“Every person in Ireland will have access to educational opportunities to be aware of and understand their rights and responsibilities as global citizens and their potential to effect change for a more just and equal world”
White Paper on Irish Aid

The Challenge

Irish Aid’s efforts in tackling poverty and injustice, promoting peace and democracy and safeguarding human rights requires action at both a local and global level.
Beyond an awareness and understanding of what the Government is doing, it is also important that people have an awareness and understanding of global development challenges.

Ireland’s Response

People in Ireland have an important role to play as citizens at local and international level. To achieve change, it is necessary to increase the knowledge and understanding among the Irish public regarding development issues and the underlying causes of poverty and underdevelopment in the world.
To this end, we will provide support for development education which has a crucial role in enlarging public understanding of development issues and also introduce the integration of development education within education in Ireland.
To be most effective, this must involve close, structured cooperation between the Departments of Education and Science, and Foreign Affairs, and with the National Council of Curriculum and Assessment.

The establishment of a Development Education Unit in Irish Aid in 2003, charged with the implementation of a three year strategy plan for development education, with a dedicated budget, is evidence of Irish Aid’s continuing commitment to development education.

Owing to success of this plan, the Development Education Strategy Plan for 2007 to 2011 ‘Promoting public engagement for development’ was developed and launched on 14 November 2007.