Using Values to Build Understanding in Northern Ireland - A Report on Lessons Learned

With support from the Reconciliation Fund, the Values Project has been exploring how community conversations using new data revealing our shared values and changing attitudes might challenge the simplicity of ‘them and us’ framing and narratives. 

Although Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society, where tensions can flare up quickly, there has in fact been considerable attitudinal, political and demographic change in the last 25 years.  This shift is not always apparent in the public narrative, which often fails to reflect the plurality of perspectives and identities that exist. Our current public narrative can be both polarised and polarising, which in turn fuels further division.

The Values Project used new information from the World Values Survey, which via a partnership between SCI and Kings College London has been conducted in Northern Ireland for the first time.  SCI and KCL have been analysing the data and building segmentation models to provide unique insights into how different groups in the NI population are aligned in terms of their values and attitudes, beyond community background or constitutional position. Through the Values Project, SCI worked with community leaders to bring these findings into communities and use them to stimulate conversations on attitudes and values. SCI hopes this project will stimulate different conversations that help us to understand ourselves and others better and to move away from single story narratives.

This Lessons Learned Report provides feedback on the usefulness of the approach, with videos from the community leaders who facilitated workshops and comments from the participants. The values-led approach was found to change the conversation and bring new voices into reconciliation discussions. Participants enjoyed working with the data and found the conversations thought-provoking and valuable. The project explored narrative strategies and population segmentation approaches that have been little used in Northern Ireland and found potential to further develop this approach as part of the tapestry of peacebuilding work that takes place.  

Explore the full report below: