Tour to Derry

On the banks of river Foyle in late 546 Saint Columbs established a monastery and called that place Doire’, meaning “Oak”, and then anglicised in “Derry". In 1963, the town was chosen by King James I for an important plantation’s project, headed by some English corporations. In the same period the "London" prefix was added, changing the name of the city in Londonderry.

Student Journalism Conference

The BBC's Foreign Correspondent Kevin Connolly gave an very informative talk on the dynamic situation in Libya at the 2011 Co-operation Ireland Student Journalism conference. His personal account highlighted the practicalities of working in a conflict area and the dangers it poses to journalists. The Belfast Telegraph's Liam Clarke also spoke about the some journalism concerns about speaking 'of the record'.

Why Second life?

When I start to tell people about this project and I explain that it is happening in Second Life this Virtual World that exists in cyberspace I get a mixture of reactions. I sometime have to explain what Second Life is and from that I get comments such as 'what a fantastic idea' to the usual one of 'Ive got a real life I don't need a second life.' As always these give rise to questions I ask myself

Mainly, why am I doing it and why am I doing it in Second life?

Contested Spaces and Second Life

The main players have all gained access to the island owned by Co-operation Ireland and the first buildings that will make up the arena for the proposed game have been started.

The project will involve two teams from different sides of the Religious Divide in Northern Ireland playing a game against each other in a custom built arena on an Island in the Teen Grid of Second Life.

We are not unique

And we think it only happened to us.

Uniqueness

I suppose when you experience problems and adversity you almost always think that you are the only one it has happened to, a natural reaction. However later on you come to understand that you are not unique and that other people and regions have encountered similar ‘troubles’. This was brought home to us in Co-operation Ireland last week when we were involved in a “Legislative Study Tour” by five members of the Somaliland Government.

News from the Co-operation Ireland Kilimanjaro Trekkers

Yesterday a call from the group of 21 trekkers, 3700m up Mount Kilimanjaro confirmed that everyone was in great spirits and enjoying the trek.   They had already trekked up to 4200m to get a little bit used to the altitude before ascending to 3700m for the overnight stop.  Today the group are heading to Kibo at 4700m which will take around 7-8 hours, entering the 'desert' zone this afternoon which can be slow going and cold due to the high altitude.  According to the guide with the group,  probably half the group will begin to feel the affects of the high al

Auditor Generals Report to the Assembly

It's great to see the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr Kieran Donnelly,talking in positive terms about the voluntary sector in the report he issued to the Assembly on Creating Effective Partnerships between Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector.

Lets hope that in the future financial cuts that the significant contribution the  voluntary and community sector makes is not undervalued.

European Commission Media and Conflict Conference update

The European Commission's Media conference entitled Media and Conflict: Challenges, Constraints and Opportunities yesterday in Dublin's Royal Irish Academy brought together a colourful range of practicising journalists,diplomats and academics to explore the conference theme.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin and Marc Otte, the European Union Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process gave the keynote addressess drawing on their personal experience of the media and how the media can affect change.

Conference over

The Mind the Gap conference is over and Barry and myself have returned to the normal day to day workings of Co-operation Ireland in the Belfast Office.

Conference Report Day 2

Day two of the conference 'Mind the Gap' is gone and we are preparing ourselves for the third and final day. Again there were a wide variety of sessions and topics some demonstrating good practice from around the world and others arguing the theoretical perspectives underlying youth work.