Networks

FCT Network Fund in London

The forum is explicitly grounded in there being tangible outcomes at each conference, a commitment made by each city to carrying out a project, which it outlines at the conference’s closing session. The project will be designed to further transition, reconciliation, and development in the city itself or one of its sister cities. Expertise in a particular area can be of significant benefit to that city or used to make reciprocal arrangements with one or a number of other cities to carry out joint projects. All projects must be within the city’s capacity and competence to deliver on, within the framework of the forum itself.

FCT BUSINESS NETWORK:

  • Growth, jobs, social purpose
  • Credit loans that cannot be financed by other sources (e.g. banks)
  • Support for young people through creation of joint working places
  • Provision of financing for Northern Irish businesses to expand into FCT cities
  • Widen spaces for incubation, expertise and new technologies
  • Moving from small to larger business investment
  • Greater youth employment could decrease potential for violence
  • Female empowerment (reflecting on the whole family)

FCT WOMEN’S NETWORK

Across the globe, women have historically been a vulnerable group, susceptible to the impacts of conflict, systemic oppression, and fewer economic and social opportunities for development participation. FCT recognises the important role that women play in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of communities emerging from conflict, as they build the resilience of their own lives and those of the next generation. Women face unique social and economic challenges that come from being the head of households impacted through conflict, and provide opportunities to share experiences of both struggle and success.  This has proven important to strengthening their capacity to engage in emerging governments and their growing economies.

Specifically, the FCT Women’s Network will work within the framework of the Forum and its subsidiary networks to focus on helping women, and women’s organisations in the hosting city, to deal with the problems they define as most oppressive. It is not enough to listen to their challenges; it is vital to learn about the strategies they use to cope with them.

As a network that is designed by women and for wome and that is supported by other members of the affected communities, the FCT Women’s Network is a structure that hosts all members’ ideas and values, and their initiatives and projects, in order to facilitate dissemination, visibility, implementation and cooperation with other networks and institutions that aim to empower women further and the important role that they play in peace, reconciliation, and development.

FCT YOUTH NETWORK

For many societies that are emerging from conflict, the role of youth is increasingly important, as they are the generation that can affect the greatest change in reconciling differences and divisions while working towards prosperity and development. To facilitate this, FCT members have created a successful network of youth leaders, who are working to create sustainable relationships across borders and divided communities. They are participants in successful business training programs, they are members of local governments, and they are leaders in their community who strive to ensure that their generation does not face the divisions that have pushed their communities apart.

By engaging in human rights, the younger members of FCT will develop feelings of cooperation across existing divisions, to transform existing conflicts among peers whilst promoting the rights and interests of themselves and their families. The structure of membership of the wider FCT Forum will allow younger people greater representation in policy-making institutions and multi-ethnic groups and associations. The FCT Youth Network leverages the notoriety of the Forum and its participants to push for positive change in policy and development that disproportionately affect youth.

To achieve this, the FCT Youth Network held its inaugural conference in Mitrovica in September 2013. Its ongoing work has resulted in the establishment of ethnically mixed project teams and organisations, which design training and capacity building activities with diversity and reconciliation in mind. A focus on human rights, advocacy, and good governance ensure that young leaders are driving positive change in their communities that will be sustainable for generations to come. The FCT Youth Network is equipping a group of young men and women to take on the challenges of living in a global society, while remaining committed to the healthy development of their individual communities with recognition of their divided pasts.

FCT CITIES

  • Baghdad
  • Belfast
  • Derry-Londonderry
  • Haifa
  • Jerusalem
  • Kaduna
  • Kirkuk
  • Mitrovica
  • Mitte
  • Mostar
  • Nicosia
  • Ramallah
  • Sarajevo
  • Srebrenica
  • Tripoli (Lebanon)
Chris Yates(Police Service of Northern Ireland)

"You cannot take our model for working and simply drop it in your own city ... (yet) I have been a police officer for 20 years, with a mass of experience that I would like to share some practical examples of how we deliver policing to the community."

Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad AshafaMuslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre

"Our centre has been in existence for 16 years, building community bridges, resulting in 'safe spots' in Kaduna City; this model was shared with Eldoret, Kenya, and brought together its divided communities."

Hasan Turan Bauhalddin SaeedKirkuk Provincial Council

"Kirkuk is a city in transition; the rebuilding of Kirkuk and Iraq as a whole can only happen through the promotion of mutual respect, compassion and peace...Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs and Christians live together in the city, and brotherhood is promoted among all."

Lorraine DennisBelfast City Council

"Belfast City Council could not do any of its Good Relations community work without the excellent partnership among the public, private and voluntary sectors, which has been central to conflict transformation in the city."

Fathi MarshoodSHATIL

"My organisation's SHATIL project of Haifa as a Model City of Joint Living works to transform Haifa into a shared city based on partnership, respecting all residents and strengthening a mutual sense of ownership...I had the privilege of sharing the lessons and challenges of this project with fellow members of the Forum."

Chris YatesPolice Service of Northern Ireland

"You cannot take our model for working and simply drop it in your own city ... (yet) I have been a police officer for 20 years, with a mass of experience that I would like to share some practical examples of how we deliver policing to the community."