Here in Northern Ireland we have a growing problem with racism and xenophobia.  During our former conflict, we had a tiny number of people from non-Irish/British backgrounds - mostly a fairly settled community of Chinese and Indian families.  However in recent years, Northern Ireland has become an increasingly attractive place for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers to live.

Sadly, many of these new immigrants have been met with hostility and racism - particularly people from the Romanian Roma community. 

At Public Achievement one of our approaches has been to use new media to encourage understanding and dialogue between communities and to engage young people from different ethnic backgrounds - helping them to see themselves as citizens of Northern Ireland in addition to the other identities they hold. 

In terms of new media, the organisation is probably best known for our WIMPS (Where Is My Public Servant?) project and website.  This project supports the active civic engagement of young people - including direct dialogue with politicians and making films (including political interviews) about issues which are important to young people.  In addition to the site, we use Twitter and Facebook actively to promote the work of the young people in the project.

As this project progresses, we will be posting updates on how our engagement with our international partners is impacting on our work on the ground in Northern Ireland - and we are delighted to be hosting the group at the start of May this year.