Getting to know our Good Relations Officers
As part of this year’s Good Relations Week, we are celebrating some of the excellent community work our Good Relations Officers (GROs) have been doing across Northern Ireland.
We have a total of 13 GROs who link with partners in different neighbourhoods to help tenants feel safe, connected and involved, and to promote cross-community relationships.
Working with over 400 youth, community groups and residents’ associations work, our GROs help access funding and get various schemes up and running - projects like youth clubs, community events, lunch clubs, crafting groups and drop-in centres.
Here, some of our GROs give insights into a job that they love and that is equally challenging and rewarding.
Gareth has worked in the statutory, voluntary and community sector since 1996, supporting people and communities with their various issues and concerns, so has a wealth of experience to guide him.
And he revealed that it is his children who inspire him to help create a better society and good relations in Northern Ireland.
“No two days are the same. I spend most of my time on the ground listening to and supporting the residents.
“I then offer whatever support I can to make the place they call home a vibrant, inclusive and safe place to live,” he said.
“Where you are from is your identity so it is important to help tenants feel safe and to feel that they belong in a vibrant, healthy community.”
For Gareth, relationships are key and the sheer goodness that comes out of genuine relationships is what motivates him to do the job he does so well.
“Good relations is about developing positive and healthy relationships built on honesty, trust and respect.
“My work, specifically in the social care area, has given me an insight into the difficulties people face in society.
“Every day I work alongside the communities and the community sector to explore projects that will make a positive impact on Housing Executive tenants and their neighbourhoods. I’m involved in many community safety and cohesion projects with multiagency and multi-cultural groups.
“The most rewarding part of the job is visiting a group that we have supported in getting a project off the ground and seeing them enjoying that project.”
Paying tribute to his many partners, Gareth continued: “So many community representatives are unsung heroes. There are many among them who have been acknowledged through MBEs, OBEs, Pride of Britain awards and others but so many others have not been acknowledged in this way.
“These are the people who do the work, not me. I merely support them to enable their amazing work to come to fruition.
“Take Covid, for example. I was part of the Housing Executive’s response team at that time and the way that local communities stepped up was phenomena,” he said.
“Every day I try to help resolve issues by developing trusting relationships with the community sector.
“It’s all about creating and sustaining relationships with neighbours, our community and our society.
“A good GRO needs the ability to develop relationships. If you can’t do that you will make no difference. It is vital to be open and transparent at all times.
“I feel very much part of the Housing Executive family. They are a very good organisation to work for.”
If you would like to become more involved with your community you can find information on our website at: www.nihe.gov.uk/community
John believes that a ‘new and neutral voice’ is what every ‘good’ relations officer should bring to the heart of Northern Ireland’s eclectic communities.
For John, who has been a GRO for 12 years, the changing face of community and the new challenges this brings is what drives him to do his best for the people he serves.
John shares the qualities he feels essential to be a ‘good’ relations officer- Empathy, a good listening ear, integrity, selflessness, commitment and loyalty, are among the qualities he feels a good GRO needs.
“Every day is different, I could be meeting a wide range of community representatives, dealing with applications or assisting the community to resolve difficult issues. Or, I may be assisting patch managers at a local level or engaging with statutory, voluntary and political representatives,” he revealed.
For John the most rewarding part of the job is seeing the positive changes across communities which are a direct result of good relations, interventions and funding.
“It’s so encouraging to receive messages of thanks from fellow employees, community groups and representatives. Delivering a PEACE IV project to 15 groups across Mid and East Antrim was also very rewarding.”
John is very clear on the challenging parts of his job. “Gatekeepers in communities sometimes need to look further and grasp the opportunities that are out there, which can be challenging sometimes.
“As a GRO, I can sometimes bring advice and assistance as well as a neutral voice to a community, which did not exist beforehand.
”Engaging with communities can sometimes be problematic as groups and individuals are all different and need different approaches.
“Negativity and a fear of the unknown can always affect delivering good relations locally but a good empathetic GRO can enthuse communities and representatives,” he stressed.
Good Relation Officers deal with a raft of relational issues. “Being a GRO can be difficult. I always approach the community with no baggage or hidden agendas and do not raise expectations. I deliver what I say I will deliver to the best of my ability and have found this is always the best approach,” Gareth explained.
“A community will always have tensions and issues that need to be addressed in a sympathetic manner and mediation can be offered to resolve issues that cannot be dealt with short term. Working with local offices and patch managers is also key to resolving issues.”
Hope is always on the horizon for John in the communities he works in. He stressed: “Communities are always changing but face the same issues irrespective of whatever social constraints they face. I would see positive outcomes in the future of these communities as long as good relations is highlighted and delivered.”
John is adamant that young people taking an interest in and pursuing careers in community relations is the way forward. “Young people are key as they are our future customers and tenants.
“They will be delivering good relations outcomes in the future and a career delivering good relations can be challenging but very rewarding.”
Race relations is a key issue in Mid and East Antrim as John explained: “We have funded a number of providers such as the inter-ethnic forum in Ballymena to deliver bi-lingual advisors and deliver joint projects with the shared housing advisory panel to build good race relations.”
Projects that he is involved with can vary greatly. “I have worked with communities across north, south, east and west Belfast over my time as a GRO to re-image, develop entrance features and artistic visuals that meet the approval of the residents and bring a more positive image to these areas,” he continued.
“I recently attended the opening of a youth-inspired mural in Doury Road, Ballymena funded by the Housing Executive and a project in Glenarm with the community association, which were both very successful.
“My job is highly rewarding, especially when projects are successful and feedback from communities is positive because this is a sign that you have delivered healthy good relations in the right place at the right time.”
If you would like to become more involved with your community you can find information on our website at: www.nihe.gov.uk/community
Sean, who has a PhD in Peacebuilding, has many years’ experience in the community field. “I’ve been active in community development initiatives from the 1970s on a voluntary basis and have had various jobs in conflict resolution and community development. I started work in the Housing Executive in November 2016,” he revealed.
“As the first peacebuilding project in Northern Ireland, from 1971 the Housing Executive has played an important everyday role in addressing the underlying causes of community tensions here. So it is essential they have GROs to support our primary objective to transform people, place, and peace, positively.
“As one of your ‘five a day’, housing, like food, water, warmth and wealth, is a basic human need and therefore it is the key building block in shaping and sustaining good relations within and between communities.”
Talking about the problems he faces with the communities he works in, he said: “The biggest factor is dealing with the everyday issues, from getting problems fixed and tackling anti-social behaviour to securing funding, breaking down social isolation and improving mental wellbeing; helping people keep their families safe and healthy in challenging economic conditions.
“Most people want to build a safe and welcoming community, primarily for themselves, their families and visitors. They just want their homes, their loved ones and communities to be safe spaces.”
Detailing some of the projects he has been involved with, he commented: “Earlier this year I worked with local politicians and statutory partners to secure funding from the Housing Executive’s Community Safety programme and Newington Housing for youth groups in the New Lodge and Limestone Road.
“I really liked this project as it was to provide activities over the summer that engaged young people in co-designing programmes to meet their needs.
“We provided funding so that young people could influence their peers in order to reduce tensions in their communities at culturally sensitive times. It demonstrated how young people are an asset, not a threat, to their communities.
“Another project I am working on with Springboard NI will saw young people across north Belfast make a video of their thoughts on 25-years of the Good Friday Agreement.
“It was interesting to hear what they said and, as future tenants or residents, how they would like to see housing meeting their needs in an unpredictable future,” he said.
“I’m also working with Glenbank Women’s Group and Falls Women’s Centre on a project to sustain the good relations built from previous peacebuilding programmes.”
He continued: “For me, the best thing is working directly with communities - building a rapport with people and places develops good relations, of trust and transparency, so I can often get issues resolved before they become an even bigger problem.
“I find most people are realistic and just want respect. From this we can then work collaboratively to build peace, and transform our home place into a safe and welcoming space for ourselves, our families, friends and visitors.
“I find working for the Housing Executive enjoyable - I can provide my expertise and knowledge to the people and places most in need.
“I get a great deal of satisfaction helping communities help themselves to preserve people, peace and the planet.”
If you would like to become more involved with your community you can find information on our website at: www.nihe.gov.uk/community
Being surrounded by people who show up, with their sleeves rolled up and determined to get decisions made are a lifeline for GROs working in Northern Ireland’s ever-changing communities.
Without these people, Stephen’s job would be much more of an uphill struggle.
Like our other GROs, he spends most of his time on the ground, at the heart of communities, listening to and supporting the residents and community workers who live there.
Once he has listened he then offers whatever tools he can to make the place they call home a thriving, inclusive and peaceful place to live.
For Stephen, who studied politics at university, he regularly finds himself sensitively sowing seeds of change in the community through gentle conversation and he is delighted to see the community reap the rewards when they do grow.
“Day to day, I could be engaged in sensitive critical engagement conversations about a community-related event or part of a race relations or re-imaging project,” he explained.
“I’ve been fortunate to travel to Belgium and France as part of my work and I’m always learning something new.
“Some days I could be completing assessments on funding applications or attending shared housing advisory panels, Police and Community Safety Partnerships or inter agency meetings.”
He added: “Projects can take years to come to fruition because a lot of our work is driven by local solutions or community-led processes.
Our work requires a lot of trust, relationship-building and years of talking and conversations. This can be undone quickly and that can be frustrating if there are negative comments which affect progress.
“However, I find the people I work with inspirational. I feel they are motivated to see their work being supported and successful.
“People who have driven forward to form support groups for family members with additional needs or made dinners from their own kitchen and provided leadership inspire me.
“Baroness Blood once told me ‘decisions are made by people who turn up’. This really resonates with me. In South Antrim we have five groups who received the Queen’s award, the previous chair of our Housing Community Network (HCN) is now Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey and there are a raft of people with MBEs and OBEs,” he said.
Reflecting on his experiences Stephen added: “It’s easy to forget the progress that has been made in the community. And, there is always more to do.
“My hope is that more people in our communities will get involved in our HCN Network and we will hear younger voices shaping the future or our communities.”
Stephen gives a hint of the varied work he does by recalling the most recent events he has been involved with.
“We held a strategic planning and funding fair in the Dunadry Hotel, which was a fantastic event that brought all the groups from the HCN in south Antrim together for internet safety training and to make them aware of available funding.
“I also attended the Funky Kids allotment launch at Glenbane in Rathcoole. This project was supported through a Housing Executive Community Involvement Grant and we envisage it will have a positive impact on local people.”
If you would like to become more involved with your community you can find information on our website at: www.nihe.gov.uk/community