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The Thin End of the Wedge is funded by the EU’s European Regional Development fund through the PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. It is a groundbreaking multidiscipline approach to improving community relations and tackling sectarianism and racism through accredited learning, study visits, local workshops and community interaction at a local and regional level.
Content >> General
Arctic conditions lead to postponement of 2010 Awards Ceremony
Arctic conditions led to the postponement of the Thin End of the Wedge Awards Ceremony on Friday (17th). Some of the worst winter weather seen in the UK for over…
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Unique anti-racism course launched at Stormont
The innovative EU funded Thin End of the Wedge Project was launched today, the 1st of April in the Long Gallery at Stormont by Nigel Dodds OBE MP MLA.…
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Friends of the 36th mark death of Polish President
The recent tragic deaths of the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria Kaczyńska were marked on the 13th of May 2010 in special ceremony at the Katyn…
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Content >> Franks Blog
The Polish Government has recognised the formal gesture of sympathy made by the 36th Ulster DivisionMemorial Association at the deaths of the Polish President and his wife at a…
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Community Involvement Award for Transition Training
The award in Community Involvement was presented through the projects trainin partner Transition Training. Aislin Curran (Project Manager, Forward Learning) and Francis Higgins (Project Creator and Consultant), accepted the award…
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The project builds the capacity of individuals who have influence in the community to provide leadership in enabling the social integration of ethnic minorities within the community and consequently establish a proactive network of support for the most vulnerable.
The project will directly improve community relations between immigrants and tackle sectarianism by forging lasting links with local community activists, ex-prisoners, former paramilitaries and the Polish and other ethnic communities in the Northern Ireland and local Government Associations and universities in Poland.
The project will disseminate its learning, achievement and good practice on a pan-European level through its partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations and Jagiellonian University Krakow.
A multi layered accredited training programme dealing directly with the causes and effects of racism and sectarianism through understanding the history of the Holocaust and its causal roots.
As a result of increasing racial and existing sectarian tensions within working class areas in Northern Ireland, a specialist training and support company was approached to provide a programme to counteract these tensions for local residents focusing on young men and local civic leaders.
Transition Training has developed and delivered a successful and innovative course in association with the Lower Shankill Community Association and the Polish Association to deal directly with these issues focusing on the Holocaust as an example of racism taken to its extreme.
The course was developed by Transition and is supported by the National Jewish Memorial (USA) and Facing History and Ourselves. The Group agreed an achievement plan that was independently monitored at three set stages. The course also dealt directly with the causal issues behind sectarianism from a British/Irish perspective.
The course ‘The Thin Edge of the Wedge,’ included interaction from members of the local and regional Polish community and was supported by the Polish Government. The training also included a specialist Anti Racism Unit designed by INCORE.
The course is unique in that it uses the depths of human behaviour to highlight the fears of today’s communities towards diversity by using the Holocaust as the extreme result of racism then working back through history to an Irish, then local context. Participants within the group could identify with the aspects of racism and translate that into their contemporary environment.
This was especially relevant after the recent racial attacks on Poles in Belfast after the international football match between Northern Ireland and Poland. The Group agreed the content, goals and aspirations of the course and participants were selected to provide role models for the community and disseminate the knowledge gained by the training and support.
The programme was fully accredited with an international awarding body and also included elements of employability skills to meet local needs. All participants attended more than 98% of classes and as a consequence the group have produced a press statement on their learning and achievement.
All participants also agreed to undertake cultural learning sessions with immigrants including visits to housing and industry to understand the underlying dynamic of globalisation trends in migration.
The group concluded their training with a cross cultural visit to Krakow and the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Plasnow. The group met with students, teachers and lecturers from the Jagiellonian University including Dr Bozena Gierek and Anna Trojanowska, Secretary of the Krakowski Klub Dialogu to discuss the similarities between Northern Irish and Polish cultures and also the endemic problem of football hooliganism in Poland.
Participants from the course were presented with their City & Guilds qualification by the Deputy Secretary General of the Senate of Poland, Romuald Lanczkowski at a reception held for the group by the Polish Government.
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