Blog.
Celebrity activism: ‘Sometimes I wonder if I am making it worse, or making it better’
‘Sometimes I wonder if I am making it worse, or making it better. Am I legitimising these causes? Or the opposite? Who knows?’ Who would have thought a post on a development education blog would have opened with a quote from Pamela Anderson? Not me, that’s for sure! But after
22 students challenge ‘poverty porn’ story in Times of Malta
When writing about Africa we are told: Among your characters you must always include The Starving African, who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West. Her children have flies on their eyelids and pot bellies, and her breasts are flat and empty. She
What we’re reading: to be an abolitionist; on democracy; are you ready for the zombie apocalypse?
To be an abolitionist, or not to be an abolitionist? Henning Mankell (Swedish crime author and artist) tells the story about Thomas Clarkson and his decision to challenge the slave trade back in 1787 in a short essay worth reading: A decision that changed the world. On democracy: guess which
Her Zimbabwe – Her voice. Her revolution.
‘Her Zimbabwe is an alternative platform for Zimbabwean women to articulate their stories no matter what their background, no matter what their story. We want to hear the authentic voice of each and every woman in Zimbabwe, we want to count everyone. We want to say ‘here we are, here
5 Aid myths busted
Overseas aid agendas of governments and proposed cuts in real spending on aid budgets are under review across donor countries. The prolonged global recession, rising unemployment and recovery difficulties ahve fueled many misconceptions, myths and stereotypes about aid and have made their way into classrooms, policy debates and recent ‘what
Sweatshops at sea
The P&O cruise ship Ventura off the coast of Monaco. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Have you ever taken a trip across the Irish Sea on a ferry from Dublin to Liverpool and by chance noticed the men and women working on the ships? Do you know where they
It’s Africa Day!
Today is Africa Day, so get out, get planning and enjoy the plethora of opportunities across the country celebrating all things from Africa! The 5th Galway African Film Festival (25-27 May) starts today and runs for the weekend at Nun’s Island Arts Theatre, Galway. The festival presents a programme of
Development Education Day in Galway
For those that didn’t catch it, Development Education Day was run on the 15th February earlier this year in NUI Galway by Self Help Africa and supported by Irish Aid as a partnership event integrating Development Education as a much more significant component across all Initial Teacher Education programmes offered
28,000 rubber ducks continue to tell a tale of plastic
20 years later, yellow plastic rubber ducks are still appearing on our beaches having been part of a consignment of 28,000 of them lost at sea from a ship on its way from Hong Kong to the US. Since 1992 these yellow ducks have bobbed their way halfway around the
It is sad but necessary that these photos exist
Image: Serbian graffiti on a wall in Kosovo in 1999 Tom Stoddart began his photographic career in a local newspaper in the North-East of England before moving to London in 1978. He has witnessed and photographed many international events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the election of