S2@25: Capturing and Transferring the knowledge of the Strand 2 implementation bodies for improved cooperation and cooperation governance

The S2@25 project is a twenty-four month cross-border project supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

It is being delivered by the Centre for Cross Border Cooperation (Lead Partner), Atlantic Technological University (Partner) and the North South Implementation Bodies (NSIBs, Associated Partners) established under Strand 2 of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement – Foras na Gaeilge, InterTrade Ireland, Loughs Agency, Safefood, SEUPB, Tourism Ireland, Ulster-Scots Agency and Waterways Ireland.

Research to record and reflect on the collective impacts achieved by the implementation bodies over the last 25 years is already underway. The research, being undertaken by Optimum Research and Innovation Northern Ireland (ORINI) and will identify examples of best practice in the implementation bodies cross border and all-island operations. It will also highlight solutions found to overcome obstacles to cooperation. We are working closely with Dr Karen Orr and Dr Leeanne O’Hara from ORINI.

The project aims to record the collective impacts of the North South Implementation Bodies and use the learning from that process to improve strategic cross border cooperation in the future. 

The overall objective of the project is to record and reflect on the collective impacts of the North South implementation bodies, celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2024. It will identify and disseminate examples of best practice in their cross-border and all-island operations that will improve capacity for cooperation at a strategic level.

The main outputs the project will produce include: 

• A research report on the cross-border collaborative best practice of the implementation bodies and their experience of overcoming obstacles to their cross-border operations over the past 25 years

• A strategy jointly developed by the implementation bodies setting out how they could effectively contribute to addressing longer-term challenges and priorities shared by the two administrations, and any potential obstacles to their contributions and potential solutions 

• A pilot action resulting in the testing of a short course on cross-border collaboration to improve capacity for cooperation through the transfer of relevant skills, and

• Eight organisations cooperating across borders in the development and execution of a demonstration initiative comprising three dissemination events, and in the implementation of the joint strategy. 

The long-term impact the project expects to achieve is improved capacity for cooperation and cooperation governance, with the implementation bodies as a collective and their key stakeholders better equipped with a knowledge framework of strategic collaboration that can be applied not only by current actors, but also by those who will be responsible for cooperation in the future. 

The project launch and first dissemination event took place in Parliament Buildings, Belfast, on Thursday 17 October 2024. It involved our Chair Peter Osborne, Dr Caoimhe Archibald (Finance Minister at the Northern Ireland Executive), Andrew Condon (Department of Public Expenditure, ​National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in the Irish Government), Gina McIntyre (Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body), Dr Leeanne O’Hara, Dr Karen Orr, Seán Ó Coinn (Chief Executive of Foras na Gaeilge), Ian Crozier (Chief Executive of the Ulster-Scots Agency) and Aidan Campbell (Research Programme Development Manager at the Centre for Cross Border Cooperation). 

Research dissemination events are being planned in Dublin in November and a research report launch event in Armagh in December.