Funding

Current EU Funding Opportunities

Millions of pounds of Peace Funding has been poured into Northern Ireland. However many communities still find it difficult to access this funding because of bureaucracy and lack of expertise in completing the forms. Having spent many years working alongside community groups Diane has always recognised the challenges in seeking to retain core funding and expand services. She has appointed a staff member, Trevor Cummings, to work alongside communities - whether they are engaged in social enterprise, in church based activities, the loyal orders or working with the victims of terrorism - in order to seek out funding opportunities and so maintain valuable services within our communities.

European Rural Development Programme

The European Union has an active rural development policy that is designed to help our countryside and the people who live and work there. The current policy and its funding stream are focused on three themes (known as "thematic axis") and these are:

• improving the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sector;
• improving the environment and the countryside;
• Improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of the rural economy.

To help ensure a balanced approach to policy, Northern Ireland is obliged to spread their rural development funding between all three of these thematic axis. Local councils have come together in clusters to facilitate the delivery of the Programme and there are seven clusters working with Local Action Groups ensuring a bottom-up delivery with local people responsible for local decisions.

Presently three of those clusters are open for new applications and are listed below:

European Peace III Programme

Under Priority 1.1 of the Peace III Programme, Building Positive relations at a local level, councils still continue to work within self-defined clusters on the development of peace and reconciliation action plans. Their focus is to reinforce progress towards a peaceful and stable society and to promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the border region, by supporting projects that bring communities together.

The Managing Authority for PEACE III is the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) but the council clusters have responsibility for the delivery of the programme at a local level and invite applications at different times in the year.

For further information on the current availability of grants ranging from £500 - £10k in your area, contact the respective lead Council Offices.

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