Learning Centre
Being Worldly.
Welcome to CRAICNI. We offer learning experiences that promotes Culture.
Our mission in our name – Cultivate Respect, Appreciate Inclusion across Cultures
Experiencing culture is a wonderful way of adding meaning to life.
CRAIC means the importance of atmosphere and the art of conversation.
What is CRAIC?
CRAIC offers learning experiences that promotes Culture.
Our approach leverages culture to achieve awareness, self-development, success and change.
Our services include online and in-person training, online courses, short educational videos, consulting, workshops and events.
Why Choose Us
Businesses. Individuals.
Social workers. Institutions.
- Curious about cultures?
- Looking to challenge your beliefs?
- Wish to implement good practices at workplace?
- Wish to grow culturally and intellectually?
- Suffered or faced challenges as a minority?
You have come to the right place.
All humans are cultural beings. Then the exploration of cultures becomes necessary for mutual respect and harmony.
Ultimately, CRAIC provides people the knowledge, resources, and connections they need to take better actions, culturally.
Our History
In 2014, a team focused in race relations came together in Belfast with the idea of developing a training company made up of diverse trainers. This initiative was in response to rising racial incidents and violence in the UK and worldwide at the time.
Mind mapping exercises brought up words including Culture, Respect, Appreciation, Inclusion, and Cultures. The acronym CRAIC appeared, and they opted to name the company after it. CRAICNI was officially set up in May 2015.
CRAICNI CIC (Company Number NI631525) aims to provides engaging learning experiences through thoughtful collaboration of diverse trainers.
Our Services
Training and Education
(Instructor led, available online or in-person)
Cultural Competency
Cultural Awareness
Self-awareness
Know thyself
Culture and creativity
Migration, refugees and asylum studies
Understanding bias, prejudice, hate crime
Storytelling
Leadership skills in managing diversity
Specialised
One-to-one mentoring
Consulting – workplace policy and strategy
Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty
Seminars, conferences, workshops.
Cultural cuisine with me
Staff capacity building
Experiencing culture
Desk research
Courses
Online courses, resources and toolkits. Coming soon.
Educational Videos
Coming soon.
How to get started?
Simply reach out to us using our contact form. Tell us what you are interested in or mention any item from our list of services. Give a short description of your inquiry and submit. We will reply to you ASAP.
Often your requirements can be unique, and therefore needs a tailored approach. We work with you every step of the way to ensure that you have the perfect roadmap to advance in your worldly journey.
How we work
People aren’t just numbers. The experiences of everyone are unique and qualitative. We see people as powerful resources to enhance our daily lives.
CRAIC follows an individual-centered approach, that means we are interested in your personal and professional development.
CRAIC’s cultural competency programme aims to assist you in understanding, finding solutions, and building skills to enhance your cultural competence.
Our training design includes different learning styles, group exercises and reflection activities.
CRAIC’s four-step maturity model is inspired from Papadoupolous, Tikli and Taylor.
Our Values
At CRAIC our purpose is to help learners lead themselves, interact effectively in our diverse community and take better actions.
Our work brings three values to life – curiosity, authenticity, impact.
Curiosity
Learning about cultures ages us well. We listen intently to our learners and partners.
Authenticity
We subscribe to enagement and enrichment. We unsubscribe to tick-box learning.
Impact
We value self-reflection, as it leads to impact, growth, change, and transformation.
“What I share is expertise gained
over 25+ years in racial equality
and community work”
Eileen Chan-Hu
Executive Director and Founder – CRAICNI
Meet the Team
Eileen Chan-Hu
Executive Director and Founder
Eileen is the first ethnic minority born in Northern Ireland to hold a public appointment. For over 25 years, Eileen has been involved in racial relations and community efforts. She served as the Equality Commissioner in NI between 2017 and 2020. Her interests are in Leadership skills development, Education and Creativity.
Dr Jessica Blomkvist
Director
Jessica is a Senior Outreach Officer with the Integrated Education Fund. Before that, she worked with the Belfast Conflict Resolution Consortium. Jessica has a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast, researching the role of faith-based peacebuilding organisations.
Magdalena Houston
Director
Magdalena is truly global – born to French-Moroccan parents, she has lived in France, Montreal, Singapore, Dubai, and Belfast. She is a Cultural Awareness Trainer and a Co-active Coach. She focuses on bringing creativity and empowerment to people.
Michael Sowney
Director
Michael’s main areas of interest are language, communication and storytelling, and how they can be used to foster cultural awareness. He has a Masters Degree in Advanced Migration Studies from the University of Copenhagen.
Veera W Govil
Director
Veera has been with CRAICNI since 2018, involved in management and strategy. He has a Masters degree in International Relations from Queen’s University Belfast. Veera is an Indian.
Ismaila Neill
Chair
Ismaila is a psychology graduate. He advises the board using his invaluable work experience and his deep understanding of human behavior and the mind.
Dr Edie Shillue
Sr Training Associate
Edie has been providing Refugee/Asylum training for professionals and community groups in Ireland since 2013. Since 2020, she provides open learning courses about migration and asylum studies for community volunteers at Queen’s Open Learning.
Jeremy Adams
Sr Training Associate
Jeremy has a background in Policing, Community Safety and Community Development of over 35 years. Jeremy now works in an independent advisory capacity at local, national and international levels. He has been involved with the Special Olympics movement for over 25 years.
Masako Carey
Trainer
Masako Carey was born in Tokyo, moved to NI twenty years ago. She is an OCN Level 4 Community Interpreter, a Cultural Trainer, and a professional storyteller. She performs in various schools, communities, events, and festivals, sharing her culture in a fun and entertaining way.
Dermot Devlin
Trainer
Dermot founded the pressure group My Way Access in 2009. Dermot has a rare disease called Mucopolysaccharides Morquio and is a wheelchair user. He describes himself as disabled and proud. In 2020, he was awarded the Bravery Award from Amnesty International UK for his campaign for disabled people.
A selection of our past collaborations
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