Community Relations in Schools (CRIS) have reflected on their unique Buddy Up programme for school children which broke new ground.
For over a decade, Buddy Up – a unique peacebuilding programme – has been delivered in partnership with schools across Belfast. And now CRIS is in a position to look back at the progress made, the major mile stones achieved, and their many accomplishments – all of which are detailed in their new publication “Ripples of Peace.”
CRIS is a multi-disciplinary, education charity that supports and promotes greater sharing, understanding and reconciliation. The organisation is supported by CRC through its Core Funding Scheme.
Children, even today, continue to be educated apart with 93% attending schools primarily within their own community
According to CRIS, Buddy Up was born out of the context of a contested society, where generations faced years of entrenched conflict. And one of the facts they cite is that “Children, even today, continue to be educated apart with 93% attending schools primarily within their own community.”
Ripples of Peace is the story of a special school partnership that resulted when two schools began to Buddy Up! Which resulted in not only ripples of peace for their children, but also for their principals, teachers, and parents.
For CRIS, the impact of Buddy Up goes much further than a pupil programme. The themes and values shared and explored have been instrumental in the lives of those young people involved, well into the future.
The Buddy Up programme has discovered that in children there is an enormous appetite for friendship, and their schools – when equipped to do so – are eager for peacebuilding.
Read the full story now: Ripples of Peace - Buddy Up project