The Executive Office (TEO) Communities in Transition (CIT) Culture and Identity Programme in the Derry / Londonderry CIT Area

Tender description

TEO is seeking to establish a Contract for the provision of a Culture and Identity programme in the Derry / Londonderry CIT Area; this relates to the Brandywell and Creggan and Annex A of the Specification of Requirements Schedule provides maps of the designated CIT area. This programme will facilitate building a resilient community through a participatory community approach. The programme will focus on cultivating a sense of civic pride within communities through enabling the local community the opportunity to explore the rich positive culture of their area and the wider culture context, as well as the challenges it faces in relation to paramilitary activity, criminality, lawfulness and coercive control. The programme will include community based interventions to address the physical and social effects of paramilitary activity, to facilitate the move towards transition into confident, accessible communities where coercive control no longer plays a role. This tender is linked to the Communities in Transition (CIT) Project which had been due to end in June 2021, however the Executive made a commitment within ‘New Decade New Approach’ to continue its delivery with a renewed focus and additional funding up to 31 March 2024. The CIT Project is therefore being delivered in two phases, with Phase 1 having been completed in 30 June 2021 and Phase 2 to be completed by 31 March 2024. Phase 1 of the Project provided a firm foundation for continuing to address the issues that allow Paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control to persist within communities. Phase 2 presents an opportunity to further refine the work as we move forward. This Contract falls under Phase 2 and will support the Department in its overall delivery of the CIT Project. This programme will seek to build upon the experience and learning of the intervention delivered through Phase 1 and Phase 2 (Year 1) of the CIT Project, helping to meet the identified cultural and identity needs of the area and taking positive action to address barriers facing the local community impacted by paramilitarism, providing the necessary support to assist the move away from criminal activity and coercive control into open and accessible communities as part of the continued transformation of society. In addition, it will support building the resilience of the local community to reduce paramilitary groups’ ability to exploit communities. The Contractor will design and deliver a programme which will incorporate a number of activities as described at paragraph 6.5 of the Specification. Full details of all the requirements for this Contract are provided for within the Specification of Requirements Schedule. The core purpose of this programme is two-fold: • Use facilitated creative mediums to enable the local community the opportunity to explore the rich positive culture of the area as well as addressing the challenges and impacts it faces in relation to paramilitary activity, criminality, lawfulness and coercive control; and • Enable and empower residents / communities / organisations to tell a positive story of Catholic Nationalist Republican (CNR) culture and tradition and explore positive ways of celebrating their culture. All activities which the Contractor proposes to carry out must clearly link to the objectives of the programme as listed above and to the Benefits Framework as listed at paragraph 6.6 of the Specification. The Contractor must therefore not be delivering general cultural activities as part of this programme, activities must be clearly linked to tackling paramilitary activity, criminality and organised crime issues. It is anticipated that the Contract will commence on 01 July 2022 and run for an initial period of 1 year. There will be an option to extend the Contract, from the date of expiry of the Initial Contract Period, for a further period of nine months (up to 31 March 2024).