T24-127BUS PEACEPLUS A Centre of Hope

Derry City and Strabane District Council invite suppliers to tender for PeacePlus A Centre of Hope. This tender is a focused mental health community arts programme centred on Hope and building a culture of Hope. It also aims to build stronger community relations in welcoming shared spaces. The Co-Design process identified a need for this under the Social Wellbeing pillar of the Local Growth Partnership Strategy for the Castlederg area. Increasingly, research is finding that Hope is a teachable skill based on key building blocks and positive actions and relationships. By creating, building and maintaining Hope, this project will empower adult participants to live longer healthy and fulfilling lives within a shared safe and inclusive community. The Castlederg and surrounding rural and cross-border area has a difficult history relating to The ‘Troubles’. The atrocities perpetrated by those claiming to represent each community remain in living memory of much of the adult population, which in turn can impact on trans-generational trauma. Whilst positive initiatives have helped to build cross-community relationships in recent years, there is still scope to improve further. More recently, the impact of the Covid pandemic, lockdown and cost of living crisis has created uncertainty, fear and worry. A sense of hopelessness has emerged. Tensions around BREXIT have compounded this. The Co-design process identified that there is a risk that the negativity associated with this sense of hopelessness may adversely impact on community relations. This project is therefore designed to create Hope, reconnect the community and help to alleviate adverse impacts caused by issues beyond the immediate control of those in the community. The project aims to have a positive effect initially in the adult (and possibly younger age groups) population of Castlederg, but with the understanding that hope can spread to the wider community, impacting constructively on wellbeing, purpose, prosperity and positive cross community relations. Please refer to the CfT documents for further detail.