Gendered & Grassroots Approaches to Peace & Conflict:

Máirín Martin Ballinamore Area Community Council Clg Chair was, yet again, selected to attend a Peace Conference, marking the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Conference was held in Boston University, jointly organised by Debbie Watters NI Alternatives/Restorative Justice and Professor Sandra McEvoy, Boston.

“I was very honoured to be invited to participate by Debbie Watters, whom I met at a
Conference in Leuven in May. The Boston Conference was opened by a lunch reception
hosted by the Irish Consul of New England, Síghle Fitzgerald, formerly on the Board of the
International Fund for Ireland (IFI). The IFI fund our current Peace Impact Programme in
Ballinamore – ‘Better Together – Níos Fearr Le Chéile’.
Central to the conversations were twenty working class women from cross community
organisations from the six and border counties, engaging in conversations with guest
speakers and information sharing, with some of the most influential women. Those women
who have been working through the Good Friday Agreement whilst voicing the importance
of women in the process.
On day one of the Conference, we were welcomed to Boston by Joe Kennedy III, President
Biden’s Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. I was indeed honoured to have been part of the
first Panel Discussion which consisted of Monica McWilliams, PhD, Avila Kilmurray, both Co-
founders NI Women’s Coalition; Anne Pendleton, Community Restorative Justice; Julie
Davidson, Action for Community Transition; and myself, Chairperson, Ballinamore Area
Community Council Clg, Peace Impact Programme. We reflected on our roles in the lead up
to the GFA and reflected on the past 25 years – the lessons learned and the way forward.”