MORE than £2.5 million from a cross community development fund has been granted to 22 projects across the north and border counties.
Included in the latest round of funding from the International Fund for Ireland is £1.5m for 10 Peace Impact (PIP) projects that will assist marginalised communities resolve issues relating to identity and conflict.
£124,500 in funds has also been given to Twaddell Ardoyne Shankill Communities in Transition (TASCIT) through the fund’s Peace Walls Programme to support efforts to bring nationalists and unionists together.
Other projects that will receive assistance include the Shankill Women’s Centre and the Cliftonville Community Regeneration Forum in Belfast.
In Antrim town, the Inter-Estates Partnership will receive almost £100,000 for a one-year project designed to engage 20 young people aged between 16-25 in the Steeple, Ballycraigy Dublin Road, Stiles, Parkhall and Farranshane areas.
Dr Adrian Johnston, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, said they were pleased to assist these "groundbreaking" projects.
"For more than 30 years, support from the fund has helped reduce tensions and promote positive transformation during periods of social and political uncertainty," he said.
"The fund is focused on equipping communities, and young people in particular, with the means to resist and disrupt division and disaffection."
"We know there are risks that still need to be taken for a lasting peace and the quality of our interventions has never been more evident."
Since its inception in 1986 the fund has committed more than £719m to various projects across Ireland.
