Our Impact 2025
From collaborative exhibitions and programme engagement to the development of resources, here’s a snapshot of developmenteducation.ie's impact in 2025
40 Years in 40 Objects: a celebration of the Concern Debates programme
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of a programme is a major milestone for any organisation. For a programme that had debating development, human rights and international humanitarian assistance at the core of its annual activities, this was a special community event.
The Concern Debates: 40 Years in 40 Objects exhibition celebrated four decades of Concern Debates, Ireland’s largest and longest running school debates programme engaging over 85,000 people since it began.
The Voices for Change conference in May 2025 included a unique pop-up exhibition based on the Irish Global Solidarity in 100 Objects Exhibition produced by developmenteducation.ie.
Reviewing Concern Worldwide’s back catalogue and ‘memory box’ of debates activities through the years resulted in a collaborative live exhibition at the Voices for Change anniversary conference at the RDS in Dublin. Many objects were curated and displayed for the first time, such as a debater notes from a Debates finalist, a timeline of the Stop Child Labour campaign and motion debates posters collected from across the years.
This exhibition told that story through 40 objects, each one offering a window into a moment, a memory, or a milestone from the past 40 years.
From worn debate badges and handwritten notes to trophies, photographs, and symbolic teaching tools, these items reveal the dedication, creativity, and impact of everyone involved in the programme. Some objects reflect personal journeys, while others highlight a connection to real world issues and Concern’s mission of ending extreme poverty.
Bringing the work and activities of the Concern Debates programme to life, the exhibition included guided tours and documenting the displays as part of a highlights video reel to share the objects and exhibition experience beyond the conference, putting the definition of collective partnership work into practice.
World Food Day 2025 – a partnership for collective impact
Bringing attention to the global food system, inequalities in access to food and annual crisis points related to ending hunger, the World Food Day initiative is led by developmenteducation.ie, Concern Worldwide, Self Help Africa and Scoilnet in October annually.
From using up to date high quality reports on the state of food and food security, such as the Global Hunger Index reports to curating social media materials and quick-fire education activities, the annual initiative seeks to encourage reading, engagement and action on curriculum areas such as nutrition, the geography of human development and the politics of food supply chains.
2025 included a focus on workshops led by Self Help Africa, a learning unit for Home Economics, Politics and Society and Geography teachers on Understanding and Exploring Famine in Ireland and Beyond by Daniel McWilliams and illustrated stories of Gaza fishers by artist Omar Khouri based on a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Active since 2018, the joint World Food Day initiative is an important reminder of a core development and human rights issue – food – and an example of consortium members from developmenteducation.ie working together in a partnership for collective impact.
Expanding Our Resources Library
Developmenteducation.ie significantly expanded and assessed its Resources Library in 2025, supporting educators with timely, high-quality materials:
80 new annotated resources
20 new resources authored by Global South writers, focusing on the Developing World
2 featured blog campaigns promoted new additions and encouraged submissions
To better understand impact beyond download counts, a light-touch, anonymous user survey was embedded across the site:
2,094 participants took part in the survey.
Educators from 23 counties across Ireland used the resources library.
49% said they would use the materials in formal education.
47% of respondents work in primary or post-primary education.
12% identified as third-level educators or GCE practitioners.
22% of respondents stating that they would use the resources downloaded for general background reading or research purposes.
As well as formal and nonformal teachers and educators that used developmenteducation.ie across the year, users of the website included librarians, school principals, resource writers, community educators and learning experience designers.
Understanding what educators want and what they need is only possible through ongoing opportunities for users, such as the bitesize survey on the developmenteducation.ie resources library.
Global Citizenship Education in the field
Building an interesting events calendar across 2025 is crucial for time-restricted and busy education professionals. Learning from workshops and adapting sessions to meet the interest and needs of teachers changes every year.
2,478 people engaged with the programme through in-person events, workshops, and mini pop-up survey activities.
The in-person events included:
60 post-primary student teachers at Galway University for the Global Citizenship Education Day, participating in the session:
“From ‘hot potato’ issues to a planet on fire – a teacher’s guide to handling global justice today.”20 primary-level student teachers secondary school teachers on media literacy and how to tackle disinformation at the Worldwide Global Schools teacher conference in Castletown, and
17 art and design PME student teachers at NCAD’s Change Lab, engaging in the collaborative exhibition and reflection on visual education approaches in GCE.
88% of participants reported improved understanding, knowledge, or potential behaviour change regarding global issues, demonstrating the impact of our engagement programmes. The developmenteducation.ie team look forward to supporting new ideas, events and teachers in 2026 and beyond.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Meet the developmenteducation.ie Consortium
Consortium member organisations that lead strategic development of developmenteducation.ie include:
DevelopmentEducation.ie is part-funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme which supports partners working in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Irish Aid also supports global citizenship and development education in Ireland to encourage learning and public engagement with global issues.
The views expressed on this website are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Irish Aid.
Our Impact in 2024
From collaborative exhibitions and programme engagement to the development of resources, here’s how developmenteducation.ie made an impact in 2024
“20 Years in 20 Objects” Exhibition
To mark the Irish Development Education Association’s 20th anniversary, developmenteducation.ie curated a reflective exhibition titled “20 Years in 20 Objects”.
Inspired by the Irish Global Solidarity in 100 Objects project, it reimagined that concept as a living archive and memory project celebrating the history of Global Citizenship Education (GCE).
This living archive brought GCE history to life through a selection of symbolic and practical objects from IDEA’s “memory box,” including:
The first Fairtrade plates used at IDEA events.
A copy of Irish Aid’s 2005 White Paper on Development.
A global educator’s toolkit of games and resources.
A Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) pin worn by former director Frank Geary.
The exhibition included guided tours, a live workshop, and hands-on engagement from the GCE community.
“20 Years in 20 Objects” demonstrated the adaptability of the 100 Objects model as both a physical and thematic education tool, deepening shared ownership across the sector.
Guidelines for Creating GCE/DE Resources
Developmenteducation.ie led the sector-wide process of revising and improving the Guidelines for Producing Development Education and Global Citizenship Education Resources, launched in April 2025.
Highlights from the collaborative development process:
Introduced at the Strategic Partners Advisory Panel (SPAP) meeting, supported by Irish Aid.
Built on a public consultation in 2023 and an advanced draft review in autumn 2024.
Developed with input from a wide range of GCE actors including Youth 2030, WorldWise Global Schools, Ubuntu, DICE Project, Global Village, STAND, and Saolta.
This updated edition reflects the demands of the SDG era and the need to decolonise educational materials, offering practical guidance on producing effective, inclusive resources, from worksheets to video reels, in print and digital formats.
Download the Guidelines here
Expanding & Evaluating Our Resources Library
Developmenteducation.ie significantly expanded and assessed its Resources Library in 2024, supporting educators with timely, high-quality materials:
80 new annotated resources added (bringing the total to 925).
20 new resources authored by Global South writers, focusing on the Developing World (total now: 245).
2 featured blog campaigns promoted new additions and encouraged submissions, with a focus on peace and conflict themes.
To better understand impact beyond download counts, a light-touch, anonymous user survey was embedded across the site:
757 participants completed the survey.
Educators from 27 counties across Ireland accessed the resources.
48% said they would use the materials in formal education.
47% of respondents work in primary or post-primary education.
16% identified as third-level educators or GCE practitioners.
22% used materials for background reading or research.
This continuous feedback loop helps shape platform improvements and tailor future resources more closely to educators’ real-world needs
Programme Engagement
In 2024, developmenteducation.ie delivered a dynamic programme of educator-focused initiatives designed to meet the evolving needs of teachers and student teachers.
A total of 863 people engaged with the programme overall, including through in-person events, workshops, and mini pop-up survey activities.
The in-person events included:
30 post-primary student teachers at Galway University for the Global Citizenship Education Day, participating in the session:
“From ‘hot potato’ issues to a planet on fire – a teacher’s guide to handling global justice today.”18 primary-level student teachers at Mary Immaculate College, exploring how to produce classroom-friendly GCE resources.
15 art and design PME student teachers at NCAD’s Change Lab, engaging in the “Pause for Thought” collaborative exhibition and reflection on visual education approaches in GCE.
94% of participants reported improved understanding, knowledge, or potential behaviour change regarding global issues, demonstrating the impact of our engagement programmes.
Meet the developmenteducation.ie Consortium
Consortium member organisations include:
DevelopmentEducation.ie is part-funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme which supports partners working in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Irish Aid also supports global citizenship and development education in Ireland to encourage learning and public engagement with global issues.
The views expressed on this website are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Irish Aid.