Nurturing Hope

Nurturing Hope started as a A US-UK Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence Project at St Philip’s College, San Antonio, 2019-20, by Derick Wilson

The Understanding Conflict Trust’s ongoing work is to develop resources that allow people to gain a better appreciation of the effects of conflict between people and groups in Northern Ireland and beyond. We undertake academic study, write research reports and offer public seminars and courses for groups wishing to look at their own role, the role of traditions they belong to and the choices open to them to promote reconciliation in the community.

We offer our time and expertise to people working or volunteering with community and professional groups in a training, off-line supervisory or consultative relationship in support of their various reconciliation efforts.

We hold the Learning Journey annually at Corrymeela Community centre for peace growers from conflict-affected societies around the world.

The purposes of the charity , as stated in our 1991 Trust Deed are: The advancement of Education, in particular, to promote the understanding of conflict in the community.

The focus of the Trust’s ongoing work is the development of reconciliation.

We live on hope: the promise that things can and will be made whole. That there will be a future in which the problems and conflicts of today are set aside and we have a certainty that something new will happen.

Hope has of course to do with things getting better. But it is not the same as optimism. It is not dependent on events but stays with us even when things are going very badly. Even, maybe especially, in times of political, social or natural disaster, hope is a kind of inner flicker that the events of now are not all there is. It also has to do with the future, with what is yet to come.

Hope is possible because of the glimpses we already see all around us, in relationships, in the natural world, in stories, in insights. For human beings, hope has to do with an end to having to fight for our being and place, that we are safe from the things that threaten us and free to enjoy and to create the huge variety of things we call life.

In embracing hope, we embrace the possibility of change.

Our charitable purposes are: the development of a greater understanding of, and a new openness to, people from diverse, and sometimes previously conflicting, identities; the increased capacity and confidence in citizens dealing positively with conflict; the increased capacity of community organisations to address community conflict constructively; an increase in the number of reconciliation projects and organisations being formed; reduced levels of fear in the community.

The Nurturing Hope resources were created to support people learning about central societal and interpersonal dynamics which to both conflict and the promotion of reconciliation.

They are also to affirm citizens and groups in their power of human agency to dissolve such dynamics; promote relationships and structures that grow trust, support improved relationships between us, build social capital and establish institutional cultures and societal norms that underpin a shared and open society.

People from very different societies have inspired Nurturing Hope. People who refused to surrender their hope when faced with the promotion of polarising and divisive actions related to conflict and war, race, gender, cultural identities and religious beliefs. Nurturing Hope belongs to them. Nurturing Hope is inspired by the actions of many individuals and small groups who, against all odds, still committed and commit themselves to build more open societies and cultures and a more interdependent world.

We seek to learn with others who are also creating spaces where we all experience “the intimacy of our honest differences”. The Understanding Conflict Trust team has sought to promote hope in societies where systemic discrimination, antagonism, fear, and violence have been and sometimes still are part of life.

Derick Wilson (1947–2024)

Derick Wilson was a youth tutor with the Community Relations Commission, NI, (70-73); Principal Lecturer in Youth Work (Ulster Poly (73-78); Corrymeela Centre Director (78-85) and Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Conflict, Ulster, funded by JRCT (85-89). Co-director with Duncan Morrow of the Future Ways Project’ (Ulster), a reconciliation practice and research programme, he was Assistant Director, UNESCO Centre; Reader in Education with Restorative Practices (89-2013); and now is Reader Emeritus in Education. Visiting Research Fellow: Uppsala (87); the Maori Institute, Auckland (98). and US-UK Fulbright Scholar- in-Residence, St Philip’s, San Antonio, the first HBCU&HSI College in the US (2019-20). He was a Foundation Trustee of the Spirit of Enniskillen Award Scheme and Mill Strand Integrated Primary School, Portrush.

Though Derick passed away in 2024, he is always with us in the work of UCT.

Juana ‘Jean’ Horstman is a US network entrepreneur, with a background in systems thinking, facilitating bridging social capital, and organisational development. The Founding CEO of Interise, she developed a program licensing model for its signature small business development program, the StreetWise ‘MBA’ resulting in a national network of partners in 46 US states. In 2018, Interise was selected as a finalist for the Drucker Prize in recognition for its innovative approach to generating wealth and creating jobs in low-income communities by scaling established small employer firms. In the 15 years Jean lived in Europe, she held leadership positions in cultural policy and management, working in the UK, Germany, and, after 1989, the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe. jjeanhorstman@gmail.com

Duncan Morrow is a Politics Professor at Ulster and has published in conflict resolution, Northern Ireland politics and the relationship between religion and politics. Research interests include Conflict and Religion, Ethnic Conflict, Northern Ireland Politics and the work of Rene Girard. Currently Director of Community Engagement (Ulster). For ten years, as Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council he championed the concept of a shared future and peace-building by developing the Council’s role in policy, research, active learning in organisations, working on interfaces, parading and regeneration, and in work with victims and survivors of conflict. dj.morrow@ulster.ac.uk

Dong Jin Kim is Kim Dae Jung Chair Professor of Peace Studies at Hanshin University, and ISE Adjunct Professor in Peace and Reconciliation at the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin. He conducts engaged research, collaborating with various humanitarian, development, and peace organisations, including Okedongmu Children in Korea, Korean Sharing Movement, and Corrymeela. He was a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace on the Korean Peninsula at the South Korean Ministry of Unification (2020-22). He is the author of The Korean Peace Process and Civil Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), co-author of Peace and Conflict in a Changing World: Key Issues in Peace Studies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), Nurturing Hope (Corrymeela Press, 2022), and co-editor of Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea (Routledge, 2022). He has published numerous research articles in leading international journals, including International Affairs, International Peacekeeping, Globalizations, Peacebuilding, Alternatives, the Pacific Review, Asia Europe Journal, Asian Perspective, as well as several Korean journals. kimdj@tcd.ie

Trustees:

Ms L Johnson LLB - Chair

Mrs H Morrow FCA Hon Treasurer

Mr F Brady MBE

Dr Dong Jin Kim

Mr Jim McMillan

Mrs Dorothy Wilson

UCT Cofounder and honorable secretary Derick Wilson, died November 2024

1991 - The original team Derick Wilson, Duncan Morrow, Roel Kaptein, and Frank Wright set out the mission and vision of Understanding Conflict Trust and were focused on producing training, study materials, and research to support community reconciliation.

Derick Wilson: key co-founder who was deeply involved with the Corrymeela Community.

Duncan Morrow: actively involved in the project's development and training, particularly through the University of Ulster.

Roel Kaptein: a Dutch therapist, theologian, and member of the Dutch-Northern Irish Committee who introduced the use of pictorial models and Rene Girard's theories to the trust's conflict resolution work.

Frank Wright: A historian who was a key figure and associate director until his death in 1993.

2019 - 2022 The Nurturing Hope Materials were produced

2021 - UCT received Catalyst Seed grant from the The RSA. The Nurturing Hope materials were finalised in draft form in February 2021, a text for local and international audiences.

2022 - We held a residential learning event for thirty facilitators in November 2022 including beta testing of the Nurturing Hope materials with 30 youth and community facilitators from across Northern Ireland. The Trust began working to establish an inter-generational learning community of facilitators.

2022 - July - the first Nurturing Hope Learning Journey residential was held at the Corrymeela Community centre in Ballycastle. Open Source access to the Nurturing Hope materials.

2024 - Seeds of Hope pilot programme with partners. Second Nurturing Hope Learning Journey was held in July.

2025 - 2nd year of Seeds of Hope pilot at Corrymeela Community centre. The third Learning Journey was held at Corrymeela.

2026 - Fourth Learning Journey in July. Our published Nurturing Hope resources continue to be actively used. The printed versions are frequently requested by individuals and groups.