"Building the Strength" conference wonderful success

The Greenvale Hotel, Cookstown was the setting for a one day conference for people in Northern Ireland working in the field of Race and Ethnicity. The event entitled “Building the Strength” was organised by “Stronger Together”, a consortium of organisations in Northern Ireland who work in this field, including ArtsEkta, Ballymena Inter-Ethnic Forum, Chinese Welfare Association, Foyle Multi-Cultural Forum, SEEDS and STEP.

This was the second conference organised by the Stronger Together planning group  and was aimed at increasing collaboration and knowledge sharing between groups and organisations.

The theme of the conference centred on strength in rights and influence, strength in diversity and strength in unity. Keynote speaker Naz Koser, Director of Ulfah Arts, a Birmingham based social enterprise that works to achieve social empowerment in disadvantaged communities spoke about the importance of a shared vision and collaborative work, and the powerful journey it can take you on. She stated that Stronger Together “is an energetic, fresh idea initiated by six women to share their experiences on the issues of race and ethnicity and an inspiring example of coming together to reflect upon common goals’

Participants took part in various workshops based on the conference themes to identify common issues, activities and plans. A key goal of the conference was to agree how to take forward the Stronger Together initiative and participants were proactive in their suggestions and ideas on this.

The organising consortium of Strong Together commented:

“The buzz of exchanges, ideas and thoughts brought so much positive energy among individuals in attendance at Wednesday’s conference. Stronger Together was developed by organisations working at the coalface in the sector to help build a strong, supportive network to genuinely tackle racism, promote good relations and create an environment of sharing and exchange. It is important that whilst we all use different methods we come together to achieve those common goals that unite us. We were overwhelmed by such a positive response and are confident that this conference will lead to many great outcomes in the future”

Shared and collaborative work is an excellent way for ideas and activities to be improved and for duplication to be avoided, making more resources available. It is hoped that the Stronger Together group can become the primary platform for networking, shared work and linkage to existing resources in areas of Race, Ethnicity, Migrant Support and Diversity. 

The Stronger Together group with event funders; Left to Right (standing):  Bernadette McAliskey (STEP); Ken Fraser (OFMDFM); Charo Lana (facilitator) Naz Koser (ULFAH - guest speaker); Maire Ní Threasaigh (Foyle Multi-cultural forum); Deirdre McBride (Community Relations Council); Eddie (SEEDS) Eileen Chanhu (Chinese Welfare Association); Ivy Ridge (Ballymena Inter-ethnic forum)