Leading Ladies To Roll out after successful pilot phase.

Leading Ladies - one of the many projects launched through Irish Peace Centres – has completed a successful pilot phase and will re-commence in early September. 

The project gives local women, from all walks of life, an opportunity to meet some of Ireland’s leading ladies.  The lunches develop positive relationships across traditional neighbourhood divides and give local women a chance to look beyond their personal, professional and geographic circumstances to explore new ways to recognise and fulfil their potential.  Positive female role models are vital to challenge the status quo and inspire women to push forward both personally and professionally. 

The Irish Peace Centres – a consortium of four peace-building organisations – believes that positive and sustainable relationships can be achieved through integrated action, shared learning and creative co-operation.  The range of methodologies and activities adopted by Irish Peace Centres aim to build the capacity of individuals, and empower them to embed their learning and shared understanding in a community context.  The added value that Irish Peace Centres brings to peace-building and reconciliation work is through an integrated and collaborative approach. 

The Leading Ladies is a creative response that is local and specific, and seeks to develop capacity engagement across traditional and emerging cultural divides.  It addresses the disconnectedness that many women in these communities experience.  The dynamics of issues in interface communities often dictate that women do not feel empowered or inspired to look at issues and opportunities beyond their immediate confines.  Leading Ladies builds the capacity of women to step into their own leadership at their own level.  At the final lunch of the pilot phase, Marie-Therese McGivern, CEO of Belfast Metropolitan College met with local women from a South Belfast interface area.  This was an opportunity for women to hear, in an informal and relaxed setting, a personal account of a woman’s journey through the echelons of power to a position of leadership.  It was a telling account of the challenges and realities that exist for women, and how these challenges have informed the lives of some of the leading women in politics, education and business.  Previous ‘leading ladies’ include Naomi Long and Baroness May Blood.

Our peace-building activities aim to engage people through a participatory approach, which ensures that the ideals of peace and reconciliation are embedded into society at a grassroots level.  The Leading Ladies project recognises the need to create a supportive space for women to explore their ideas and visions, through a personal journey.