groups.
The core mission of Glencree is: Committed to peacebuilding and reconciliation within and between communities. Glencree provides services and facilities expressly devoted to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Ireland, North and South, in Britain and beyond; offers programmes and space to help deal with conflict in a democratic society; enhance understanding of the complex relationships on these islands and to facilitate the further development of pluralism in Ireland. Glencree contributes to the formation of new relationships and trust building within and between these islands leading to the consolidation of peace. The idea of “Sharing our Learning” means to bring the lessons learned from our experiences of peacebuilding to a wider audience. The international volunteers from all over the world are able to spread Glencree’s values over national borders.
Glencree runs several programmes: The Peace Education Programme offers learning opportunities in peacebuilding, prejudice, multiculturalism, racism and bullying to young people. The Survivors and Former Combatants programme consists of dialogue group work to cultivate relationships between people that will lead to sustainable peace. In the Political Dialogue Programme politicians meet for dialogue or training and a summer school takes place each year. The Churches programme uncovers peacebuilding tasks for church communities and people of faith. The International Programme grew in response to requests from other conflict areas to share our lessons learned from Ireland; training and dialogue initiatives are taking place in Haiti, the Middle East, Colombia and Sri Lanka. The Womens Programme is a capacity building initiative with Train the Trainer workshops.