The role of youth work in peace-building in Northern Ireland
Speaker: Martin McMullan
Moderator: Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver
October 15, 2018, Monday 18.30 - 20.30
Hrant Dink Foundation, Havak Hall
In the panel, which will be moderated by Aylin Dilaver Vartanyan from Boğaziçi University Peace Education Application and Research Center, strategies for overcoming the challenges faced in conflict resolution will be discussed with the participation of Martin McMullan from YouthAction Northern Ireland, who is a part of various initiatives involved in the peace building processes in Europe and Africa. The panel will be held on October 15, 2018 in Havak Hall of Hrant Dink Foundation.
Young people’s participation in the process of peace building plays an important part in establishment and sustainability of peace. Starting initiatives to encourage young people to be involved in peace building in divided societies, McMullan will talk about his work with young people that he carried out in Northern Ireland in order to establish permanent peace after conflict.
There will be simultaneous translation from English to Turkish during the panel.
About McMullan (Assistant Director, YouthAction Northern Ireland)
Since qualifying as a professional Youth and Community worker in 1997 Martin has worked for YouthAction Northern Ireland. He has been actively involved in the practice and strategic development of gender-conscious practice, peace-building work, youth participation, inclusive practices (LGBT, Traveller), area-based youth work strategies and widening access for young people to further and higher education. He has helped to secure over €6 million of funding from the European Regional Development Fund to develop localised initiatives which support peace-building with young people across divided communities in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland.
McMullan has been involved in multiple peace-related initiatives across Europe and Africa. He was a member of an academic/practice research team within the Western Balkans exploring youth issues within a contested society; he presented as part of the Peace Network of European Cities and regions seminar in Cyprus; presented as part of a University of Tennessee initiative in Cape-town: “The role, contribution and challenges of youth work in addressing conflict and violence in Northern Ireland”; and presented at the Brussels 7th European Union conference.
McMullan has been actively involved in academic-practice based research projects related to young men and violence, young men and education, area-based research and most recently through his PhD at the University of Southampton “Separation and Sectarianism in NI: a perspective-based evaluation on the contribution of youth work.”
Aylin Dilaver Vartanyan (Boğaziçi University Peace Education Application and Research Center)
Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver holds an MA degree in German Literature from Columbia University and she is pursuing a doctoral degree at the European Graduate School in the Expressive Arts for Social Change Program. She is an instructor of Critical Reading and Writing at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. Since 2006 she has been actively involved at the Peace Education Center at the same university organizing conferences, preparing curricula and facilitating workshops for educators, counselors, students, youth and NGO workers on conflict transformation from an expressive arts perspective.
