PUPPET PLAY ENCOURAGES YOUNG CHILDREN TO RESPECT DIFFERENCE

Young children from rural areas in Co Monaghan are set to benefit from a new £1.2 million cross-Border project that will place respecting difference at the heart of learning with the use of puppets and cartoon messages. The Rural Respecting Difference Programme, recently launched in Emyvale, Co Monaghan, is supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

Match-funding for this project has been provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland and the Executive Office in Northern Ireland. The launch was part of a wider celebration of EU Peace funding for early years services in the southern Border counties and Northern Ireland over the last 21 years. Over a three-year period, the Rural Respecting Difference Programme will engage with young children attending rural preschool, day care and afterschool settings to build a better understanding of…