A step toward a lasting peace

by Diane Wahle

May 10, 2008 | Brattleboro Reformer | Brattleboro, Vermont

On April 17, I was the keynote speaker at a cross border governmental conference in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The core question I was asked to address was how to engage the broader community in achieving outcomes for children and youth and I relied on my many years of work as administrator of the Alliance for Building Community (ABC), the regional partnership for southeastern Vermont. Outcomes-based planning is a disciplined way of thinking and taking action that can be used to improve the quality of life in communities. The conference participants wanted a Vermont perspective on their work and I highlighted two approaches ABC has used to bring together the community to focus on outcomes: the concept of a "Community Team" which targets the needs of adolescent youth and the Thriving Communities initiative which utilizes study circles to engage community members in reducing poverty. An important part of the message promoted asset-based community development which focuses on the expansion of young peoples' strengths. I featured the asset development work taking place in the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union schools and towns.

The conference was a major cross-border event -- a first of its kind. Government heads for children and young people from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland met publicly as "Children's Ministers" for the first time to launch an outcomes based planning approach to support their strategies for children. The outcomes they are promoting center on health promotion and community well-being. At the event a new interactive Web site system that maps services and measures outcomes for the border counties was unveiled (see www.cawt.com). The conference and planning was funded by the European Union Program for Peace and Reconciliation -- a fund that targets areas of conflict along borders.

I did not arrive at these events with a deep knowledge of the history of the Troubles and the conflict between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Daily life in Northern Ireland is no longer defined by the daily fear of open violence about to happen at any moment, however 40 years of violence casts a long shadow. An important challenge is for all the parties involved to define a shared future together.

As I became acquainted with the participants, I realized how significant the April 17 conference was. People described to me their "lost childhoods" and how the conference signified a better world for their children. In the middle of the day everything halted for a media appearance of three legislators: two from Northern Ireland and one from the Republic -- cameras flashing, TV coverage, etc. They each made a statement endorsing the integrated outcomes planning approach. It was only later that I learned that one of the Northern Irish ministers was a former IRA Sinn Fein bomber (who had been imprisoned for many years) and the other a staunch follower of Ian Paisley, the right wing Protestant party leader. Ten years ago, these two were at war with one another. Today they are, as legislators, both insiders in Northern Ireland promoting common outcomes with the Republic of Ireland for children and youth.

The power of outcomes based planning was dawning on me. In a country that is so segregated (almost all public housing and public schools are segregated by Catholics and Protestants), the conference was another way through the door towards a lasting peace. It represents a significant contribution to the ten year celebration of the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

After the conference I was invited to visit Letter Kenny, Donegal in the Republic where I made a presentation to service providers and educators on how to engage the broader community in the outcomes planning work. I met with representatives from the Donegal Youth Council and learned that every county in the Republic of Ireland has established a democratically elected Youth Council that is attached to each County Council.

The trip shed some light on the challenges we are facing in Brattleboro area schools related to increasing truancy and tardiness. In Letter Kenny, I had the opportunity to visit a parent resource center run by a dynamic Sister of Mercy, Helen Kelly. The Parent Stop resource center, home-school liaison staff, and the training of parents to offer family support are approaches we could learn from. In addition, in a K-8 school in the Creggan neighborhood in Derry, a school principal named Charlie O'Donnell has set up student teams who promote being at school on time ready to learn.

These are only a few examples of how beneficial it would be for ABC to participate in an ongoing relationship with the border county work in Ireland. Future European Union sponsorship of the border-county outcomes work is a possibility which could continue to involve ABC. Such an exchange could only enrich our work.

Diana Wahle of East Dummerston has been the administrator of the Alliance for Building Community for the past 14 years.

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