Measurement or cohesion
Over the course of thie Strategy, there will be a review of the Shared City Partnership. The Shared City Partnership will have the key good relations and cohesion leadership role for the city.
As part of this review, the Shared City Partnership will, through its members drawn from the council, key public agencies, faith and community organisations, provide challenge to the council and advocate for a more cohesive city.
It will also develop a cohesion framework for Belfast.
This framework for cohesion and belonging in Belfast is yet to be developed. As part of our focus on transformative rather than performative activities, and an outcome-based focus, the framework is anticipated to include agreed measurement indi-cators and an agreed working template that will be:
- Capable of replication annually or more realistically in a three or five-year basis.
- Adaptable, including being open to other aspects of good practice.
- Provide headline assessments behind which are more extensive data and statistics, most of which are already available to public agencies and government, local or central.
- Supportive of cross-agency collaboration given the interplay of the key statistics.
- Open to oversight that a cross-sectoral organisation such as The Shared City Partnership can lead.
While yet to be agreed by those public agencies, the council, community and faith representatives of the Shared City Partnership, the key cohesion and belonging themes may include:
- Education and work.
- Health and housing.
- Trust and safety.
- Relations and culture.
- Community and social links.
Avoiding numerous and overly complex data is important by prioritising the headline data that is key for cohesion in the city. The indicators also will be consistent with The Executive Office good relations indicators.
Themes and Indicators for Belfast as a Cohesive City
Good Relations or, better defined in the context of this strategy as indicators for cohesion or/and integration, need to be discussed and agreed with the Shared City Partnership. The Partnership, on a cross-sectoral and inter agency basis will agree to monitor and report on the indicators each year.
As a result, the indicators will contribute to The Executive Office being able to measure the progress of T:BUC while also setting a parameter and baseline for Belfast as an increasingly cohesive city.
These indicators are suggestions only relating to the key agencies on the Partnership, and as indicators on cohesion beyond good relations.
There could be any number of indicators. The larger the number of indicators might increase confusion but may also increase accuracy.
| Theme | Indicator |
|---|---|
| Education and work |
Per cent of students and young people in substantial relationships with students and young people from other community backgrounds Per cent achieving agreed education outcomes for established and newcomer communities Per cent satisfied with current employment or who are working across communities |
| Health and housing |
Per cent engaging in leisure activities or across communities Per cent registered with a vital health professional Per cent in secure owner-occupied residency or with stable tenancy |
| Trust and safety |
Per cent who trust key agencies Per cent feeling fearful or insecure Per cent confident of reporting hate-related incidents or crimes Per cent victims of hate related incidents or crime Numbers of race hate incidents and crimes |
| Relationships and culture |
Per cent of people with friends from different cultural identity backgrounds Per cent who are comfortable with diversity Per cent who feel their culture is respected |
| Community and social links |
Per cent who feel secure visiting traditionally ‘other’ facilities or types of cultural expression Per cent who report a sense of belonging Per cent participating in community activities. |
There are many other indicators that could be included and that will be considered by the Partnership. These include:
- Per cent of young people socialising or playing sport with people from other community backgrounds.
- Per cent of people who are monitored for use of facilities beyond leisure centres such as libraries and parks.
- Per cent of who feel they have an influence on decisions affecting them
- Numbers of peace barriers.
- Per cent of who want to remove peace barriers now or in the future.
We are engaging with Queen's University and the Global Peace Index Network on developing a framework for the assessment of a positive peace index for Belfast, which will greatly assist and underpin these indicators.
