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Issue 27 / September 2010

Irish Newsletter for Development Education Exchange

2015

Do we keep missing the Goals?

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Editorial As we approach the final leg of the global race to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) deadline of 2015 this issue of INDEX prompts educators to reflect on how these goals might be relevant to our work.

Patrizia Labelle introduces the MDGs, provides an overview of how they have fared since their creation in 2000, and outlines what needs to happen for us to keep our promise to the poorest and most exploited people in the world (page 3).

Crucially the goals agreed at the UN in 2000 stressed the need for real global partnership.

Nessa Ní Chasaíde examines how one aspect of this – global debt - highlights a failure to take the necessary actions to turn our promises into reality (page 6).

Research (page 4) shows that educators have a lot of work to do to challenge stereotypical and charity focused views on aid. Although a recent survey found that 84% of the public support funding overseas aid, the lack of public outcry to recent funding cuts shows a need to build on this support. Therefore, this issue includes information on how educators can engage with the Act Now on 2015 campaign (page 5). Bertrand Borg provides general advice on how to educate about development issues in an empowering way (page 14), which can be applied to the aid debate. Helen Mahony reviews the Debating Aid resource (page 15). Inside Out and Children in Crossfire (page 13) describe how to bring the goals home to any group by beginning with local problems.

We also have news from the EU and Ireland, including resources for more on the goals including progress, success stories, and ideas on how we can all get involved and overcome the current challenges.

Cover image from © www.alicefitzgerald.com

To comment on INDEX please email index@ comhlamh.org or call 01 4783490.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive” – Dalai Lama

IDEA supports the production of INDEX in line with its mission to advance the Development Education sector through capacity building and networking.

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Contents MDGs: we need less talk and more action!

By Patrizia Labella

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Enthusiasm, skepticism and afro-centrism,

By Tom Smith

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Act Now on 2015 campaign poses a challenge to Dev Ed practitioners, By Éamonn Casey

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Addiction to credit makes MDGs a set of cruel broken promises,

By Nessa Ní Chasaíde

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INDEX Links: Dev Ed courses & events 8 EU Corner & International Dates

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IDEA Corner

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Dev Ed news, & resources

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How is our area connected to the rest of the world?

By Wendi, Fergal, Helen and Gráinne

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Don’t be afraid of teaching aid,

By Bertrand Borg

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Resource Review: Debating Aid,

By Helen Mahony

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www.comhlamh.org INDEX is a free Comhlámh publication for people interested in educating on global development issues, funded by Comhlámh, Trócaire, IDEA, and Irish Aid. The views expressed in individual articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisations to which they are affiliated, the editorial committee, or Comhlámh.

Development Education is about questioning our knowledge and perceptions about how the world works and about what role we play in it. It looks at the meanings of concepts such as ‘development’ or ‘education’ in order to increase our understanding of the interconnectedness of our world (Galway One World Centre).

Editorial committee: Ali Leahy (Comhlámh), Jenna Coriddi (CGE), Aoife McTernan (Trócaire), Elaine Mahon (NYCI), Mbemba Jabbi (Africa Centre), Eimear McNally (IDEA).

Please contact index@comhlamh.org to comment or to contribute to future issues.

Millennium Development Goals: we need less talk and more action!

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n 2000 world leaders met at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York. On this occasion, 189 heads of state and government made a historic promise to end poverty by 2015. Signing the Millennium Declaration, they agreed to work together to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people.

Out of this declaration came the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs - http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=LHhJSz6yk6U&feature=p layer_embedded ): 8 development objectives offering a roadmap to halve global poverty and hunger, ensure universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, halt and reverse the spread of HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and create a global partnership for development.

For the first time, rich and poor countries alike recognised their shared responsibility to end poverty and its root causes. While developing countries took the primary responsibility for achieving the first seven Goals, donor countries took responsibility for the eighth Goal – establish a global partnership for development. This meant they would deliver more aid, improve its effectiveness and provide more and better trade opportunities to developing countries so they could lift themselves out of poverty.

Ten years down the road, the world has indeed witnessed notable success stories even in some of the poorest countries. However, progress is uneven between and within regions

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UN Millennium Campaign Europe

as well as countries, and is often too slow to meet the 2015 deadline.

Global development challenges such as climate change, food and energy insecurity, and natural disasters have compounded the existing fragile situation in many developing countries. In addition, the recent global economic recession has slowed - and in some cases reversed - progress on the MDGs. Some two billion people still live on less than two dollars a day. Global hunger stands at record levels with almost one billion people currently undernourished.

Governments also bear their share of the blame. In developing countries, insufficient progress in fighting corruption and a general lack of good governance continue to obstruct progress. As for donor countries, many of their commitments remain unfulfilled. Even though the volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA) has gradually risen over the past two years, it is still far less than what has been promised despite these promises being reaffirmed on numerous occasions. Furthermore, progress has been slow in reforming, simplifying, and harmonising the way this aid is delivered.

Clearly reaching the MDGs will require strengthened efforts from the North and the South alike.

From the 20th to the 22nd of September, world leaders will convene at the United Nations to agree on an MDG road map for the next five years. At this meeting heads of state and government of donor countries from the north of the world - such as Europe, the USA, Canada and other OECD countries - will meet

with representatives of countries from the Global South - specifically Africa, Asia and Latin America - to exchange past successes, best practices and lessons learned. They will also give due consideration to the obstacles and gaps that have prevented better results, and highlight the challenges and opportunities that have been encountered over the past ten years.

Countries need to agree on concrete strategies for action, backed up by a monitoring framework to assess progress and ensure accountability of all stakeholders. Particular focus should be placed on realising the entitlements of the poor, ensuring gender equality, and protecting the marginalised and the most vulnerable groups, including women, religious and ethnic minorities, migrant workers, and people living with HIV and AIDS. The United Nations Millennium Campaign firmly believes that the MDGs can be achieved, even in the poorest countries, provided that developing countries own their development processes, good policies exist, and commitments are backed by predictable and adequate resources. The Campaign is a UN inter-agency initiative set up in 2002 by former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to support citizens’ efforts to hold their governments accountable for achieving the MDGs. Urgent Action is needed: there are simply no excuses.

Patrizia Labella, Policy Adviser, UN Millennium Campaign Europe http://www.endpoverty2015.org/

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Enthusiasm, Skepticism and Afro-centrism: University Students’ Perceptions of Overseas Aid

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esearch undertaken at University College Cork in spring 2010 uncovered some interesting, if confusing, conclusions for the Irish Development Education sector and others to mull over. The externallyfunded survey was carried out by second year undergraduate International Development and Food Policy students and covered a representative university-wide final sample of almost 700 students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Aimed at measuring general perceptions and awareness of overseas aid among third level students, the survey also included data on, among other things, respondents’ histories of financial and in-kind (such as overseas volunteering) charitable giving.

The surveying took place during a time of natural disaster both at home and abroad (as covered by the last issue of INDEX). Many students were temporarily homeless due to the floods in Cork and the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake held centre stage in the international media. On top of this, government austerity and aid cutbacks were unusually high on the public’s agenda, making survey questions on whether charity starts at home particularly pertinent.

Overall the survey showed support for development assistance, with the most respondents (42.6%) agreeing that overseas aid has made a significant difference for developing countries. In addition, when asked how much they felt the Irish government should be giving as a proportion of GDP, figures averaged at 3.57%. This is roughly seven times the actual figure! This supports other research findings that have time and again shown that the general public 1

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in many OECD states believes in increasing national aid budgets.

However 83.7% of students say that they would donate more money to overseas development agencies if they knew more about how it was being spent. The revelation that 54.6% of students believe most official aid to be in some way politically motivated showed even more scepticism.

Importantly however, the general view is that overseas aid should be ring-fenced at a time of disaster or hardship at home, and not used for domestic needs. This finding is particularly strong in that it came just after many UCC students had a direct, and in some cases traumatic, experience of natural disasters at home in the form of floods.

Finally, when asked what country received the most bilateral development assistance, and which region they felt was most in need of aid, predictably most said the continent of Africa. Perhaps what was unexpected was the extent to which this was the case. There was an overwhelming and stereotypical view that all African states had significant problems, but few countries outside of Africa were mentioned. This goes against statistics showing that, in absolute figures, more than twice as many people go hungry in Asia as in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Judging from our data, nearly all people questioned would be surprised if you told them that no African country is anywhere near the biggest aid recipient globally (Iraq tops that list, going by 2008 figures. See the OECD’s Development Co-operation Report 2010, available at http://www.oecd.org/document/62/ 0,3343,en_2649_34447_42195 902_1_1_1_1,00.html). The African country that received the most aid,

Poll spotlights grim litany of neglected crises, www.alertnet.org/othercrises.htm.’

according to the OECD, is in fact Sudan, at number seven.

“…83.7% of students say that they would donate more money to overseas development agencies if they knew more about how it was being spent.”

One would perhaps expect, at a third-level institution, a relatively strong engagement with development practice and a critical engagement with the perverse status quo which results in the deaths of 15,000 children daily from hunger and poverty-related diseases in sub-Saharan Africa alone1. The empathy for others shown in our survey was reassuring, but the gaps in knowledge and understanding left much to be desired. Undoubtedly, the development education sector can play a large and crucial role in filling these gaps by opening young eyes to an alarming reality. If this is done successfully it could unleash a powerful resource to fight for social justice.

All data is the property of UCC’s School of Mathematical Sciences.

Thanks from the second year Int. Dev. & Food Policy class go to NAIRTL for providing the funding for this project and to Helena Guiney and Andrew Grannell for all their help in compiling the data.

Tom Smith, 3rd year, International Development & Food Policy, UCC, thomas.smith@student.ucc.ie.

Visit http://www.comhlamh.org/ development-education.html for the full findings.

Visit http://dochas.ie/ to see a the findings on a recent survey on public attitudes to aid.

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Act Now on 2015 campaign poses a challenge to Dev Ed practitioners The time is now to support Ireland’s overseas aid programme and hold the space for Dev Ed itself.

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ct Now on 2015 is the campaign, supported by 65-plus civil society groups and thousands of individuals in Ireland, to protect and build up Ireland’s overseas development programme, in an effort to help eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. After all, that was the promise of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

While Ireland embraced the MDGs and is pushing hard to tackle issues such as hunger and HIV&AIDS, the Government has also overturned years of good progress on increasing the aid budget by slashing overseas aid spending by €203 million in 2009, from ? to ?.

That meant the Government could no longer hope to meet its commitment of achieving the UN target of spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid by 2012. Ireland’s new promise is to reach 0.7% by 2015. That’s just 70 cents in every €100 − a small proportion for a developed country, but money that can forever change the lives of poor people when invested in social and economic development.

Ireland has twice broken its commitment to deliver 0.7% on overseas aid spending (in 2005 and 2009), so advocates for global justice and solidarity need to keep the pressure on government to deliver on this promise.

In coordinating this campaign, Dóchas tries hard to inform and engage a wide range of people: from academics and student groups to opinion leaders, politicians and members of the public.

But how does such a campaign fit in

with Development Education?

Dev Ed, already hit by the aid cuts, is about providing people with opportunities to develop an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as global citizens, and to explore their potential to bring about change for a more just and equal world.

From its name alone, it is clear that Act Now on 2015 aims to move people to action in support of Ireland spending tax money on supporting poor and marginalised people across the world.

The campaign aims to improve Ireland’s accountability for delivering on its overseas aid commitment, but also to broaden the debate from ‘aid delivery’ to ‘development’ and to suggest ways for citizens to help bring about positive social change.

Some Dev Ed groups have engaged, bringing the issues and opportunities for action to the public, but we feel there is more that could be done in energising students, youth organisations, adult learners and the active elderly, professional organisations, companies and even politicians.

The campaign may seem prescriptive to some in asking people, up front, to contact politicians. However, Act Now on 2015 has the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) on its steering committee to advise on Dev Ed aspects, and it holds workshops to explore key issues and debate its approach. The campaign embraces and engages in public and media discussion, and ensures it regularly

Act Now on 2015 coordination team at campaign launch on 10 June 2010, Dublin.

Photo: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

offers space for critical questioning and feedback.

At a push, the campaign can even be seen as a long-running Dev Ed effort in which we are trying to engage new audiences, raise awareness, build critical understanding and, hopefully, win people’s support for efforts to build the quantity and quality of Ireland’s overseas aid.

There is clearly a need within Dev Ed to provide space for ‘open learning’ with no pre-determined outcomes or immediate routes to action. But there is also a need for urgent engagement with key issues of the moment, and to foster links between engaged learning and action for global justice.

Act Now on 2015 would love nothing better than to see everyone in the Dev Ed community devise courses, workshops, debates, materials or happenings that critically tackle Ireland’s overseas aid shortfalls in whatever ways they choose − but which bring issues, ideas, energy, urgency and action to the fore.

While it is always important to move from awareness to understanding, and from engagement with issues to doing something about them – there has rarely been a better time than now to Act Now on 2015. Éamonn Casey is policy officer with Dóchas, the umbrella organisation of Irish Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) involved in development and relief overseas and/or development education in Ireland. Visit http://www. actnow2015.ie/ or www.dochas.ie

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Addiction to Credit Makes MDGs a Set of Cruel Broken Promises

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he Millennium Development Goals Not only is the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under threat but they now appear to be little more than a cruel set of broken promises made to the most impoverished and exploited people on the planet.

Agreed as a set of international antipoverty targets in 2000, the MDGs outline eight goals - including tackling poverty and hunger, maternal health, child health, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and access to education for all children – to be achieved by 2015.

Crucially, the Goals include a target listed under Goal 8 (‘Develop a Global Partnership for Development’) that commits the international community to ‘comprehensively’ tackle the debt of developing countries and to develop an ‘open, rules-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system’1.

The following analysis of just this one serious area of concern - poor countries’ debt dependence and rich governments’ ongoing promotion of this debt dependence – provides ample evidence that achieving the MDGs is not being taken seriously.

It is important to place any analysis of the MDGs within the wider context of generations of peoples’ struggles for justice around the world. It is also vital to acknowledge that they are an inadequate set of targets developed by the United Nations in order to pressurise scandalously immoral governments into paying attention to the most pressing question of our time – ending poverty, inequality and saving the planet. This makes it all the more worrying that these compromised targets are unlikely to be met.

Financial Crisis hitting poor countries Despite some progress on debt

As a result of these massive problems, poor countries are facing a new debt crisis. For example Zambia, which has already received some debt cancellation, is now vulnerable as the economic crisis has led to a slump in the price of copper, Zambia’s key export. Zambia could soon face a debt to export ratio that is double what is considered sustainable by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) very conservative measures3.

(The debt to export ratio measures the amount countries spend on debt repayments in relation to the amount they make from exports).

The IMF and World Bank are international lending institutions.

Most countries, including Ireland, are members of these institutions.

Countries provide them with funding and have some decisionmaking influence; this influence relates to the wealth of each country.

Shockingly, the solution being offered to this financial crisis by the World Bank and IMF is to provide more credit to poor countries. The World Bank and IMF recently loosened their restrictions on lending to poor countries to enable them access more credit in the face of their massive financial shortfalls. Why is this a problem?

1. No Real Action on Illegitimate Debts Illegitimate loans are loans given to repressive regimes and to known corrupt officials; loans given for obviously useless, damaging

“Despite some progress on debt cancellation in recent years, debt repayments from poor countries remain huge – now reaching a staggering US$ 2.9 trillion.” or overpriced projects; or loans granted on unacceptable terms and conditions.

There are numerous recorded circumstances where loans from rich countries, the IMF, and the World Bank have created illegitimate debt.

For example, the contract for the Bataan nuclear plant in the Philippines was given to a US company under corrupt circumstances at a time when the Philippines was ruled by Ferdinand Marcos’ repressive regime.

The project never opened and yet has cost the people of the Philippines billions of dollars4.

In the current international system, borrowing countries shoulder all of the negative consequences of unjust – or illegitimate - loans. As a result, lenders do not have to take any responsibility for their actions, even in circumstances where they have behaved unjustly or irresponsibly. This affects the way that lenders continue to lend money. This is unacceptable given the widely documented abuse of the lending system by international lenders.

Given that this is the case, making it easier for countries to borrow money, and for other countries to lend money to them, is not necessarily a good thing for poor countries.

2. Re-empowerment of Bad Lending Institutions (Especially the IMF) Clearly illegitimate debts need to be cancelled. Instead of committing to more debt cancellation, international lenders are offering massive amounts of new money without any new

http://www.undp.org/mdg/goal8.shtml Jubilee Debt Campaign (2009) A New Debt Crisis? Assessing the impact of the Financial Crisis on Developing Countries p. 6; World Bank (2008) Global Development finance 2008, Volume II, Summary and Country Tables 3 Jubilee Debt Campaign (2009) A New Debt Crisis? Assessing the impact of the Financial Crisis on Developing Countries, p.4 4 Jubilee Debt Campaign (2008) Unfinished Business, Ten years of Dropping the Debt, p. 9 1 2

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cancellation in recent years, debt repayments from poor countries remain huge – now reaching a staggering US$ 2.9 trillion. This is US$ 100 million of debt repayments from the poorest countries to the richest countries every day 2. This is all the more alarming given the range of deepening crises poor countries are currently facing – financial, social, economic and ecological.

international agreements on how to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated. Many of these new loans are being channelled through the IMF. This is without any acknowledgement of the massive, historic damage caused by the IMF to poor country economies.

The IMF has obliged poor countries to follow strict economic policies in order to receive loans, without due consideration of the impacts of these policies. This has caused huge suffering among people in poor countries. Take the example of Mali in West Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world where 90% of the population live on less than US$ 2 per day5.

As part of its lending conditions, the IMF promoted changing the electricity sector from public to private ownership. The disastrous result was dramatic price increases in electricity costs (making Malian electricity the most expensive in the region) with limited additional coverage. The IMF also promoted the liberalisation and privatisation of the cotton sector. This resulted in a 20% drop in the cotton price for 3 million Malian farmers.

Overall, the economic policies that the IMF have attached as conditions to loans have followed a clear pattern of market liberalisation, privatisation, capping public expenditure, and strict monetary policies, such as keeping inflation in low single digits, regardless of whether these are appropriate policy actions in the context of impoverished and vulnerable states.

The United Nations economist Jeffery Sachs previously supported this type of policy conditionality; however more recently he famously described it as ‘… belt tightening for people who cannot afford belts’.

3. Failure to Give Poor Countries Back the Money that is Being Stolen from Them: Tax Justice Poor countries would not be as dependent on credit if the resources that are unjustly taken – often stolen – from them were returned. Among other steps, this means halting tax evasion (illegally avoiding paying taxes) by multi-national corporations.

As Christian Aid highlights, this costs poor countries $160 billion per year,

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the participants of the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos hold up a banner with a message calling for action on the MDGs. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

far more than they receive in aid6.

Ireland’s Role: A Just, New Debt Policy? Propping up the IMF? Ireland is part of the international lending system through its membership of international lending institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) is campaigning for the Irish government to develop a more justice-centred international debt policy. This should include Ireland leading the way towards the end of unjust lending practices. For example, Ireland could support the cancellation of illegitimate debts.

Worryingly, it appears that Ireland intends to support a re-empowerment of the IMF without any commitment to ensure action is taken against illegitimate debts and without any commitment to ensure just and responsible lending in the future. In the coming months, Ireland may agree to lend €2 billion from Irish Central Bank reserves to the IMF as part of a G20 agreement to empower the IMF to provide credit to countries suffering from the financial crisis. While the loan will cost Ireland very little in real terms, it will, if approved, represent a massive political endorsement by Ireland of the IMF. DDCI along with the global debt cancellation movement is calling for the cancellation of illegitimate debts, an end to the unjust ‘strings attached’ lending practices of the World Bank

Oxfam International (2006) Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and the IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid, Briefing Paper 96, p. 2-3 Christian Aid (2008) Death and Taxes, The True Toll of Tax Dodging

and the IMF, a binding international agreement on just and responsible lending standards, and global tax justice.

The Irish government should show more principled leadership on international debt and tax policies, which would strengthen its aid spending programme (which contributes to meeting the other MDGs relating to areas such as hunger, health and education).

It is time that poor countries are allowed be in charge of their own futures. This means ensuring that debt and tax injustice do not undermine the ability of people living in poor countries to demand the MDG promises from their governments.

Nessa Ní Chasaíde, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) co-ordinator. www.debtireland.org

DDCI is a national network focusing on challenging Ireland’s role in any exploitation of Southern countries

by Northern countries and Northern dominated institutions through unjust flows of resources between the South and the North; and particularly through injustice in the international lending system. www.debtireland.org. To get involved email nessa@debtireland. org or call 01 6174835.

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Courses Global Development - Issues and Challenges This ten week course focuses on issues such as poverty, inequality and conflict. It will examine case studies of complex development challenges and include guest speakers from development organisations.

Date: 7 - 9 pm, 30 September.

Venue: Dundalk IT. Fee: €100.

Contact: Bobby Mc Cormack on 041 9801005 or 087 0536622 or visit www.developmentperspectives.ie.

Theories of Race and Ethnicity This ten week course will introduce theories of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity, locating ‘race’ within social, economic, political and ideological relations and situating ‘race’ and racism in relation to other divisions such as class and gender and to emerging changes in Irish society.

Date: 6 – 8 pm, 19 October - 18 January 2011 or 25 January - 19 April 2011.

Venue: Trinity College Dublin 2.

Cost: €175, a limited number of scholarship places are available for those in the asylum process.

Contact: Visit www.ethnicracialstudies.net or email byrnem19@tcd.ie.

Options and Issues in Volunteering for Development This one day course is for people interested in volunteering overseas in a developing country.

Date: 10 am – 5 pm, 16 October.

Venue: Comhlámh, 2nd Floor, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2.

Contact: Janet, call 01 4783490 or email janet@comhlamh.org.

Dtalk – Development Training & Learning @ Kimmage Introduction to Aid Effectiveness: 19 October Planning - How to Apply the Logical Framework: 20-22 October Introduction to the Dóchas Code of Conduct on the Use of Images and Messages: 27 October Applying the Dóchas Code of 8

Conduct on the Use of Images and Messages: 28 October Dtalk can also provide training courses that are tailor made to your organisation’s needs.

Venue: Development Studies Centre, Kimmage Manor, Whitehall Road, Dublin 12.

Contact: Selam Desta, selam. desta@kimmagedsc.ie, call 01 4064341 or Catherine Behan, catherine.behan@kimmagedsc. ie, call 01 4064307 or visit http:// www.dtalk.ie/courses/scheduled/ calendar/.

Global Justice in Youth Work – FETAC Level 5 This course includes two residential trainings and an optional support day for completion of FETAC portfolios.

Participants will develop the skills and knowledge necessary to deliver quality development education, and to inspire the young people with whom you work to act for a more just and equal world. It is designed for those with at least one year of experience as a youth worker/leader.

Date: 30 September – 2 October & 25 – 27 November.

Venue: Newcastle, Co. Down.

Fee: €300.

Contact: www.nycitraining.org and www.youthdeved.ie or phone 01 4784122.

Eco-Unesco courses Sustain it! 28 September ECO-Education: 16 November Venue: The Greenhouse, St. Andrew Street, Dublin 2.

Contact: Visit http:// www.ecounesco.ie/training.aspx or call 01 662 5491.

Development Issues & Social Media This 2 weekend course explores the use of new technology, visual arts and social media to raise awareness of development issues.

Dates: 15 - 17 October & 19 - 21 November.

Cost: €150.

Contact: Visit wwwsurveymonkey.com/s/

Acting for a better world There are many ways to act for a better world from Ireland, from everyday choices we make, such as ethical shopping and investment, to getting involved in the global justice movement. This course will provide a space to share experiences with others, while also providing the media and campaigning skills to raise awareness effectively. It is relevant both to those who have lived in developing countries and those who have an interest in global issues.

Date: 5, 6 & 13 November.

Venue: Dublin city centre, TBC. Contact: Call 01 4783490, email deirdrekelly@comhlamh.org, or visit www.comhlamh.org/trainingsandcourses.html.

Trade Justice Participatory evening course focusing on international trade and development justice, asking: How does global trade work? What role do Ireland, the EU, and the WTO play? What alternatives can we propose?

Date: October.

Venue: Dublin city centre TBC. Contact: Call 01 4783490, email deirdrekelly@comhlamh.org, or visit www.comhlamh.org/trainings-andcourses.html.

Introduction to Graphic Recording This training provides a basic introduction to the art of visually recording and harvesting meaning from meetings, conversations or conferences.

Date: 10am- 4:30pm, 16 November.

Venue: Belfast, TBD Contact: Jenna: jenna@ centreforglobaleducation.com What is Development Education?

This one-day course explores the links between development education and youth work.

Venue: Cork Date: 9 December Contact: Visit www.youthdeved.ie or call 01 478 4122.

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Events Ireland and the MDG’s This panel discussion sees the formal launch of DSA Ireland, which aims to enhance knowledge on international development by encouraging exchange and cooperation among academics, researchers, NGO practitioners and other interested people. It will involve a keynote address by Lawrence Haddad, president of the Development Studies Association in London, and four presentations: The history of Irish Aid; Ireland’s policy coherence for development; research evidence on the impact of conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe; and an exploration of ‘what next for the MDGs?’ Participation free – All Welcome booking essential.

Date: 10am - 4pm, 13 September.

Venue: TCD-UCD Innovation Academy, 3 Foster Place, Dublin 2.

Contact: Please RSVP to tidi@tcd.ie.

Youth for the Future Learning to Change our World ECO-UNESCO Youth for Sustainable Development Conference 2010 is a day of learning, reflection and mutual support through workshops, keynote speeches, exhibition of projects and interactive activities. Participation free - Registration essential.

Date: 9.30 am – 5 pm, 22 September.

Venue: ECO-UNESCO, The Greenhouse, 17 St Andrew Street, Dublin 2 Contact: Jerrieann Sullivan, email ysd@ecounesco.ie, call 01 6625491 or 085 7676 089.

New Voices in Development: Older People on the Global Agenda This conference will celebrate the UN International Day of Older Persons and is one of Age Action Ireland’s key contributions to Positive Ageing Week 2010. It will focus on the challenges and responses of aid agencies in seeking to make older people more visible in policy and practice. Speakers will include: Mr Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs; John Beard, Director,

Department of Ageing, World Health Organisation; Richard Blewitt, CEO Help Age International and Jeffrey James, Regional Representative (Caribbean) Help Age International.

Date: 1 October.

Venue: Davenport Hotel, Dublin 2.

Contact: Visit www.ageaction.ie or contact Brenda Quigley on 01 4756989, email bquigley@ageaction.ie.

Comhlámh’s First Wednesday Debates Join us on the first Wednesday of the month during the spring and autumn to discuss and debate development and social justice issues.

Date: 6.15pm, 6 October Venue: Bewleys Café Theatre, Grafton Street, Dublin 2.

Contact: Call 01 4783490 or email admin@comhlamh.org.

Seminar on the Code of Conduct on Images and Messages Organised by the Centre for Global Education in association with Dóchas this seminar will: explore how images and messages are used in development; provide an overview of the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages; discuss why the Code is important and should be widely adopted; and offer practical suggestions on how the Code can be adopted.

Facilitator: Eilish Dillon, Kimmage Development Studies Centre.

Fee: £10.00 waged and £5.00 unwaged (must be paid in advance).

Light lunch included.

Date: 10 am – 1 pm, 12 October.

Venue: VSB, 34 Shaftsbury Square, Belfast, BT2 7DB. Contact: Stephen McCloskey, email stephen@centreforglobaleducation. com, or call (028) 9024 8179.

Round table on Youth and the MDGs Organised by the European Youth Forum, this event in Brussels will gather policymakers and key development stakeholders as well as representatives of Youth Forum’s

Member Organisations to discuss the role of young people and youth organisations in achieving the MDGs. Date: 14-15 October.

Contact: Jean-Marie Cullen, NYCI, email international@nyci.ie or call 01 4255945.

Comhlámh Coming Home Weekend This residential weekend is a fantastic opportunity for you to meet with other returned development workers and volunteers, to hear each other’s experiences, reflect on the meaning of your experiences for you personally, share tips for settling back, plan how to put to good use in Ireland the experiences you gained overseas and have some fun! The weekend is facilitated by fellow returned development workers and professionals.

Date: 15 – 17 October Venue: Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.

Contact: Stuart at stuart@comhlamh.org or call 01 4783490.

Visit http://www.comhlamh.org/ support-for-development-workerssupport-services-for-returneddevelopment-workers-cominghome-weeken.html One World Week ‘This year NYCI’s theme is ‘Images and Messages in Development’.

It will have two central events in Cork (13 November) and Dublin (20 November) with contributions from youth organisations. Training from NYCI and the accompanying resource pack aims to help us look beyond the images and messages we receive about the ‘Global South’ and to develop critical thinking skills.

Date: 13-20 November.

Contact: Email deved@nyci.ie for more details or visit www.youthdeved.ie.

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EU Corner Development Education Summer School 2010

by Mbemba Jabbi, Africa Centre In June 2010 Patsy Toland from Self-Help Africa and I attended the DEEEP summer school in Hungary on ‘Schools as Key Actors in Promoting Global Education’.

We both signed up to one of four workshop themes: Environmental sustainability, Trade and Consumption, Poverty, and Diversity. These themes are interdependent and can each serve to develop pupils’ ability to act for change. Patsy took part in the Poverty workshop, which discussed issues such as the opening gap between rich and poor, causes and effects of poverty, and overpopulation.

(NYCI) has taken over from John Smith of Trócaire as the new Irish representative at the DE Forum of CONCORD, newly renamed the DARE forum (Development Awareness-Raising and Education). She is the chairperson of the new ‘Youth’ working group of DARE. She attended her first meeting in May in Madrid and the next meeting is in October in Brussels. Please contact her at ElaineM@nyci.ie if you would like to contribute to youth and DE.

I attended the workshop on Trade and Consumption, which may seem a complex and inaccessible subject. In practice it provides a wealth of opportunity for engaging young people, because we are all consumers who make daily choices about what to eat, wear, watch, read and do. Making these choices without understanding their impact on others is to exercise power without responsibility.

Participants could also attend four other thematic sessions; NGO - School cooperation, Quality and Evaluation of Global Education Projects, Teacher Trainings, and School Curriculum and Whole School Approach.

Each group prepared a session for the local action day.

This day began with a visit to the local school where four workshops were offered to the students. It was a great success but brought up the question of ‘once off’ visits to schools as a method of engaging with students and teachers. To find out more visit www.youthdeved.ie.

The Summer School 2011 will take place June 12-18 near Helsinki, and will focus on Quality and Impact.

Visit www.deeep.org for more information.

DE Watch Report

This European Report on Development Education, produced by the European Multi Stakeholder Steering Group on Development Education in May 2010, provides a detailed overview of development education (DE) policies, practices and funding in the 27 EU Member States and Norway. It analyses DE concepts, policies and practices of national development ministries and related agencies, the formal education sector as well as the approaches of civil society organisations and local or regional authorities. It can be found on the DEEEP website at http://www.deeep.org/dewatch.html

DARE representative

Elaine Mahon from the National Youth Council of Ireland 10

Photo: Trade and Consumption working group, DEEEP Summer School 2010.

International Dates to Remember 17-19 September UN MDG Review Summit

Organise an event to show your support for the achievement of the MDGs while world leaders gather to discuss progress towards achieving these anti-poverty goals. Visit www.dochas.ie or www.standagainstpoverty.org for ideas.

7 October Tree Day

Only 10% of Ireland is forested, versus an EU average of 36%. On Tree Day Coillte organises guided woodland walks at over 120 locations. Visit www.treecouncil.ie for more information and teacher’s notes.

9 December Anti-Corruption Day

Visit www.transparency.org/tools/e_toolkit for fact sheets on global corruption and corruption fighters’ toolkits.

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IDEA Corner IDEA is an association of organisations and individuals involved in the provision, promotion or advancement of Dev Ed throughout the island of Ireland. www.ideaonline.ie

HIGHLIGHTS SUMMER 2010 (check out our website www.ideaonline.ie for full reports on all the events below)

IDEA Annual Conference: Radical Common Sense 4th June “Inspiring, diverse, challenging. Great to have input from people outside DE.” “We need to rethink what the story is that we are telling ourselves and disrupt some routines - can’t wait!”

63 people attended the recent annual IDEA conference which took place on Friday the 4th of June in Space 54, Smithfield, Dublin 7. The morning panel brought together diverse perspectives from outside the Development Education sector. Dr. Ivor Browne talked about his own personal experience of education, of his experience of personal change in psychiatry and psychotherapy, and of his realisation that the only thing we can be sure of changing is ourselves.

Paula Downey spoke about a living systems approach to learning, exploring the deep paradigm shift that is needed to renegotiate our relationship with the planet and each other. Dr. Kieran Allen from UCD explicitly named capitalism as the obsolete system that needs to be replaced, through radical collective action. Rajiv Joshi (GCAP) highlighted the role of young people in activism and awareness-raising.

Rita Fagan, (St. Michael’s Estate) spoke about linking local and global struggles for justice and emphasised the importance of the community development sector in Development Education. The chair, Pete Davis, brought all the contributions together and facilitated a dynamic question and answer question, with some provocative questions from delegates leading to inspiring discussion.

Summer School on the MDGs

15 participants came together for the first ever IDEA Summer School which took place from the 16th - 18th July in the magical setting of the Boghill Centre, Kilfenora, Co. Clare. The Summer School aims to be a space for reflection and a chance to learn some more about a key topic for the forthcoming year in DE. The topic we focused on was the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in light of the upcoming UN Review Summit in September. There was plenty of debate and discussion about the Goals and about how they are used in development education. Plenty of ideas for action came from the weekend so watch this space and check out our website for more.

Photos: Left: Attendees at the IDEA Conference in discussion. Right: Participants at the IDEA Summer School in Kilfenora. Credits: IDEA

FUTURE EVENTS Demystifying Research A free Demystifying Research workshop will be held on the 21st of September in Waterford City. The aim of the workshop is to introduce and clarify the language of research, and explore key concepts and research methods. Before the workshop a regional networking event for DE organisations in the South-East will be held. All organisations involved in or interested in DE are welcome to attend and learn more about each other, about the work of regional DE centres and about research that has been conducted by regional members. The networking meeting will take place in the same venue and will start at 12pm. A light lunch will be provided.

To register, please contact Susan Gallwey in the Waterford One World Centre Email: susan@ waterfordoneworldcentre.com.

To learn more about IDEA’s Research Community email research@ideaonline.ie or see our website.

Beyond 2015: Learning for Global Partnership

As a follow up to last year’s Global Educator in Residence Programme, IDEA is launching Beyond 2015: Learning for Global Partnership. The overall objective this year is to contribute towards creating a fair and equal dialogue between the Global North and Global South by exploring the challenges posed by MDG 8 - Global Partnership for Development. By concentrating on MDG 8 this programmes seeks to contribute to a critical and multiperspective review of the MDGs from a development education viewpoint.

Participants will be sought throughout September. The programme is open to all organisational IDEA members.

Information leaflets and application forms are available from IDEA, contact: Eimear at eimear ideaonline. ie Deadline for applications is the 27th September.

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DE News

Resources

Mobilising for Justice Grants Scheme

Standpoints: Attitudes of Young People and Youth Workers to Development and Global Justice Issues

Through development education, campaigns and policy work, Trócaire aims to ensure that we in Ireland - both as individuals and as a country - play our part in addressing global injustice and poverty. This scheme replaces their Development Education Small Grants and contributes towards this aim through building partnerships with a broad range of groups and organisations in Ireland. Visit www.trocaire.org/mobilisingforjusticegrantsscheme for further information. The closing date is 31 October.

DFID funding cuts The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP, recently cut the Global Development Engagement Fund which was to be the only remaining source of grant support for global education in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. To read more visit www.comhlamh.org/development-education.html.

European Parliament recommends inclusion of DE within all education

On 17 May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution “on key competences for a changing world: implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme”.

It includes a reference to the European Development Education consensus and states that the parliament ’recognises that globalisation has profoundly changed Europe’s societies and recommends the inclusion of Global/Development Education within all education to enable citizens to deal with the threats and opportunities of a changing world’. This is the first time that the culture and education committee of the European Parliament has explicitly referred to Global/Development education. The full report can be downloaded at www.europarl.europa. eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-20100141&language=EN.

Has Development Education Failed?

Visit http://dochasnetwork.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/ the-failure-of-development-education/ to take part in an online discussion on the state of the DE sector.

Pakistan floods – how to help

Over 2.5 million people have been affected by severe flooding in Pakistan. Visit Dóchas’ public education website, www.HowYouCanHelp.ie, to learn about the good and bad aspects of humanitarian aid and what you can do. Those thinking of donating can use this chart at http://aidwatchers. com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/SWEDOWFlowchart4.pdf to decide whether their donations should be sent, sold or trashed. Visit www.talkaboutdevelopment. org/node/224 to discuss the international reaction and responses to the flood.

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This research by the National Youth Council of Ireland found that youth work plays an essential and important role in educating and involving young people in global issues that affect others across the globe. Download the report at www.youth.ie/what_s_new/new_research_highlights_ attitudes_to_global_justice.

The Business of Food: Who Makes the Rules?

Post-primary teachers can use this CSPE/Citizenship and Business resource to explore the impact of trade on hunger and poverty in the developing world. It contains classroom exercises and lesson plans, video footage, and ideas for taking action. Copies are available from Trócaire offices and resource centres (01 6293333) and can be downloaded at www.trocaire.org/schoolresources.

Getting Into Debt

What is “Third World Debt”, how did it come about and why do so many people feel so strongly that it should be ‘dropped’? What does it have to do with the recent financial crisis? This handbook from the Jubilee Debt Campaign aims to explain using illustrations, graphs and cartoons.

It can be used by advanced school students or university students and is a good introductory text for adults. It is free to download from www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/ gettingintodebt

MDG Resources - Keeping The Promise

This February 2010 document promotes an agreed action agenda to achieve the MDGs by 2015. It brings together a comprehensive review of successes, best practices and lessons learnt, obstacles and gaps, challenges and opportunities, leading to concrete strategies for action. It is available at http://dochas.ie/Shared/Files/2/Keeping_the_ promise.pdf.

We Can End Poverty by 2015 Visit the United Nations website about the MDGs at http:// www.un.org/millenniumgoals/. It includes the 2010 report on progress towards the goals. A useful update on each of the goals is available at www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/ mdg_snapshot_16mar.pdf. Download the UN Millennium Declaration at http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ ares552e.htm.

MDG activities

Oxfam has education resources on the MDGs including this resource, updated in 2010, that shows how to explore the goals through posters and activities with 7-14 year olds at www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/change_the_ world_in_eight_steps/. Trócaire has resources for use with primary students and CSPE classes at www.trocaire.org/ schoolresources.

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How is our area connected to the rest of the world?

All the roads lead to the airports!

W

Litter Monster

hat connection do young people in rural Ireland have with the rest of the world?

Inside Out and Children in Crossfire have been exploring global education with a group of young people from Claudy, a small rural village just outside Derry, through a 3-year DFID sponsored project called ‘Network Earth: Global Citizen for the 21st Century’.

The project investigates our interdependence and connections with the rest of the world, involving an accredited learning course, local action project and a shared learning platform. It was an exciting opportunity to explore a range of social justice issues with young people from in and around the Claudy area, with the view of designing a ‘site specific’ course.

The village of Claudy has a history in the textile industry hosting shirt factories from the mid-1900’s until the last factory which closed down in 2001. The resulting social and economic legacy connects Claudy with issues of women’s and worker’s rights, trade issues, environmental concerns, globalisation and consumerism. Many of the young people had aunties, grandmothers and mothers who were employed by the shirt factories.

We took some time to explore where our clothes come from, and plotted these on a map of the world. Questions that arose included: when the factories left Claudy where did they go? What are the conditions of the workers in those countries? How do we make informed consumer choices based on these explorations?

One group decided to make ‘hoodies’ because of the significance of the shirt and clothing industry which informed so much of the project and because slogans on hoodies have ‘awareness raising’ potential. The statement agreed upon by the group was: ‘If the world was turned Inside Out… we would all look the same’.

The intention was to highlight our interconnectedness with the rest of the world and to break down barriers of ‘difference’ which can sometimes exist.

Claudy is also situated in a unique area of biodiversity.

Yet poor existing public transport going in and out of Claudy means that many young people are ‘stranded’ there until they are old enough to drive. High car

ownership and Claudy’s location on a main road means that the area has a large number of petrol stations; a large flow of traffic affects the local wildlife.

We discussed: who benefits from more and bigger roads for more and better cars? Who loses out? What are the longer term consequences? What are the signs of poverty and inequality in our own local community, and who has the power to make decisions about how our community is developed and protected?

Another youth group decided to do a sponsored ‘litter pick up’ in the village and make a sculpture out of it.

The intention was to draw people’s attention to the large amounts of litter that lie scattered around the local area, to remind people to pick up litter, and to raise awareness of where our litter comes from. They produced a ‘Litter Monster’ (which grew from a ‘litter bug’) who now stands proudly in the local community centre.

At first glance, we thought it would be difficult to connect this comparatively small area of County Derry with the rest of the world. However, with a little investigation of the geographical, historical and environmental significance of this unique area we were able to find many ways in which to make global education relevant to this group. Beginning by identifying issues affecting young people in Claudy, such as global warming, unemployment and conflict, we found that these were not just ‘local’ issues, but that they had global connections; this helped us to make sense of the term ‘interdependence’.

Before this project the groups mainly associated injustice and inequality with countries far away. By starting from the local we were able to identify common challenges across the globe. We also identified ways in which young people living in the area can make informed decisions to make changes locally and globally: by getting specific, identifying their potential power to influence others, getting more informed and taking action!

Wendi McCloskey (Facilitator), Fergal Barr, Inside Out, www.claudyyouth.com, Helen Henderson and Gráinne O’Neill, Children in Crossfire. www.childrenincrossfire.org

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Don’t be afraid of teaching aid

A

s a boy many of my afternoons were spent playing for my local football team. We were the best local team and when we reached the regional final we all felt confident that glory was but 50 minutes away.

So confident, in fact, that our coach took it upon himself to bring us back to earth. The other team had a Moroccan midfielder who had scored directly from a free kick, he told us, and a striker as tall and broad as a 13 year old.

I’m sure he also had words of encouragement for us, but to this day I can only remember the disheartening parts of his pep talk. Our confidence shattered, we ran onto that pitch trembling with fear and lost 4-1.

Development educators may sympathise with my coach. When even the most seasoned development veterans find themselves bewildered or disheartened by the complexity, contradictions and patchy track records of aid and other development issues, how can educators introduce these issues to learners without disempowering them?

Unsurprisingly, this article doesn’t provide any simple answers. Instead, it outlines a few general concepts that educators might keep in mind when teaching about development issues with any type of group.

1. Focus on ideas, not positions A discussion of the moral arguments for and against aid is more likely to engage than a dissection of various technical approaches to aid. Provide learners with a simple scenario to debate (see Peter Unger’s Living High and Letting Die and Michael Sandel’s Justice).

Use these debates to indirectly introduce the moral and philosophical roots of charity, welfare, social justice and aid. Learners are more likely to respond constructively to criticism of aid programmes if they have a firm understanding of the raison d’être behind aid itself.

2. Don’t ignore the negative As tempting as it might be to simply gloss over criticisms of aid, doing so is intellectually and pedagogically dishonest. Some of the more populist criticisms of aid (e.g. aid fuels corruption, charity begins at home, aid never reaches its intended recipients, and so on) have been covered so often by the mainstream media that not mentioning them risks turning them into the proverbial elephant in the room.

Instead start off by highlighting various criticisms of aid.

Then encourage participants to find ways of rebutting the

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Students encourage young people to explore and debate the values that underpin aid. Photo: 80:20

“Learners are more likely to respond constructively to criticism of aid programmes if they have a firm understanding of the raison d’être behind aid itself.” negative charges. By doing so, criticism of aid becomes a problem to solve, rather than an insurmountable wall.

3. Avoid falling into a dualistic trap Analysis of aid can be divided into two categories, with defenders on one side and critics on the other, right?

Wrong! While it may be the most straightforward way of categorising perspectives and analyses, this severely limits understanding of development aid and how aid policy works.

Proponents of aid don’t always agree on what is working and what isn’t. Similarly, critics’ views often vary significantly. While Jonathan Glennie, Teresa Hayter and Dambisa Moyo are all ‘aid critics’, their opinions have little else in common. Learners need to understand that debates on aid are multi-dimensional.

4.Criticising bad aid is not criticising aid itself Many criticisms of development aid are focused on the way in which aid is provided, rather than on the concept of development aid itself. Also there is a negative bias within the mainstream media when it comes to reporting on development aid issues – not necessarily because newspaper editors are anti-aid, but simply because a catastrophically negative story sells more copies than a moderately positive one.

Media reports which avoid such tactics are relatively rare, but they can be very useful educational tools. The Guardian’s series of articles on AMREF’s projects in Katine, Uganda provide a glimpse into the realities of an aid project. They detail the successes and failures of both donors and recipients while exploring the human lives behind the figures.

Such initiatives can also be used to empower learners by helping them visualise what development aid projects of the future could look like: more transparent and accountable to the general public; bringing individuals, businesses, NGOs and schools together; and demanding more of us as individual citizens; but also giving us a lot more back.

Bertrand Borg, Education Officer, 80:20, www.8020.ie

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Reviews & Resources

Debating Aid Helen Mahony, teacher, Ballyfermot College of Education (www.bcfe.ie) reviews a development education publication by Bertrand Borg, Mary Rose Costello and Colm Regan. BCFE is involved in a partnership with Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka.

This excellent publication was written to facilitate discussion, provoke questions and examine the complexities surrounding aid. It could be used in colleges, schools, and youth and adult groups.

The first chapter ‘The Algebra of Infinite Injustice’ uses key statistics on poverty, health, consumption, hunger, waste and the economy to show the level of injustice and inequality in the world. It is clear, relevant and shocking.

‘Aid: the History of an Idea’ is a successful and enlightening chapter.

It chronicles aid from 1945 on and deals with the shifting focus of aid and the key debates throughout the period.

There is an exceptional introduction to contemporary thinkers and writers on the effectiveness and failures of aid including Stephen Browne, Dambisa Moyo, and Paul Collier. It considers the ever-widening gap between rich and poor countries, and the fact that inequality is clearly rooted in the current international

economic system, capitalism. Unfair trade, climate change, debt, the arms trade, and neo-colonialism are all central to the discussion. So too is how aid can be made more effective, empowering and human-rightsbased.

The exploration of celebrity involvement, charity, trade and corruption will lead to lots of lively discussion and debate. By providing various perspectives on these issues the resource opens the door for people, young and old, to consider and contribute to the discussion.

It is a pity that quotes are not referenced as it would be interesting to read more, for example, from Charles Abugre of Christian Aid who condemned the agenda of Live 8 as one of handouts rather than liberation.

The final chapter ‘Aid and Ireland’ begins with a laudable quote from the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid and ends with an appalling statistic - €224 million has been cut from the overseas aid budget since February 2009, a 28% cut.

While the overall book is a valuable resource its weaknesses include the extension of too much credit to Fianna Fáil in the introduction and too little emphasis on the external context in which the aid programme was developed in the 1970s. The section ‘Aid: A Choice or a Duty’ is surprisingly narrow with an undue emphasis on organised religion.

Cover of Debating Aid resource

It does not include the views of indigenous people with communal codes based on caring for people and for the environment, nor those of antipoverty movements or socialism.

A valuable strength of the resource is the short ‘Advocacy Document’ which accompanies the main booklet.

It clarifies the ways in which aid is a duty, not an option, stressing global connectedness, common human rights and human security, and shared responsibility.

Debating Aid is an informative and important addition to the growing range of development education resources available. The challenge now is to let people know these resources exist and to work towards their inclusion in the mainstream curriculum. Creating knowledge and understanding is an important step towards fulfilling the target of 0.7% of GNP by 2012.

Debating Aid was published by 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World and IDEA. To order a copy call 80:20 on 01 2860487, visit www.developmenteducation. ie or email info@8020.ie, or IDEA at info@ideaonline.ie. The resource costs €10.

Have you ever used cartoons as a resource for Dev Ed? Cartoons can be used to explore and debate complex issues with a variety of different groups.

For a great introduction to using cartoons in education go to www. developmenteducation.ie/cartoons

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One World Week 13 – 20 November 2010

For further information or to book One World Week training go to http://www.youthdeved.ie/dev_ed_training/one_world_week_training or contact alan@nyci.ie or by phone 01-4255932.

For further information on One World Week central events in Cork (13 November) and Dublin (20 November) and to request a copy of the resource and photo pack contact deved@nyci.ie or call 01-4784122.

Design: www.alicefitzgerald.com Printed on recycled paper

INDEX is a free newsletter for people interested in educating on global development issues.

To subscribe to INDEX visit our INDEX page at www.comhlamh.org/media-publications To join Comhlámh go to www.comhlamh.org/get-involved-join-us.html INDEX is a Comhlámh publication for the Development Education sector, funded by Comhlámh, Trócaire, and Irish Aid Honorary Patron, Mary Robinson. © Comhlámh, 2010 Comhlámh, 2nd Floor, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2.

The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of Irish Aid.

Comhlámh is a signatory to the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages (http://www.dochas.ie).