Humanitas Initiative is a Northern Ireland social enterprise working at the intersection of cultural intelligence, community integration and human connection.
Founded by Zilka Gerritsen, Community Bridge Builder, the organisation delivers facilitated workshops, cultural programmes and community bridge-building activities across the Causeway Coast and Glens area and beyond.
Our aim is to create the conditions where genuine cross-cultural encounter can happen, replacing assumptions and headlines with real stories and real understanding. We work with adults, children and families across diverse backgrounds, designing interactive, accessible sessions suitable for mixed ages and abilities, including non-readers and non-English speakers.
Our services include cultural identity and integration workshops, intercultural storytelling and creative practice sessions, multicultural celebration and awareness events, and bespoke facilitation for community organisations, schools and councils.
We are currently delivering a six week PeacePlus funded workshop series, After All We Are All Humans, in partnership with Beyond Skin, and have previously delivered programmes including Viva La Vida and Latinoamérica with Building Communities Resource Centre.
Humanitas Initiative is built on lived multicultural experience spanning Venezuela, Martinique, Bolivia, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and on the conviction that humanity comes before passports.
