News from Peterborough City Council

Teenagers from Peterborough will be given conflict resolution training in London as part of the award-winning Unity Peacemakers Project on Friday 8 August and Saturday 9 August 2008.

 

A group of 16 young people will complete a weekend of intensive training in Tower Hamlets in London to give them the leadership and mediation skills to recognise potential problems among their peers and help to prevent them from escalating.

 

The young people will also visit a rapid response team, set up between the police and Tower Hamlets Council to quickly respond to serious youth gang disorder. The team runs a street work programme to reduce anti-social behaviour, youth conflict and youth crime.

 

The young people will then take part in a voluntary work programme during the summer holidays to use the skills they have been taught. Some of the young people will be supporting the Community Cohesion Cup in London whilst others will support youth workers at the Unity Residential at Graftham Water between Monday 25 August and Wednesday 27 August 2008.

 

Councillor Matthew Dalton, spokesman for young people, said:  "Unity Peacemakers is an exciting project because it is going to the heart of what causes racial tensions between different groups of young people. It also gives young people the skills to address issues themselves and prevent further tensions in the future.

 

"This training weekend will allow more young people to be leaders across the city, helping to resolve problems between different communities and those from different backgrounds."

 

Mahebub Ladha, director of Peterborough Racial Equality Council (PREC), said: "This training weekend will not only help to bring more young people from different communities together, but will also build on Peterborough's now national reputation as a beacon area where young people work together to solve problems themselves and lead by example.

 

"The benefits of Unity Peacemakers are being felt across the city with less community tension and increased cohesion."

 

The Unity Peacemakers project was launched by Peterborough City Council's young people's service in February 2007, to train young people as Unity Peacemakers in their own communities. The project received a £12,500 boost from PREC to train more young people in conflict resolution.

 

Unity Peacemakers targets those young people who have already been involved in racial incidents, were at risk of getting involved in racial conflict or are seen as leaders in different areas.