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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£662.9K
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Spending
£614.7K
Public benefits
Action for Community Transformation (the ACT initiative) emerged in 2008 as a conflict transformation programme to facilitate the civilianisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando, following their Statement of Intent in May 2007. Since this time, ACT has engaged hundreds of former combatants/former political prisoners in its
conflict transformation and self-development training and programmes. There are approximately 1000 former combatants/former political prisoners who benefit directly from their engagement with ACT which aims to increase their participation and engagement with the social, economic and political architecture in Northern Ireland. In that respect, the core objective of ACT is to: support the reintegration of former combatants through a process of training, capacity building, empowerment, peace-building and community re-integration. As such, ACT members (former combatants and former political prisoners) complete a 12 week training programme, covering themes pertaining to; peace building, restorative justice approaches to conflict, community development, community engagement and self-development, amongst others. Upon the completion of this training, ACT members form or engage with existing Area Action Groups (AAGs). The AAGs are underpinned by community development principles. Within these voluntary roles, former combatants engage with voluntary and statutory agencies and local residents alike to create appropriate responses to a range of issues at the community level. There are currently 9 AAGs across the province with programmes and initiatives ranging from; community safety strategies, cultural awareness programmes and events to promote good community relations. In that respect, ACT promotes the charitable purposes of 1) the advancement of citizenship or community development. Indeed, the benefits which flow from this are increased stocks of social capital for the former combatants and former political prisoners, many of whom may be categorised as ‘hard to reach’ given that many are hindered by their past, are unemployed or have low/no educational qualifications. There are also benefits for the residents in the respective geographic areas, particularly as research has shown that the ability to coalesce around an issue of mutual concern has the ability to strengthen/create social cohesion and forge relationships. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 people are indirect beneficiaries of the work carried out by ACT. For example, ACT works to mitigate against inter-intra community violence which has a positive effect on the community at large. In fact, these benefits are evidenced by the engagement with local residents on matters of interest such as the presence of paramilitary murals in a given locality, whereby local residents have expressed their views and collaborated with ACT members to bring about positive change at the grassroots level. ACT also promotes the charitable purposes of 2) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation as defined in the Charities ACT (Northern Ireland) 2008. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that whilst ACT members are engaged in the transformation and developmental work of ACT, they are helping to mitigate against intra and intercommunity violence and other issues which often arise in a post-conflict society, namely criminality or a return to armed violence.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
Action for Community Transformation (the ACT Initiative) emerged as a comprehensive process to encourage and support former combatants in their transition to civilian life, following the UVF/RHC Statement of Intent (May 2007) which urged all 'volunteers' to 'assume a non-military, civilianised role.' Since this time, ACT has engaged hundreds of
former combatants, the majority of whom may be categorised as 'hard to reach,’ in its capacity building and conflict transformation training. Following this training, Area Action Groups (AAG's) are established in many disadvantaged loyalist communities throughout the province. AAGs are managed by ACT members on a voluntary basis and are underpinned by the principles of community development, with programmes ranging from addressing community safety issue, to cross community engagement. ACT has also created a public discourse about the Troubles through a permanent exhibition, whereby former combatants engage with the wider community in conflict transformation work. In sum, ACT promotes the interests and welfare of its members by supporting them to engage in the social, economic and political structures in Northern Ireland.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of citizenship or community development
- The advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
Who the charity helps
- Community safety/crime prevention
- General public
- Men
- Volunteers
- Women
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Community development
- Education/training
- Human rights/equality
- Research/evaluation
- Volunteer development
