WHAT IS PEACE PLUS?

The PEACE PLUS Programme is a €1bn investment in the social, economic and environmental development of Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. It comprises six themes, which encompass 21 individual investment areas. It is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

On this Derry City and Strabane District Council PEACE Plus page our focus is on Theme 1.1 on which local councils take the lead. If you need information on the wider PEACE Plus Programme managed by SEUPB, please see their website where detailed information is available www.seupb.eu 

Theme 1 is ‘Building Peaceful and Thriving Communities’. Under Theme 1.1 there are ‘Co-designed Local Community PEACE Action Plans’ with a provisional figure of €90m spread across the participating local councils in Northern Ireland and the border counties. In June 2024, Derry City and Strabane District Council secured £8,047,327 (€9,254,427) for our PEACEPLUS Co-Designed Local Action Plan. This project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

Our programme includes 58 projects, across 3 themes: Community Regeneration and Transformation, Thriving and Peaceful Communities, and Celebrating Cultural Diversity. We are managed by a Partnership Board of 34 people including Social/Community Representatives, Local Councillors and statutory organisations. The programme content was co-designed through a huge engagement process with our local communities across the city and district in 2022-2023 and overseen by our Board.

The projects are publicly tendered and are on a very wide range of topics including arts and culture, sport, community development, small-scale capital works, capacity building, history and heritage, environment, or mental health. They aim to include a diverse range of local people, identities and geography across our rural and urban areas as well as engaging across the border. Collectively, all our projects will engage 9255 participants in a sustained cross-community programme with transformative reconciliation impact.