Living in Belfast

The Living in Belfast project has not only been an overwhelming success, delivered across Belfast in a wide range of organisations to over 80 participants, but it has also developed in a way that we in GEMS had not foreseen.

To highlight this diversity of practice I want to show a few examples of the different ways it has been used. The trainer from Conway Mill in West Belfast, who works as an ESOL tutor, has integrated the information into her ESOL lessons, and the four trainers who work for Barnardo’s across Belfast and further afield as Ethnic Minority Workers are delivering the project as an element of their parenting programme.

Many of the trainers are using the information to inform their practice and are sharing the information with their colleagues and service users making use of the back pocket guide.

A great example of this is the Coordinator of the Race Relation Integration Project, of the South Belfast Roundtable who runs the weekly Friendship Club in South Belfast, has been giving the back pocket to members on a weekly basis. This has been very helpful for migrants that have newly arrived or been in Belfast for a short time to find out local information about a wide range of subjects for Living, working and integrating into the Belfast Community. The Friendship club attracts a wide range of Migrant and locals with a large group of regular attendees from countries that include Spain, Slovakia, Portugal, Nepal and a number of African Countries including Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

The life and diversity of the project is something that GEMS would like to capture and develop further after the project completes in December 2010.