Testimonials

"Bringing all our disparate partners together has given us a sense that by working together we can begin to create a new peaceful society, a much more tolerant society based on this concept of respecting difference….

“A generation of young children will grow up confident and at ease with themselves and others who are different from themselves. They will become skilled in making respectful and meaningful relationships, and they will be supported in tolerant and understanding families, communities, and environments.” - Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Executive, NIPPA, Northern Ireland (NI)

“They're (Pii) one of the few outside agencies that we've seen that actually meant it when talking about partnerships with local groups. The unique contribution that they made was to actually bring all of us together. They were the change agents which actually made the media initiative possible." - Dr. Paul Connolly, Queen's University, Belfast

"Education is the most important area for action in the field of community relations generally and, in particular, a means of combating the underlying causes of hate crime - Barney McNeany, COO, Northern Ireland Commissioner of Children and Young People

"The initiative has the potential to give a new generation of the people of Northern Ireland first memories of a difference that is entirely positive.” - Tony Macaulay, Community Development Consultant and Trainer, Northern Ireland

"As we have such a huge divide in our society, it's very important that all resources...actually address with all the subtlety that television and various films and cartoons can produce issues which really affect our society." - Maurna Crozier, Community Relations Council and MIFC-NI Advisory Council

"We focused on preschool children because we had clear evidence from Paul Connolly's work that even very young children were beginning to learn, at a frighteningly early age, the language, the behaviors and the practices of sectarianism." - Tony Gallagher, Queen's University, Belfast

“The older kids are all watching the (MIFC cartoon) ads and some can recite them off by heart. They know they are spoken by little kids and maybe aimed at them, but the older ones get it. I ask (them) things like, ‘What do you think they are trying to say?’ Responses I get are:

            ’You shouldn’t leave other people out.’

            ‘The colour of a person’s skin shouldn’t stop you playing with them.’

            ‘We have to learn to trust each other.’           

“The teachers had tears in their eyes and I had too.” - Liz Weir, Professional Story Teller, Northern Ireland

“The training programme for teachers has proved to be an extremely important element of the initiative as it has supported adults explore their own attitudes to difference and in turn introduce a respecting difference curriculum with pre-school children. This we believe is a crucial element in changing behaviour….” -Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Executive, NIPPA, Northern Ireland (NI)

"I was initially very excited to be a participant in the program which I felt could potentially make a difference, not only in offering children the opportunity to consider what makes us different, but more importantly, what makes us all the same." - Donna, NI Playgroup Leader

"The children became very aware of someone who was on his own and they would run over and invite them to come and play. They became aware when someone was lonely; that is the biggest impact for all the children." - Laureen, NI Playgroup Leader