The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace was established following the deaths of Tim Parry aged 12 and Johnathan Ball aged 3, who were killed when an IRA bomb exploded in Warrington, North West England.

The Foundation designs and delivers learning programmes, which help people, especially young people, develop an insight and better understanding of conflict.

The Foundation has a twin-track approach to conflict transformation by focusing on both collective/community and individual/personal conflicts. Since 2000 the Foundation has worked with over 17,000 young people and 150 adults. Its vision is to inspire people to lead more peaceful lives. This is done by delivering programmes which challenge perceptions and prejudice in order to encourage tolerance and acceptance of diversity. The Foundation believes that lives should not be lost or ruined because of man's inability to resolve their differences peacefully. Everyone has the right to live a long and happy life without fear of violent conflict. However, to live in peace everyone has a responsibility to make it happen.

In February of 2006, The Foundation was approached by Leeds City Council to address problems at South Leeds High School. The school, which was attended by one of the London bombers, had seen violence and racism to since the early 2000's. This was further exacerbated by the 7/7 attacks as communities were polarised by these events. The school was the result of a merger between a predominantly Asian School and a predominantly White school, both of which were in 'special measures. Foundation tutors worked with the school and local youth service to investigate and audit the problems at the school. 98% of young people and staff surveyed cited racism as the main cause of the conflicts taking place inside and out of school. 72 young people have been involved in an intensive week long leadership programme which has allowed them to explore everything from personal identity and prejudices, right through to problem solving; looking at real issues experienced in school.

The school commented that: 'Everyone in the school is very excited about the project.... we have had no major racial incidents in school since the project started....The quality of delivery is exceptional'. A student said: 'The Foundation for Peace project has helped our school immensely in terms of building a foundation of unity among the students. We needed this project to help us become one school, and become a successful school that knows how to deal with conflict at the level we encountered. The best aspect of the programme is that we the students are learning these skills that will not only help us in our local community but later in our lives. We are now more confident and able to deal with conflict and the procedures we need to follow'.

Project type

• Conflict resolution

Region

• Warrington