Irish Rural Link (IRL), the national network representing the interest of rural communities, is partnering with Rural Action Northern Ireland (NI) for its annual conference on Thursday, June 24, from 10:00a.m-1.30p.m.
The conference will provide an opportunity for community groups, as well as organisations in the community and volunteer sector, among other sectors, to hear about new funding available or coming on stream for cross-border projects.
Due to continued Covid-19 restrictions, the conference will be online via Zoom. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Making connections: preparing for funding opportunities and cross border collaboration.’
There will also be a number of thematic workshops to help get participants thinking about potential projects, while also presenting them with the opportunity to meet and network with potential partners.
The conference will help to strengthen existing cross-border collaborations and hopefully create new ones, encouraging those who have not previously participated in cross-border projects to get involved, said Irish Rural Link CEO, Seamus Boland.
Speakers will include representatives from:
- Community Foundation Ireland, responsible for the delivery of the all-island fund for community groups;
- SEUPB, which has delivered previous PEACE and Interreg EU funding and is responsible for the new PEACE Plus funding;
- International Fund for Ireland which focuses on promoting social and economic advance and encouraging contact, dialogue and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the southern border counties; and
- Pobal, administrator for community and voluntary sector funding in the south.
“We are delighted to be able to partner with our colleagues from Rural Action to bring communities both north and south this very timely event,” Seamus said.
“IRL has worked with a number of organisations in Northern Ireland over the years, as have many of our members, and we see this as an opportunity to encourage more organisations to get involved and participate in joint projects as we recover from the pandemic and adapt to Brexit, climate change and digitalisation.”
Teresa Canavan, CEO of Rural Action, said that the conference will provide an excellent opportunity for groups in the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, to come together to discuss ideas, and more importantly help bring about positive change to support rural communities.
“Rural communities have faced a real challenge in the past few years and with colleagues in Irish Rural Link, we look forward to helping support these rural communities in the months and years ahead.”
This is a free event but registration is necessary.