Community, youth leadership & peacebuilding
LEAD: Part of Forty Years of Peacebuilding
I’m delighted to see the LEAD Youth Leadership Programme featured in the International Fund for Ireland’s October 2026 Fund Focus publication, celebrating forty years of peacebuilding on this island.
It is a pleasure to have contributed to the publication and to see the work of our young people, Lifford Clonleigh Resource Centre, Include Youth and our partner schools recognised alongside so many people and projects who have helped build a more peaceful, inclusive society.
Working with young people across East Donegal and West Tyrone brought together many of the strands that have shaped my practice over the years: community development, participatory arts, advocacy, education and peacebuilding. At the heart of LEAD was a simple principle: young people need time, space and trust to explore difficult questions and find their own voices.
That meant making room for questions about identity, diversity, history, power and belonging. Through conversation, storytelling, theatre, filmmaking and shared experiences, we explored how the past shapes the present and how young people can influence the future. Their questions and experiences helped shape the learning as it developed.
Some of the most meaningful moments were quiet ones: someone choosing to speak after weeks of listening, a group considering a perspective they had not encountered before, or a discussion moving somewhere none of us had anticipated. Those moments remind me why listening and patience matter so much in this work.
The case study captures that approach beautifully. It also recognises the opportunities and challenges of growing up in rural border communities. As I say in the feature, “Rural does not have to mean peripheral.” The aim is to ensure that where young people come from does not limit where they can go, or what they can contribute to their own communities.
A shared achievement
My heartfelt thanks to the young people who made LEAD what it was, the schools and teachers who supported us, and our colleagues at Lifford Clonleigh Resource Centre and Include Youth.
A special thank you to the International Fund for Ireland team, who were a pleasure to work with. Their encouragement, guidance and practical support, alongside the funding, helped bring the programme to life.
Our international connections brought generous and valuable perspectives. Thank you to Alaa Adam from the Darfur Youth Center for Peace and Development in Sudan; Mustafa Sheta from The Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, Palestine; Adjabu Twagirayezu from Never Again Rwanda; our colleagues at the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine; and Emily Kohring, Executive Artistic Director of Bread and Roses Missouri in St. Louis. I am grateful to Emily for her generosity with her time and for sharing her experience of creative community practice.
Closer to home, a warm thank you to Derek in Raphoe and to the Ulster-Scots colleagues in both Raphoe and Belfast, including the education officer in Belfast. Both teams were wonderfully supportive of LEAD and generous with their time, sharing their history and helping us explore identity and cultural belonging.
Thank you, too, to the Theatre of Witness network, the Siege of Derry Museum, the Museum of Free Derry and the education team at Stormont. Each contributed significantly to the project’s success and helped connect our discussions with places, histories and lived experiences.
Seeing that shared effort recognised in the IFI’s fortieth anniversary year feels very special. I’m proud to have been part of LEAD, and delighted that our contribution is included in this wider story of peacebuilding.
Read the feature
The LEAD case study appears on printed pages 10-11 of Fund Focus, October 2026. You can view the two pages below, download the case study, or read the complete publication.
Download the LEAD case study - pages 10-11 (PDF)
Download the complete IFI Fund Focus - October 2026 (PDF)
Case study text, page design and photographs: International Fund for Ireland, Fund Focus, October 2026. Original publisher: International Fund for Ireland.