As the first Sister Cities International Conference hosted outside of the United States, history was made. Events like these take many partners some seen and some invisible to the average participant. Below you can enjoy one of our leadership voices from Northern Ireland - Alan Chambers. He recently finished his sixth and final year on the Sister Cities International board. He served as our leading partner on the ground for everything from volunteer recruitment to media relations. Asked him to give us a perspective as a ciziten of Northern Ireland and what our conference meant to him and the community.
Guest Blogger: Councillor Alan Chambers, SCI Honorary Board and Chairman of the Belfast Host Committee
It is a great privilege for any community to be chosen to host such an important and prestigious event as the Annual Conference of Sister Cities International. That sense of privilege is enhanced when it also provides the opportunity to be involved in the creation of history by being the first international venue for the conference in 53 years. Belfast and Northern Ireland was very proud to have been selected to be the first international host. Given the growing, and ongoing, peace process the opportunity to host the conference was an important building block for peace.
The concept of going “International” for the Annual Conference was a new idea for the SCI Leadership and the huge family of member communities and partners. It was also something new and a challenge for the Washington DC staff. There had to be a bond of confidence developed between the Host Committee and the SCI staff that were, for the first time ever, organising a huge logistical conference operation on the other side of an ocean.
The idea of Belfast hosting the conference at some time in the future was first discussed when the then President of SCI, Sherman Banks, attended a meeting of Northern Ireland SCI members at a get together hosted in the US Consulate in Belfast in January 2005. If you thought that the First Minister was joking when he told us all at the Stormont reception that he hadn’t spoken to his Deputy First Minister until two years ago it should be noted that the event in the Consulate represented the first occasion when members of all the political parties in Northern Ireland had sat around the same table to discuss issues of mutual interest. This unique gathering was only possible because of the involvement of SCI and its President.
This small example of cross community political cooperation was built on at the 50th Anniversary Conference in Washington DC in July 2006 when we hosted a reception where we announced that the Fall Board meeting would be held in Northern Ireland. The fundraising and organisation of this event created some more cross community bonding.
The Northern Ireland reception in Kansas City in 2008 was the most dramatic example of this political cooperation when the largest ever delegation from our shores, of around fifty people, from all shades of political opinion worked in total cooperation and harmony to promote the conference in Belfast. The Government in Northern Ireland began to take notice of what a shared interest in an organisation like SCI was capable of delivering in terms of cross community cooperation.
Obviously the actual conference totally copper fastened this united approach to promoting Northern Ireland and was a tangible opportunity to demonstrate how far we had all moved forward in our journey to lasting peace.
A personal plus for me in this adventure was to stop taking for granted all that Northern Ireland has to offer its visitors. I have looked at photographs taken by the delegates of places like stately home gardens etc and marvelled at the beauty of these sites. To my shame they might only be 15 miles from my home and I haven’t visited them in years. It also exposed me to the quality and talent of local dancers, singers and musicians and made me proud that these performers, who provided so much enjoyment and entertainment, were my fellow Northern Ireland citizens.
My legacy of the conference is that I have been left with a much broader appreciation of what my small country has to offer both resident and visitor alike. It has also alerted me to the little acts of kindness shown by local people to the delegates and proved to me that the famous Irish hospitality is for real! I am proud of Northern Ireland and its people and I am especially proud of SCI for what it has contributed to peace in this country and that it continues to deliver throughout the world.
The legacy of the conference for Belfast and Northern Ireland can not be measured but it is immense! Sister Cities, and its mission, is now better known here as a result of the conference and will now be associated with something very positive rather than been seen as a weak excuse for travel on the public purse. SCI has been contributing to the healing process in our country since the decision was made to hold the conference in Belfast. The cosmopolitan nature of the conference has encouraged all of us here to concentrate on looking outwards rather than inwards. Domestic friendships that once would have been impossible have been firmly established across the community divide. For all of that we are grateful!
Hosting the conference was a huge responsibility but we thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Please come back and see us soon fellow SCI peace makers!
