The abi Programme was piloted under the name O.K. Kids Programme in the school year 2014-2015 in Roscommon schools. The effort was co-funded by Roscommon County Council, which continues to support rollout of the Programme in Roscommon.

For statistical analysis of survey data we gather at schools, we are supported by PD Dr. Micha Strack, Assistant Professor of Psychology. Micha has taught at the Universities of Gottingen, Trier, Magdeburg, Regensburg, and Hamburg in Germany. Her research focuses on values and social perception. Her profuse publications include “Personal and situational values predict ethical reasoning” in Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP), 7(3), and “How shared preferences in music create bonds between people: Values as the missing link” in Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), 37, 1159–1171.

The abi Programme incorporates some of the concepts used by "Mobbing Intervention Teams" in German schools, which we learned through the generous sharing afforded us by the Department of Education of the German State of Lower Saxony.

We cooperate in the area of curriculum development with the German institute IfAK, Institute for Applied Cultural Research, and a number of its network partners, notably the No Blame Institute, Marburg and Diversity Joy, Amsterdam, which specialises in the development of community restitution models.