A new residential camp, which will enable an additional 300 young people to take part in activities aimed at promoting peace and reconciliation, was launched at the Share Centre, Lisnaskea on Friday. Denis Rooney, the Chairman of the International Fund for Ireland officiated.

The new camp is one of two residential sites which will be used to deliver the Learning and Educating Together (LET) programme which is jointly run by Young Enterprise Northern Ireland and Junior Achievement Ireland.

It is funded by the International Fund for Ireland and brings together young people aged between 12 and 13 years from the most marginalised areas on both sides of the border to teach them enterprise and entrepreneurial skills.

Participating students are drawn from over 60 schools based in Northern Ireland and the border counties to take part in the seven-month programme. It includes a series of cross community activities, such as workshops and outdoor activities and is aimed at building confidence and gaining a better understanding of their peers' background and culture.

The new camp will boost to 600 the number of students able to take part in the 2007/2008 LET programme . Of these, 400 students will be drawn from perceived unionist and nationalist secondary schools in Northern Ireland and 200 from the Southern border counties.

As part of the programme, 20 groups of 30 participants each will complete a series of three, three- day residentials at the new centre in Lisnaskea and at Portneal Lodge, Kilrea culminating in one-day cultural exchanges.

Mr Rooney said the programme was a practical demonstration of the Fund's strategy at work which, he stated, had an overriding objective of community relations and reconciliation.

"The launch of this new camp", he went on, " is a direct result of the overwhelming success of the LET programme which provides often the only opportunity for these young people to mix with their peers from other traditions and backgrounds as well as giving them an insight into business".

He reported that external evaluation had proven the benefits of the initiative. To date, over 900 participants have gained a greater understanding and tolerance of the religious backgrounds of others, putting these aside to forge firm friendships and work together in the spirit of enterprise.

Valerie Ingram, the Chief Executive of Young Enterprise Northern Ireland, said her organisation were delighted to have the support of the International Fund for Ireland, in order to build upon their previous success of the LET initiative, together with their sister organisation in the South, Junior Achievement Ireland.