+ Ministries and Agencies in GENE

• Department of Foreign Affairs (Irish Aid programme)
• Department of Education and Skills

+ Other relevant Ministries and Agencies

• Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
• Department for Environment, Climate and Communications

+ Civil Society and Youth Platforms

• IDEA: Irish Development Education Association is the umbrella body for organisations and individuals engaged in the field of Development Education in Ireland. It’s (2017) overview report on development education in Ireland is here.
• Dóchas – Development NGO umbrella body. It’s development education work is Dochas Development Education.
• National Youth Council of Ireland is the umbrella body for youth organisations, with a development education programme supported by Irish Aid/DFA working in a Consortium with Concern Worldwide and Maynooth University
• The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is the umbrella body for trade unions in Ireland. It’s development education programme links global solidarity to trade union activism and coordinates development education work with particular trade unions.
• Development Education in the Adult and Community Sector is coordinated through a project called SAOLTA managed by Development Perspectives in a Consortium with Concern, Trocaire and Maynooth University.

+ GE documents

• Irish Aid Development Education Strategy 2017-2023
• Performance Measurement Framework 2017-2023 - this framework was developed to track the changes envisioned in the Irish Aid development education strategy 2017-2023
• National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in Ireland, 2014-2020
• 2017 Development Education in Ireland Report - IDEA

+ Concepts and Definitions

In Ireland the main concept and strongest tradition lies in the term “development education”.

The concept used by Irish Aid is Development Education (DE), described in the 2017-2023 Development Education Strategy as:

“A lifelong educational process which aims to increase public knowledge and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world in which we live. By challenging stereotypes and encouraging independent thinking, development education helps people to critically explore how global justice issues interlink with their everyday lives.”

The main concept used by the Department for Education and Skills is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Their key document, the National Strategy on ESD in Ireland 2014-2020, refers to the definition of ESD formulated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE):

"Education for sustainable development develops and strengthens the capacity of individuals, groups, communities, organizations and countries to make judgements and choices in favour of sustainable development. It can promote a shift in people’s mindsets and in so doing enable them to make our world safer, healthier and more prosperous, thereby improving the quality of life. Education for sustainable development can provide critical reflection and greater awareness and empowerment so that new visions and concepts can be explored and new methods and tools developed."

IDEA uses the following definition of development education:

"Development Education is an educational process which enables people to understand the world around them and to act to transform it. It works to tackle the root causes of injustice and inequality, globally and locally to create a more just and sustainable future for everyone."

Dochas defines Development Education thus:

"Development Education is about increasing people’s awareness and understanding of global issues and of the interdependence of different countries and parts of the world in relation to those issues. In particular, it is about what sustains under-development and what is needed to reach and sustain more equal development. It is an education based on reflection, analysis and action at local and global level."

+ GENE Peer Review

Global Education in Ireland 2015

+ GE specific budget

2019: €5.3 million

2018: €4.8 million

2017: €4.4 million

Source: Irish Aid

+ GE in formal education

In the formal education sector, global education takes place across primary, post-primary and third level education. In primary school, Irish Aid delivers the Irish Aid 'Our World Award' programme for senior primary pupils, where a class magazine and lessons are provided for teachers and students to learn about the work of Irish Aid and the SDGs.

An Taisce’s Green Schools initiative runs a successful Global Citizenship programme for schools and the Irish National Teachers Organisation also runs a Global Citizenship Schools project to help primary schools learn about and take action on local and global issues.

World Wise Global Schools is a post-primary school global citizenship education (GCE) programme, funded by Irish Aid. It provides GCE professional development for teachers and funds GCE projects for postprimary schools. It runs a Global Passport Awards scheme for schools which is an EU recognised GCE quality mark. It also provides a range of resources for schools on how to integrate GCE into the curriculum.

At third level, the DICE project and Ubuntu provide GCE in initial teacher education colleges, more details to be found below. GCE also features in a number of higher education programmes across third level colleges.

International and development education NGOs also provide direct support to schools as well as professional development and learning materials for educators in the formal education sector.

+ GE in nonformal education

In non-formal education, the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) has a strong commitment to integrating GCE into youth work. It has a strategic partnership with Irish Aid, ‘Youth 2030’, which is working on capacity development of the youth sector in development education.

ECO-UNESCO also run a wide variety of DE initiatives for youth leaders and workers. In the adult and community education sector, Saolta is a Development Education strategic partnership programme, supported by Irish Aid which seeks to increase accessibility, quality and effectiveness of development education within this sector. There are also a range of other youth, adult and community groups active across the country on development education.

+ GE in initial Teacher Education

There are two coordinating initiatives for development education within initial teacher education (ITE) in Ireland, both funded by the Irish Aid programme:

• The DICE programme has, for over a decade, coordinated the integration of GE – development and intercultural education - within primary school teacher ITE.
• The Ubuntu programme dworks similarly to the integration of GE into initial teacher education for those training to become secondary school teachers. It “supports teacher educators to embed into their work a living understanding of and commitment to education for global citizenship, sustainable development and social justice, so that student-teachers at postprimary level can integrate into their teaching, and into the schools where they work, perspectives that encourage active engagement to build a more just world.”

+ Educational resources on GE

Developmenteducation.ie is an online portal of DE resources.

Scoilnet, a website for primary and post-primary teachers to share and find useful teaching resources also has a collection of ESD resources.

+ Overall ODA budget

In 2019:

• ODA volume: €817 million
• GE volume from ODA: €5.3 million

+ Agenda 2030

The Irish SDG site lists the ESD strategy as its approach to SDG Indicator 4.7.

Ireland's Statement to the UN regarding SDG implementation Voluntary National Review (from 2018).

+ Development Policy documents

• A Better World Ireland’s Policy for International Development 2019
• OECD DAC Peer Review 2020
• OECD DAC Peer Review 2014
• IDEA Submission on White Paper
• Dóchas Development Education Working Group Submission to the Public Consultation on Ireland’s New International Development Policy (2018)

+ EU Presidency last / next

2013 / 2026