April 2024
Our Lives Our Legacy
Final Report
With Thanks
Springboard would like to thank the organisations below for their support with the Our Lives, Our Legacy project and evaluation.
Background
Introducing Springboard
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“The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement provided a timely opportunity to gain the insight of young people around its relevance to their lives and its lasting impact. We wanted young people to know how valued their perspectives are and support them to have a platform to share their hopes for the future. Our Lives Our Legacy aimed to provide a voice to those normally overlooked in these conversations.”
Steph O’Rourke, Deputy Director, Springboard
Introduction
The Our Lives Our Legacy project has used the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement as a platform to explore the legacy of 'The Troubles'.
Funded through Spirit of 2012’s Moments to Connect grant scheme the project brought together 15 young people from across the sectarian divide to participate in a series of development opportunities through the year, including a co-created event to mark the anniversary.
This interactive final evaluation report will take you through the story and results of the project through narrative, video and audio.
Video clip – Irish Foreign Ministry – ‘The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998‘
The Moments To Connect Fund
Building on the findings of the Spirit of 2012 Inquiry into Major Events, Moments To Connect explores how the major national events and moments of 2023 can increase social cohesion by connecting individuals and communities, and building common ground across social divides.
In the video to the right, Alex Johnston, Policy and Influencing Manager at Spirit of 2012, explains more about Moments to Connect and why they funded the Our Lives Our Legacy.
Timeline
Kicking off in March 2023, the Our Lives, Our Legacy project was centred around an immersive exhibition for members of the public in September 2023. The timeline below shows the steps before and after.
The NextGen Group
The project was led by Springboard's NextGen youth group who are aged 16-28 and drawn equally from across the political divide. Through shared activity and workshops the group explored the legacy of the Northern Ireland conflict through their ‘lived experiences’. In the video to the right the young people outline the impact of what’s come before them and the legacy they have experienced.
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“I would still say that a good load of people would still have generational trauma from the Troubles, maybe for the simple fact that they had a family member or a relative or a family friend that were affected by it and experiences that they experienced were maybe passed down to a different generation”
Member of the NextGen Youth Group
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“The biggest peace line and the biggest wall we have in this society is in our heads, if we can get that wall down then we can move forward and get the rest of the walls down, but we have to break down our mentality first”
Parent of NextGen group member describing why programmes like Our Lives Our Legacy are important.
NextGen Group Take The Lead
Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation of the Our Lives, Our Legacy project was undertaken by inFocus. The evaluation took a ‘hybrid’ approach, with both inFocus and Springboard (through the NextGen youth group) taking an active role in collecting data. The evaluation was based on a theory of change and quantitative and qualitative data was collected as part of a ‘mixed methods’ approach. This included baseline and endline surveys and focus groups with the NextGen youth group, interviews with Springboard staff, and data collected at the Our Lives, Our Legacy event (using forms and surveys co-designed by the NextGen youth group). You can download the theory of change here.
The Event
Event Overview
The Our Lives, Our Legacy project was centred around an event held on 21 September 2023 on the UN International Day of Peace at Crumlin Road Gaol, an iconic building in the centre of Belfast.
Attendees were taken through an immersive, interactive exhibition and performance across three rooms marking the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and sharing the collective visions and hopes of the NextGen youth group for the next 25 years. The young people took the audience on a brief journey of the past before illustrating their dreams and aspirations within a shared society.
Event Attendance
The Our Lives Our Legacy event was attended by 165 people, 54% were women, and 42% men.* Attendees covered a range of age groups, with the majority (40%) 45 years old and above, and a quarter aged 18-20 years old.
*4% chose not to express their gender.
Attendees Event Reflections
At the close of the event, attendees were requested to describe how they felt in one word. As this word cloud shows, the predominant feelings were of hopefulness, pride - mainly in the young people leading the event - and inspiration. Overall, the event elicited a strong emotional response in attendees.
For 31% of attendees the most important takeaway was the importance of having youth voices represented. The event raised awareness of how disenfranchised young people can be with regards to the future of the country while, at the same time, of how keen they are to be involved in shaping it. There was a strong sentiment that young people need to be listened to and educated so history doesn’t repeat itself. For others, the event helped them to reflect on the similarities between different communities, rather than the differences.
When asked if the Belfast Good Friday Agreement has achieved what it set out to, responses from attendees were mixed. 48% of attendees were positive about the achievements of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, and many saw the main impact as the improvement in relations between communities, helping to bridge divides and bringing an understanding of the value of peace.
83% of respondents felt that there are still issues that need to be addressed as inequalities/divisions between communities remain, and that change needs to happen on a systematic level: "there is still a long way to go. Too many still live in the past and kids make judgements depending on stories they've heard." (Attendees at the Our Lives, Our Legacy event).
NextGen Event Reflections
Members of the NextGen youth group found the event particularly beneficial. They were reassured by the conclusion of the attendees voting choices, with the vote at the event mirroring the original 1998 vote. The group also encountered an unexpected openness among participants, which made them feel empowered to discuss a topic they had often felt alienated from.
The group acknowledged some challenges of such events, such as potentially triggering past trauma for those who prefer not to revisit difficult memories.
The event also fostered an environment whereby it brought together older generations from different backgrounds who would normally lack exposure to such outcomes leading to a sense of achievement from the NextGen youth group. They also valued the role of music in bringing communities together in this instance, a successful element of the Our Lives Our Legacy event.
The Impact
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“So yes, I have learnt something new, and it is that there were three strands to the Good Friday Agreement, strand one being the North and the South strand, building better relationships with Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland, and obviously the East and the West strand that gives more security to British identity was one thing I took from it because it helped to secure the Union and power-sharing”
Member of the NextGen Youth Group
NextGen Attitudes: Belfast Good Friday Agreement
When asked what they knew about the Belfast Good Friday Agreement at the start of the Our Lives, Our Legacy project, members of the NextGen youth group reported having received some information from their families, such as it being a peace agreement, there being a vote and prisoners being released. Others confused the agreement and its impact with other historical events, such as the Easter rising in Ireland, the hunger strikes of Republicans or the brief intervention of William III (‘King Billy’) in Ireland.
While the group generally felt the agreement had impacted those around them, results on whether it had an impact on the young people themselves were mixed. Some group members were unsure whether it had an influence, while others felt that there were still members of the community, including young people their age, that wanted to continue the cycle of violence. At the outset of the project, the majority of the group felt neutral about the agreement still being relevant today.
After completing the Our Lives, Our Legacy project, all of the group agreed that the agreement was still relevant today (compared with 13% agreeing before the start of the project). The group also noted the influence the Agreement has in their own lives as well as those around them. 73% also reported they knew the Agreement well by the end of the programme. 100% agreed that it has had an influence on those around them, having changed from 53% beforehand.
During a focus group discussion most of the NextGen youth group acknowledged the positive influence of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement on their lives, such as increased opportunities, cross-community projects, and integrated schooling, with many feeling that their upbringing and opportunities would have been drastically different without the agreement, potentially involving relocation or living in segregated areas. Others in the group also highlighted unmet promises, ongoing violence, and persisting physical barriers in relation to the Agreement. Some also note indirect impacts, such as mental health issues like PTSD as a result of the Troubles and a rise in suicides, as well as the emergence of splinter paramilitary groups and drug-related problems.
Overall, while recognising both positive and negative aspects, the young people agreed that the Agreement has significantly shaped their lives and the trajectory of Northern Ireland.
NextGen Wellbeing
The majority of the NextGen youth group involved in the Our Lives Our Legacy project felt that it impacted on their wellbeing ‘to a great extent’ in a end-project survey.
As shown to the right, there were significant increases across the ONS measures of wellbeing above Northern Ireland and UK averages (and a corresponding decrease in anxiety).
Social Connectedness
Based on the baseline and endline data comparison of the NextGen group’s responses to the survey, the Our Lives, Our Legacy project also impacted on the social connectedness of the young people taking part. This included a significant reduction in their feelings of loneliness as a result of the project, and 93% agreed strongly (100% agreed overall) that they had made new friends from being involved in the project. 87% felt that these friendships would continue beyond the project.
Members of the Next Gen youth group also identified where the project had helped them to become more open-minded and forge closer connections with other members of the group from different backgrounds. All felt that Springboard provides opportunities for people with different backgrounds to interact.
Wider Community Impact
While longer-term change in the community resulting from the Our Lives, Our Legacy project is harder to measure so soon after the event, there are positive initial signs from the data collected to date:
93% of the 15 young people completing the survey reported sharing something they learnt from Our Lives, Our Legacy with someone outside of the project. Learnings were shared with family, friends and other young people through community groups and schools. The group also shared that they are now more likely to challenge others and their opinions after the project.”
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“Another major highlight for me is the ripple effect of that then in terms of the impact that it (the Our Lives, Our Legacy project) had on them, having those conversations with family members, or like people from the community coming to the event, and the project had a wider impact than just even the 15 young people that was on it. So that's another highlight for me.”
Steph O'Rourke, Deputy Director, Springboard
The comparison of the baseline and endline data shows that the young people in the NextGen group feel significantly more confident in running events/taking community action, engaged in their community (from 33% engaged or very engaged at the start of the project, to 67% at the end), and at the same time feel much more able to address issues in their community.
The project’s showcase event brought together diverse groups of people, facilitating interactions and conversations that may not have occurred otherwise (see results earlier in the report) and giving members of communities an opportunity to reflect.
Members of the NextGen youth group also felt they had more of a voice in their communities between the start and end of the project. 73% of the NextGen group planned to take action in their community following the event. They described that they are either already, or wanting, to be more involved in community actions and events. Some examples provided were through promoting bringing people together, challenging people’s opinions and prejudices, and taking on new leadership and mentoring roles.
Through the young people the project has also extended its reach into schools, sparking discussions on important topics around The Agreement and engaging students in relevant issues.
Post-event: School Visits and Podcasts
Following the event the NextGen youth group disseminated the learning from the project / event by delivering workshops to over 85 students in 7 schools across Belfast and the North Coast (Ballymoney, Coleraine and Limavady). The workshops supported participants to explore the legacy of Belfast Good Friday Agreement, their identities, communities and prejudices alongside their hopes and aspirations for the future.
The workshops were developed by the group to create more of an awareness around the Belfast Good Friday Agreement but also to help challenge prejudices that exist within society. Through thought provoking discussions, interactive workshops and engaging activities students had the opportunity to deepen their understanding on the Good Friday Agreement and how to have a voice in shaping the future of NI.
The NextGen youth group were also involved in developing and producing podcasts to broadcast their learning. The podcasts helped amplify young people’s voices as they explored the complexities surrounding peace building, reconciliation and identity in a post conflict society
Students, teachers and the NextGen youth group all provided feedback on their experiences of the workshops as part of the evaluation. The resulting findings highlighted the strength of the peer to peer learning approach, with students connecting well with the NextGen youth group (who they saw as role models with lived experience). Students also found that the informal learning approach provided a safe space for students to have open and challenging conversations around the Good Friday Agreement and their lives after the conflict. A number of short-term outcomes also emerged:
94% of students indicated that they had increased their knowledge of the Good Friday Agreement and also flet more comfortable talking about it with family & friends.
Students participating in the youth-led workshops also reported an increased awareness of how to get more involved in their communities as a result of workshops.
Students participating in the youth-led workshops also reported an increased awareness of how to get more involved in their communities as a result of workshops.
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“The workshops have helped me realise that I can have a say on the type of future I want in Northern Ireland.”
Student taking part in workshops
“NextGen have been such positive role models for our students. The workshops have proved highly impactful giving students an opportunity to learn about the GFA and have discussions about their dreams for the future.”
Teacher taking part in workshops
Conclusions and Learning
In this section we reflect on some of the conclusions and key learning that emerged from the external evaluation of the Our Lives, Our Legacy project.
The evaluation found that the project was successful in using the anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement as a platform for engaging communities in reflecting back and exploring the legacy of the conflict and the Agreement in Northern Ireland.
This was particularly evident in the NextGen group, in their increase in the understanding of the agreement and its impact (both positive impacts and where there are still challenges) on their lives and the community around them.
For the Springboard team, the project was also an opportunity to engage young people, who are often more marginalised and at risk, in discussions about the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, providing a platform to explore the significance of the agreement to their lives.
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“We were able to put our own stamp on it – things like the voting booth and showing our creativity was from us going and seeing other exhibitions and then the humour bit we felt represented us but also in Northern Ireland people would be quite humorous. We done this by also challenging prejudices and stereotypes to enhance learning.”
Members of the NextGen Youth Group
Using the Belfast Good Friday Agreement as a platform did require a careful consideration of the sensitivity of the topic and how messages were conveyed. This involved recognising the importance of being thoughtful and mindful in their planning to avoid emotional harm or presenting a one-sided view.
Taking a youth-led approach to the Our Lives, Our Legacy project also clearly generated positive results, with significant changes for the NextGen group between the start and end of the project in relation to wellbeing, confidence to take action, and getting on with people from different backgrounds. This also opened up NextGen members to new knowledge and skills and was particularly effective in engaging young people in the schools workshops following the event.
For the Springboard team, the project has reinforced the importance of supporting young people to take the lead on running projects, as well as the importance of incorporating live events into projects and programmes in future, both to
Unexpected Benefits
The Our Lives Our Legacy project proved highly impactful in amplifying the voices of the young people as they reflected on the legacy of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement for their generation and the generation coming behind them. The showcase event gained significant momentum within communities across Belfast and as a result there were also additional unexpected positives outcomes that emerged for those involved.
Key highlights have included the young people being involved in the production of a documentary style film in partnership with TV company NI Screen. The documentary captured the experiences of some of the young leaders as they navigated their role as agents of change within their communities. The young people have also been asked to speak at various Good Relations events attended by decision makers celebrating the work of people coming together to promote and build positive peace.
The showcase event is now also exhibited within the Ulster museum part of the Troubles exhibition that was visited by more than 4,000 people per week.
