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
Image: Crowd by James Cridland, Flickr The world’s population reached 7 billion people in October last year, according to United Nations estimates. Debates surrounding overpopulation, the environment, distribution of resources and assumptions that more-people-means-more-poverty have unfortunately crept back into development discussions around topics like scarcity, growth and the planning techniques
Artist – Robert Montgomerry (UK) // install in Bristol The central message to UK outfit ‘Brandalism’ who exploded onto the British scene in the past few days was in bringing their motto ‘taking the piss with a point’ to billboards up and down the country using guerrilla-style subervtising. 25 artists
Source: IMG_5419 by controlarms, Flickr I don’t know about yours but my dictionary suggests that the word consensus means ‘general agreement’ or ‘majority opinion’. The reason I raise the issue is that over the past month, negotiators from some 170 countries have been discussing a UN arms treaty, which needed
It was an amazing opening ceremony. Danny Boyle and his team had the opportunity at the outset, to challenge some of the more dominant, ugly trends that have taken over the Olympics. Acknowledgement of the injustice of colonisation would have gone a long way to set the right tone for
In a new series by www.developmentEducation.ie, Jamie Hitchen explores daily life and politics from Kampala, Uganda. Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of Ugandan independence from British colonial rule. Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement (NRM), in power since 1986, will be celebrating the day’s events at the official event,
As part of our series on life and politics in Uganda, Jamie Hitchen documents the stories and struggles of human rights defenders in a recent visit to the politically remote Lira District in northern Uganda.
Happy New Year to our readers (teachers, students, newbies and veterans)! For those out there who have been wondering why we’ve been laying low these past few months you will be interested to know that we’ve been hard at work on a research project seeking to audit development education resources produced in Ireland from 2000-2012.
No better time to consider what’s on and off our plate than in the wake of the European horsemeat scandal. Had you ever, prior to this, stopped to take account of what you are buying and eating – and wasting? Continuing on my quest to convert to a sustainable lifestyle,
Are we inevitably heading for disaster given current (over)consumption trends? What can be done and who needs to do it? 9 Billion 86% 32:1 72 Billion 1 kilo 1 litre 230 million tonnes 1/3 What do all these figures mean? The choices we make every day effect how the world
Recent meetings in Edinburgh (part of the IF Campaign) and elsewhere have highlighted the fact that issues such as ensuring a legal commitment to 0.7% of GNI as aid; climate justice and fair trade have become part of the debate on whether Scotland becomes an independent nation following the referendum
Today is the 5th annual Nelson Mandela Day, since it’s inauguration in 2009 on Nelson Mandela’s birthday – the 18th of July. Today he turns 95. The Mandela Day Website states that this day is a call to action for people everywhere to take responsibility for making the world a
At the recent July Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies/80:20 Human Rights Summer School in Malta, Roland Tormey of the Teaching Support Centre, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne reminded participants of the factors that influence ‘pro-social action’ (an extended version of his presentation will shortly be available on www.developmenteducation.ie). These factors
Yes, there really is one, it’s on November 19th. Go on smile, have a little laugh even, it’s perfectly alright; the man from the United Nations said we probably would. In fact, he said “The amusement and laughter likely to follow the designation of 19 November as ‘World Toilet Day’
Good news everyone! The cobwebs have been cleaned out. The annotations streamlined. The bugs have been caught (and set free back into the wild). Welcome to the resources catalogue 2.0 While the search engine has been revamped also we encourage you check out the browsing tab. Here you will find
What’s the value of doing human rights education at primary level? Isn’t teaching human rights only about teaching ‘difficult issues’? Shouldn’t difficult topics be reserved for post primary education instead? Perhaps. Prepare to be surprised and watch Amnesty’s latest offering from schools in Dublin. Source: Human Rights Education Video from
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘development’? Progress?…the gold rush?… land grabs?…jobs and the economy?…heavy industry at work? Since the publication of the short satirical comic ‘There You Go’ by Survival International in 2006, this little book has been used as a teaching
The right to health…the right to education…the right to housing…the right to an adequate standard of living… Can we afford to pay for these human rights? What are the arguments for ESC rights and against ESC rights? Would placing ESC rights into the constitution place an undue pressure on the
Sally O’Neill reflects on Trócaire’s groundbreaking work in Guatemala which began over 30 years ago and the recent genocide trial of former dictator Rios Montt. It was 1982 and I was in Guatemala trying to meet a man called Frank La Rue. I had been given a piece of paper
Are you involved in development education resource production? Or would you like to be? Then this event is for you! This year, DevelopmentEducation.ie, in collaboration with Dóchas and IDEA, are producing a set of guidelines to support the production of DE resources in Ireland. These guidelines are a direct outcome
If the production of refugees was an industry, Myanmar would be among the world’s market leaders. In the creation of the product, the Burmese regime has pulled out all the stops and ended up with something unique. For the Rohingya are more than refugees. They are also stateless, they are
Let’s get to the point – film isn’t real. It can’t be. You take a story and fiddle with it a bit, compress it, elongate it, fictionalise ten minutes here or there and before you know it you have a visual narrative that connects with an audience. Sometimes this doesn’t
In the first of a series of blogs about the impact and consequences of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, ARI researcher Jamie Hitchen, recently back from a year spent working in the country, focuses on health care. _________________________________________________________________ “Ebola has revealed that there was no system in the first
This week we launched the Guidelines for Producing Development Education Resources, with its own dedicated section online. Following the publication of Audit of Irish Development Education Resources research in April 2013, which looked at DE resources produced in Ireland over the period 2000-2012, the opportunity to develop a set of
In the second of a series of blogs about the impact and consequences of Ebola in Sierra Leone, Africa Research Institute researcher Jamie Hitchen, back in London following a year spent working in the country, focuses on new economic hardships. You can read the first blog, on health care, here.
The past few weeks have witnessed an avalanche of discussion and debate on the 30th anniversary remake of Band Aid by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure with its emphasis on the Ebola crisis which threatens to become, according to Oxfam ‘the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation’. In typical swashbuckling
It’s been a startling fortnight for anyone that blogs, writes, doodles or puts pen (and pencil!) to power. This afternoon, inhumane and degrading punishment was scheduled to be carried out on blogger Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia and subsequently will continue to be carried out every Friday for the next
Insight 2015 is an 8 month part time development education programme aimed at adults centred on a non-formal experiential learning journey, which involves spending three weeks in Tanzania or India.
The new Debating Development and Human Rights section, developed in partnership with Concern, went live this week and can be found at https://www.developmenteducation.ie/debates As well as establishing core debates on an ongoing basis – ones developed by developmenteducation.ie, commissioned or sent in and suggested by others – it has a
Is your school interested in getting involved (or is already involved) in development education activities? Or are you an NGO or an education network working with schools on development education? If so, there’s an exciting opportunity for you to apply for funding to support your development education activities. Funding is
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