1. Developing Civil Society Participation

• Mary McGillicuddy, Coordinator

Kerry Action for

Development Education

11 Denny Street, Tralee,County Kerry, Ireland

353-66-71813578

[email_address]

www.kade.ie

2. Papers Focus

The role a DE centre plays in relationship to a twinning project it was instrumental in establishing

DE perspectives

Challenges / opportunities fora DE centre

3. KADE,Community and Voluntary Association

Established in 1993, KADE operates Kerrys Development Education Centre, based in Tralee

Target groups: in Kerry, formal& non-formal education sector, community development sector& local media

4.

KADE works to develop peoples skills, knowledge and understanding of the world

KADE is responding to the need for a locally accessible (Kerry) source of Development Education activities, contacts and resources

KADEs Rationale 5. Funding Sources

KADE receives 3 year funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs Irish Aid multi-annual programme grant scheme and also receive other grants from Irish bodies and development agencies.

Staff: 1 full-time coordinator,

1 part-time administrator,2 part-time outreach workers and1 part-time CE trainee.

6. Denny Street Centre Location 7. KADE Centre Activities

KADE newsletter produced periodically and distributed to over 600 sites

Website maintained

Information & library service provided by centre staff

Outreach DE delivered to schools and community groups

KADE coordinates a yearly intercultural celebration, Global Tralee on Mar. 17

Staff participate in national and international (DE) networks / bodies

8. Jr. Minister for Overseas Aids Tralee Visit, 2005

Lesotho Ambassador on the speakers panel

KADE Chairman also on the panel

9. Lesotho Ambassador Visits KCC 05 10. President Visits Tralee 05 11. KADE Lesotho MDG Exhibit Launch 06 12. Twinning Project Year 1 Report 2007 13. Civil Society

Key concerns for the 21 stcentury:

poverty eradication &

sustainable development.

Civil society- a third zone

(Keane, 2001)

14. Active Citizenship

responsible global citizenship

Murray (2006)-successful DE when the end result is action for positive change

Values:

solidarity, empathy, respect

& ability to think & argue critically

15.

Finlay (2006)

humanitarian / charity approach

vs

justice / entitlement approach

16.

do me justice, treat me fair

Soft / critical

models of citizenship

critical literacy

power relations

Andreotti (2006)

17. DE Defined

DEEEP - foster full participation of all citizens in worldwide poverty eradication

Irish Aid-every person will have access to

18. Key Questions for a DE Centre:

How can DE and DE centres support those involved in development actions?

How does a DE centre translate relevant academic discourses into comprehensible concepts and constructsin order to increase dialogue and understanding of the challenges of an aid endeavour?

19. More Key Questions-

How can a DE centre effectively include Southern voices and perspectives in its education work?

How can a DE centre assist members of civil society involved in overseas aid/development actions to engage consciously and respectfully with those in the South?

20.

DE: charity vision origins, ignoring Northern involvement in creating Southern problems

v.s.

socially critically current forms which try to identify and address misconceptions and prejudices as part of the process of liberating education

(Yarwood & Davis, 1994).

21. Development NGOs

(Korten,1990) 4 generation model:

relief & welfare

community development

sustainable systems

peoples movements

22. Dochas ( www.dochas.ie ),NGO Roles 23. Development through Empowerment

(Thomas, 1992)

Participatory action research- Freire conscientisation ideas, power relations

Schumacher- provision oftools for self-reliance

24. Southern Voice

some Southerners seeWest as best

others distrust everything associated the North

(Ditshego,1994)

25. Challenges

(Connolly, 2007)

little evidence of widespread internal debate by Irish NGOs about power relationships involved in working in partnership with Southern civil societyorganisations and formal policies & strategic management remain underdeveloped in this area

26. Process, not Prescription

critical self-evaluation

overall development &

societal context

27. DE Centre Challenges

ethical relationship wherein development of critical literacy occurs

critical engagement & reflexivity

critique of relationships of :

perspectives, language, power, social groups, social practices

* not to judge, but to understand(Andreotti, 2006)

28.

DE centre can provide the space to enable members of civil society to

reflect & explore

how one comes to

think / feel / be / act

as one does

& the impact of ones belief systems locally / globally

(issues: power, social relationships, distribution of labour & resources)

(Andreotti, 2006)

29. Emancipatory Mode

social education which seeks to empower people so that they candemocratically transform society(Giroux, 1983)

desconstruct & reconstruct

30. KADE DE Strategy

resource centre locally based

information signposting

training provision

public seminar debate series

advocacy

31. Conclusion

Global Justice

through

Local Education