Circle of Change 2025

Our Circles of Change are groups of 15 people from diverse communities who learn about Belfast through each other’s stories and contribute to a better future together.

In the midst of an increasingly polarised world, our Circles enable members to build relationships with people they wouldn’t otherwise meet and work together to tackle common causes.

As Socrates says, ‘The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new’.

We meet once a month for dinner over the course of 8 months. During our first 4 sessions, we create a safe environment to enable group members to share their experiences of living in Belfast, supporting them to identify shared strengths and explore social challenges.

Over the next 4 sessions, we empower Circle members to raise money for their own Circle of Change fund, to invest in strengthening grassroots projects which tackle social issues they have identified.

Liza Wilkinson, Circle 1 member, says it was an ‘Engaging, challenging & life changing experience’.

Each Circle catalyses change in 3 ways:

Firstly, we change as individuals.

By listening to each other’s stories, we discover a shared humanity for people who are different to us. For example, the empathy which was unlocked when one black Circle member told us that people threw dog poo at her children was extraordinary. This story also led us all to discover that there are now more racist incidents than sectarian incidents in Belfast, which was a revelation to most of our Circle members.

Secondly, each Circle nurtures change in our communities around us.

Incredibly, almost unbelievably, inspired by the stories from our 5 Circles, hundreds of people invested over £77,000 into a fund we set up to tackle some of the social problems we’d identified.

Each Circle then invites voluntary and community organisations to pitch their best solutions to these problems, and as a group, we collaborate to invest in a number of them. Our first Circle, for example, were so horrified by the dog poo story I have just told you, they raised and invested £7,500 in an after-school club for black teenagers to learn computer coding, bringing good out of a horrible situation.

They also invested in projects to tackle mental health and homelessness, inspired by other stories from Circle members.

‘The Circles have taught me that when people from diverse communities share their stories it unlocks a deep well of empathy and goodness’ says Tim Magowan, who co-developed the Circles in Belfast. ‘In the midst of increasing polarisation in our world today, the Circles give me hope that we can build relationships across divides and contribute to a better future together’.

Thirdly, our Circles are an investment in future change.

Circle members tell us that the experience taught them the profound lesson that change can happen from within and upskilled them with interpersonal, fundraising and grant-making skills
nurtured relationships between people who never would have otherwise met, building bridges across communities, creating new synergies , and even launching a brand new charity – Rainbow Refugees.

Tony Macaulay, who is a well-known local author and member of this circle, says, ‘It’s amazing how much you can learn, simply by sitting in a circle and listening to the stories of people who live in the same place, but who are different from you. Identifying areas of common concern and then working together to raise money for projects to address these issues was a very fulfilling experience.’

We currently are running one Circle with members from East Belfast and North Belfast. You can support this Circle’s fund here.

In March 2026, we are working with our partners, 4 Corners festival, to launch a new Circle, which will have people drawn from across Belfast.

The Circle of Change is run by the 174 Trust and Tides Training and is kindly supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Reconciliation Fund.  The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland manages our funds and make grants on our behalf.

The Circle of Change was also featured in the December 2025 issue of The Guardian Christmas Appeal – read the full article here: https://bit.ly/circleofchange2526