International Fund for Ireland backs cross-border manufacturing skills project
The International Fund for Ireland awarded £112,389 to BURC and LMETB for a cross-border schools programme focused on advanced manufacturing and STEM careers.
In July 2023, the International Fund for Ireland awarded £112,389 to Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre and Louth Meath Education and Training Board to deliver the Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Schools Project.
The 12-month programme brought together eight schools from Belfast, Drogheda and Dundalk through project-based workshops and activities designed to introduce young people to high-skilled STEM careers and broaden teachers’ understanding of future career pathways.
The project combined education and employability with a wider cross-border peacebuilding purpose. By creating opportunities for students from different communities to work together around technology and practical challenges, the programme aimed to build relationships while expanding awareness of new industries and employment opportunities.
The funding also built on the wider relationship between Portview, BURC and LMETB’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence in Dundalk.
For Portview, the programme represented another step in developing the site as a place where learning, technology and opportunity could sit alongside business and heritage activity.
Contemporary coverage / source: International Fund for Ireland – Further IFI Investment in Community Peacebuilding
