The Concordia Villages Programme was funded by the Special Programme for Peace & Reconciliation, the total grant received for the project was € 44,440.83

The participating villages were located in West Sligo, Southern Ireland (4 villages) and the Craigavon District, Northern Ireland (6 villages)

Programme Objectives:

Sharing of experiences
Learning from each other through idea exchange
Evoke real tangible partnerships between communities
Instil a sense of pride for ones community
Implant a feeling of project ownership within the communities
To bring about the aesthetic, economic and social enhancement of the participant villages
To facilitate the development of a self-help ethos among the communities which will encourage them to take full ownership of the immediate and long term development of their villages

What was the outcome of the project?

Resources Audits and Needs Analysis Reports for the West Sligo villages were completed.
Enhancement Plans for the Craigavon District villages are now in place.
Common ground was established between members of the various groups as they had the opportunity to discuss common difficulties and problems encountered
There was a sharing of knowledge and experiences on a cross community / cross border basis, members got to see first hand the favourable outcomes of other communities efforts thus strengthening their own commitment
There was a willingness amongst the communities to maintain established links, to use the programme as a sound building base upon which to strengthen partnerships
Distrust between communities was broken down
The communities can now see the tangible results of this highly successful cross border partnership which will act as a catalyst for future cross border partnerships
A network of partnerships was formed.

The objective of the project

The rational behind the programme is based on the objective of building a sense of identity within each participating village and on maximising this through the creation of a network of co-operation, communication and idea exchange between all the villages and participants, both area based and cross-border.