Supporters discuss the New Common Charter in new podcast

 

Two supporters of the New Common Charter for cooperation within and between these islands have spoken to the Across Divides podcast about their involvement with the project, and how it aims to empower civic society to drive cooperation, north-south and east-west. Tara Farrell, CEO of Longford Women’s Link, and Kate Clifford, Director of Rural Community Network, discussed rural connectivity during the podcast which is part of the iCommunity initiative created by Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) and The Wheel.

Tara and Kate spoke of the importance of north-south and east-west cooperation, how the New Common Charter encourages this cooperation and gave some practical examples of cross-border initiatives they participate in. Their discussions highlight the value of cooperation embedded in the New Common Charter and the continued efforts and collaboration of those organisations who have signed up to it.

“It solidified the commitment on our behalf as an organisation to maintain those relations long term. We know the benefit of those relations, of working strongly in collaboration with other community development activists, watching what others are doing in terms of unpicking some of the difficulties we all face, the commonalities that we have and working together in collaboration to resolve those issues. But also learning from each other […] working to invest in our communities in a way that supports and consolidates the relations north and south, east and west” – Kate Clifford, Director of Rural Community Network.

“For us, we’ve always recognised there is that need for grassroots groups to be able to come together on an all-island basis and talk about our shared challenges and have the conversations.  And they’re not always easy conversations […] but I think there was always a willingness to hear others views and experiences and exchange that knowledge of good practices. So when we’re talking about the Charter itself, we’re talking about increasing that opportunity, to share information, promoting those civil society values and contributing to that shared experience” – Tara Farrell, CEO of Longford Women’s Link. 

To learn more or to become a supporter of the Charter, please email ccbs@qub.ac.uk

Watch the full podcast interview