DCSDC Peace IV Board Report – 12 September 2017
Derry City and Strange District Peace IV Partnership Board – 12th September 2017
Minutes of Meeting
Meeting Date: Tuesday 12th September 2017
Time: 10.00am – 11.20 am
Venue: Rathmór Centre, Creggan, Derry~Londonderry
1. Meeting Opening
1.1 Welcome & Apologies:
The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting.
Attendees:
Sue Divin / DCSDC / Catherine Cooke / FWINMary Claire Kerlin / DCSDC / Paul Gallagher / Strabane Area Trade Union
Fiona Lafferty / DCSDC / Maureen Hetherington / Junction
Jennifer Coyle / DCSDC / Dairine McGarrigle / DFC
Cllr Christopher Jackson / Sinn Fein / Anne Mc Taggart / Youth Action NI
Cllr Colly Kelly / Sinn Féin / Ivor Morton / PSNI
Cllr Eric McGinley / Sinn Féin / Gearóid Ó hEára / An Gaeláras Ltd
Ald Thomas Kerrigan / DUP / Darren O’Neill / Youth Representative
Ald Drew Thompson / DUP / Stephen Quigley / EA
Willie Lamrock / YMCA / Teresa Stewart / Strabane A.Y.E
Allison Wallace / Waterside NP / Colleen Heaney / YJS
Kathleen McCaul / NWRC / Cllr Caoimhe McKnight / Sinn Féin
1.1 Apologies
Kevin O’Connor (DCSDC), Cllr Ruairí McHugh (SF), Martin Reilly (SDLP), Cllr John Boyle (SDLP), Maura O’Neill (WHSCT), Paul Donnelly (DEARA), Gerard Deeney (NIHE), Margaret McLaughlin (Dennett Interchange), Cllr Gus Hastings (SDLP), Ald David Ramsey (DUP), Agnieszka Luczak (Polish Abroad).
Welcomes
Drew welcomed Caoimhe McKnight the new PEACE IV Board members to the meeting and also Garret McGinty the PEACE IV Secretariat case officer from SEUPB.
Introductions
All attendees introduced themselves to the new members at the meeting.
1.2 Declarations of Interest
Eric McGinley declared an interest in the reappointments of the new PEACE IV Board member.
1.3 Minutes
The minutes of the 13th June 2017 previous Board Meeting was held to be an accurate record and were adopted.
Proposed: Colly Kelly Seconded: Christopher Jackson
2. Update from PEACE IV Secretariat
2.1 Snapshot/Update on overall programme position
Sue thanked everyone for coming to the PEACE IV Launch event on the 21st June 2017 and made the group aware that we have received our Letter offer from SEUPB the day before on the 20TH June 2017. Sue explained that our launch made it into the SEUPB newsletter.
Sue confirmed that the permission to start date was given by SEUPB on the 20th July 2017. Sue advised that the PEACE IV secretariat are meeting with the SEUPB Case Officer after the Board meeting to talk through the upcoming SEUPB deadlines.
Sue informed members that the rebid deadline has got moved the 2nd October 2017 so we have a few weeks left to complete. Sue also confirmed that staff have been trained in Health & Safety and explained that we are working with Council internal Auditors to discuss policies requirements for the PEACE IV Secretariat going forward.
Sue explained that she was invited by the Executive Office to present a PowerPoint presentation on the links between good relations and PEACE Programme funding which went well. The PEACE IV managers meeting took place last week in Coleraine and most Councils are facing the same complications and noted that we are further ahead than most. Many councils are aiming to have programmes on the ground from January 2018.
2.2 Generic update on Service Level Agreements/Contracts
Fiona provided an update on the SLA/Contracts confirming that all the tender and lead partner projects have now been issued. Sue noted that a further 3 tender have been advertised yesterday in relation to the Cohesive Neighbourhood Minority Inclusion tender.
Fiona confirmed that she is working on the individual’s project progress reports. Fiona made the group aware that she has met with a number of the project officers and will be meeting the remaining officers within the next week or two. Training on Quarterly progress reports will be given to all projects at the Training 27th September 2017.
2.3 Training for Projects
MaryClaire informed the members that all the training has taken place with the new Project Officers, Tender projects and Council Lead Project staff on communication and eligibility. The training took place in three sessions 6th June, 2nd August and 4th September 2017. MC also confirmed that the monitoring and evaluation training will take place on the 27th September 2017.
2.4 Claim/Finances
Jennifer gave an update on the first two claims to SEUPB that went on the Ems system for Period 1 from 1 April – 30 June 2016 and Period 2 from 1 July – 30 September 2016 noting that the both claims will be in by the end of the week. Jennifer also informed the members that all forecast on spend is up to date. The remaining two claims for Period 3 and 4 for 2016 will be completed after the rebid process on the Ems. The delay in claims may mean that at best case scenario we will be financially ‘up to date’ by the end of the financial year (assuming we are able to input a rapid series of claims once the first two are cleared by SEUPB).
2.5 Garret McGinty (SEUPB Case officer)
Garret thanked the PEACE IV Board for the invite to the meeting and explained that he has been working closely with the PEACE IV secretariat to roll out the action plan that was development for SEUPB for the DCSDC Programme. Garret advised that all the tender documentation is now in place and noted that there is a good team in place which he is delighted be working with as the case officer. Garret suggested that he would attend some of the Board meetings maybe once a year to listen to the progress on the projects.
3. Update on Operational Steering Group (Chair Agnieszka Luczak)
3.1 Update from the steering group meeting 29/06/2017.
Eric gave an update on the Operational Steering Group meeting that took place highlighting that all of the meeting is well covered in the notes provided.
Sue explained that the new Environmental Officer started yesterday 11th September 2017 Michael Savage who was the last of the six Project Officers to start so all now in post.
3.2 Crisis Communications plan.
Sue informed members that the communication action plan is at the back of the papers and explained that as Board members they need to be aware of this and to be aware when to follow it. Sue talked the Board through the crisis plan with the key message that Board members should always contact one of the PEACE IV secretariat if they notice an issue arising in the press or if they are contacted directly by the press about PEACE IV. DCSD Council are taking a proactive positive approach to communications. All projects have to have their own Crisis Communication which is proportionate to the project size. The Peace IV Team have created and given a template for this to all projects.
Sue advised that in any instance of negative press the team will ensure key learning points are noted and will mitigate with positive press where relevant/possible. Sue also explained the importance of the SEUPB and DCSDC Logo to be on all promotional releases and for the funders to be mentioned in the first few lines of items/papers going to committee which could be picked up by the press.
Board members raised a number of queries on communications. Paul talked about the Bonfires over the summer and highlighted that there has been a lot of talk on social media in relation to the new Project Officer. Thomas also added that this is a red hot issue which will be difficult to resolve and explained that the plan going forward needs to be right. Sue highlighted the importance of bringing this information to the steering groups so we are informed of what happening on the ground.
3.3 Update on progress over summer
Sue explained communication requirements are going well and that the bi annual newsletter is out along with the monthly e newsletter. Monitoring and evaluation is a bit behind schedule because there has been a number of issues with Survey Monkey not being able to upload the questionnaire if they are filled out offline. The statistician in council is looking at another software package.
Sue advised that there monitoring and evaluation has been a number of queries in relation to the CNR, PUL and BME categories in the questionnaire which is an SEUPB requirement. To try and resolve this a box has been added to the adult version of the questionnaire where a comment can be left.
3.4 Resignation/Replacement of Board member
Sue made the members aware that the PEACE IV Secretariat have received a resignation letter from Conal McFeely from the Creggan Enterprise. Drew read out the letter which wished the Board well and noted that he was leaving due to work commitments. Sue expressed the loss that this would be the PEACE IV Board and asked if the Board want to respond to Conal’s letter.
Willie proposed for the Board should recognise the work that Conal had done for not just this PEACE programme but all of the PEACE Programmes he has worked on in the past.
Action: For the Operational steering group to look at recognising the great work Conal McFeely has done throughout the PEACE Programmes.
Sue confirmed that Conal needed to be replaced as a Board member explaining that there is a requirement for the Board to be balanced and representative. Sue passed round a list of five people who applied to be on the Board previously – any potential new Board member should be from this list. They have a good understanding of the programme as they all sit on one of the PEACE IV steering groups.
Eric declared an interest at this point and would not have a say in the new Board replacement.
The PEACE IV Board discussed the new replacement for Conal McFeely recommendations was made that Wendy Gibbons from the Outerwest Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership should be appointed as the best fit to retain a balanced and representative Board.
Proposed: Gearóid ÓhEára Seconded: Alison Wallace
4. Update from Children and Young People Steering Group
4.1 Update from steering group meeting 20/06/2017
Stephen gave an update on the last C&YP Steering group and confirmed that he had met with Cathy Malcolm the new Youth Leadership Project Officer. Stephen advised that he has also had positive feedback on the Skills ILM Project and welcomed the cross community training element.
4.2 Brief Project Specific updates
Fiona and MaryClaire talked through the following Children and Young people’s projects.
· Marginalised Youth (Wellbeing) - The new Officer Cathy has now been trained and SLA in place.
· Youth Participation and Democracy - The new Officer Claire has now been trained and SLA in place.
· Youth Leaders and Citizenship - The Officer now been trained and SLA in place.
· Skills/Learning Pathways for Young People – The Officer Hollie has been trained and SLA in place open call was released yesterday.
· Pilot Youth Zone – The SLA is in place and Officer trained.
· Cross-Community Youth Programme (Re-bid) is currently being worked on.
· Cross-Community Children’s Programme (Re-bid) is currently being worked on.
The Board formally approved the SLA and contracts for the Children and Young People’s Projects.
5. Update from Shared Spaces and Services Steering Group
5.1 Update from steering group meeting 22/06/2017
Sue provided a general update on the Shared Space meeting that took place on 22th June 2017.
5.2 Brief Project Specific updates
Fiona and MaryClaire talked through the following Shared Spaces projects.
· Shared Space: Castlederg Steering group to be set up with the terms of conditions to be developed.
· Shared Space: St.Columb’s Park Planning permission to be granted and tenders approved.
· Shared Space: Waterside Shared Village Alison to give PowerPoint presentation.
· Natural Connections: Peace Tourism – Specification to be developed.
· Interface Investment Programme – the three lots have now been approved with BBI being successful in the retender process.
· Contested Space: Bonfires new Officer Sean McMonagle is now in place.
· Shared Space Tendered Programme (Re-bid) – Sue confirmed that we went out to the four areas in which the tender shared space rebid will be Castlederg, Strabane, Newtownstewart and Triangle/Bonds St. each meeting was positive and a follow-up meeting as be arranged for each area which the local community will take forward.
The Board formally approved the SLA and contracts for the Shared Spaces and Services Projects.
6. Update from Building Positive Steering Group Meeting
6.1 Update from steering group meeting 27/06/2017 + 31/07/2017
Catherine gave a brief update on the BPR Steering Group that took place on the 27th June 2017 and noted that they meet again on the 31st July 2017 due to technology issues. Gaslight media where unable to present at the first meeting but they presented at the 2nd meeting in July 2017. Catherine advised that the Train the Trainer programme was very interesting and that the training is available locally if anyone would be interested. Theresa commented that she had previously done this training and found it excellent.
Catherine advised that the small grant project will be an important one coming up for the BPR steering group which expression of interest open up for on the 11th September 2017.