NUIM versus TCD in Development Debate

The Irish Forum for Global Health (IFGH) has just announced their first Development Debate taking place March 15 from 7:30-9:00pm at the Thomas Davis Theatre in the Arts Block of Trinity College Dublin.

Teams of development studies students from Trinity College Dublin and NUI Maynooth will debate the motion, “Foreign Aid should be cut from countries whose human rights record is poor.” Mr. George Hook, Irish broadcaster and long-time supporter of development and global health work in Haiti, will serve as chair.

IFGH an independent network of people concerned with issues that impact on the health and development of populations at a global level. It was established in 2004 and now has a membership of almost 500, it continues to welcome individuals from all backgrounds interested in and committed to promoting global health related education, research and advocacy.

More details from IFGH‘s website download the flyer for your noticeboard.

Opportunity for volunteering in Cambodia and Tanzania

The Volunteer Projects (TVP) is a registered Irish charity and international Development NGO that believes in ‘Development through Volunteerism’. They specialise in recruiting and training students from Ireland’s Third level community for short-term overseas work placements in Tanzania and Cambodia. They also fund, manage and implement Development and Human Rights initiatives within their own partner projects.

TVP’s Teach the Teachers and Social Care Project Placements in Tanzania and Cambodia may be of interest to students or graduates of the Education Department.

Global Issues Course for NUIM students and graduates

Each year the Suas Educational Development run a Global Issues Course for NUIM students and graduates in both the Spring and Autumn terms. The Spring course is starting on 21 February and runs over 6 weeks: one evening per week for two hours. It is subsidized by Irish Aid so only costs the participant €20.

The Global Issues Course provides an Introduction to Development, broadly based on the Millennium Development Goals, and is intended to complement students’ studies at NUIM. It is an interactive programme delivered by a variety of experienced facilitators, designed to give participants an opportunity to engage with a range of global development issues. Students of all faculties and disciplines are welcome including student teachers and qualified teachers alike.

In our increasingly interconnected world, Suas makes the point that it is important that students of all disciplines have an opportunity to learn about global development issues and bring this learning to their chosen profession. They also highlight the fact that a major strength of the course is the diversity of knowledge, perspectives and experiences which comes with having students of different disciplines.

This current course does not suit your timetable, bookmark the Suas site for future reference!

Presenting the Suas Global Issues Course 21 Feb – 03 Apr, 6.30-8.30pm
The Suas Global Issues Course is a series of 6 workshops each based around a particular issue in global development. Starting with an Introduction to Development session and covering other topics such as trade, climate, HIV/AIDS and gender. The course is designed to provide a broad introduction to development. Sessions are delivered by experienced facilitators and development practitioners and are highly participatory and interactive.

The introductory course is designed for students of all faculties and backgrounds and provides an opportunity to:

• Learn about issues that are relevant to everyone
• Meet like minded students
• Complement your academic background and bring your perspective to the discussion
• Enhance your CV with our Certificate of completion

A Future of Hope

Each year Trócaire and St. Patrick’s College host a lecture which delves in to the complex causes of poverty and injustice.

This year this prestigious lecture will be given by the chairman of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, His Grace John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu.

Archbishop Odama is a renowned peace advocate having worked tirelessly to end the infamous 20 year war in northern Uganda, waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army on the government of Uganda and its people. His mediation between both sides of the conflict was instrumental in bringing about a peace process to end the war. To this day the Archbishop has remained steadfast in his commitment to the people of northern Uganda despite numerous threats to his own life. Archbishop Odama is in Ireland as a guest of Trócaire to share the story of the Ugandan people as they rebuild their lives.

The lecture will take place on February 13th at 7 pm in Renehan Hall, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth and followed by a cheese and wine reception. See details below:

Diary Date for Transition Year Teachers

A major post primary teachers conference entitled ‘Connecting the Head, Heart and Hands’ will take place on Saturday March 3rd in the Athlone Springs Hotel.

The event is aimed in particular at Transition Year Teachers and is being hosted by Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, Trocaire, Amnesty and Mayfield  Arts Cork and promises to be a very exciting event indeed. Our own Dr. Gerry Jeffers is one of the keynote speakers on the day.

The conference will support teachers in developing approaches of  ’linking knowing and doing in education’ and discussing the challenges of integrating action into global justice education.

Full details here: Transition_Year_Conference-11

St. Mary’s Academy boys scoop prestigious award at BT Young Scientist Expo

Participants of Dev Ed week 2011 will recall the two fantastic 3rd year students from St. Mary’s Academy: DJ Hanley and Keane Nolan, who spoke briefly (but oh so eloquently) about their project entitled ‘The comparative analysis of raw versus pasteurised milk and the potential use of natural preservatives in milk to mitigate the effects of poverty in rural Africa’.

We have just learned that the boys were the worthy recipients of the ‘Science for Development’ Award (sponsored by Irish Aid and Self Help Africa) at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS last week.
To top it off they also were awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ rosette for the Intermediate Biological and Ecological Category!

As you can imagine the boys are absolutely delighted and their teachers are so proud of them.

Although they are now preparing for their Mock exams, they are also getting ready for a trip to Ethiopia with Self Help Africa as part of their prize to implement their recommendations.

We are also very pleased to learn that the boys have said that getting up on stage at the Development Education Week presentations in NUIM really gave them a confidence boost and aided them in the delivery of their project and ideas.  You can hear the boys and their teacher talking in detail about their project in the interviews posted to this audioboo channel.

See press release on the Irish Aid site with more reaction to the winning project.

Young Scientist Tanzania Delegation in Ireland

The Young Scientists Tanzania initiative that arose out of the work of the CDPC was launched in Tanzania in November, 2011. The initiative also got the attention of Dick Ahlstrom in the Irish Times on December 22nd.

 

Next week a high level delegation from Tanzania will be attending the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin.

The members of the delegation are:

• Dr. Raphael Mmasi, Director Information and Documentation, the Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in Tanzania.
• Mrs. Dorothy Mwaluko, Principal Education Officer, ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
• Mr. Titus Mteleke, Board member Young Scientists Tanzania (YST), retired Director of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
• Mr. Kamugisha Gozibert Kamuhabwa, Director YST & lecturer University of Dar es Salaam.
• Mr. Deusdedit Valentine Rweyemamu, Co-ordinator YST.

The CDPC will be hosting a briefing session at 3:00pm on Tuesday, January 10th Tower Hotel, Ballsbridge.

Please contact the CDPC directly if you plan to attend the briefing.

Young Scientist off to Africa

Students who attended Dev Ed week in Maynooth this year will have met Joe Clowry and Dr. Brendan Doggett both of whom are deeply involved with the initiative of the Combatting Diseases of Poverty Consortium’s initiative in Tanzania to introduce the Young Scientist Exhibition to second level students there. We were pleased therefore to see this work being showcased in The Irish Times this week.

A display of the photos from the first Tanzanian Young Scientist Exhibition that was held earlier this year will be on view in January in the Education Resource Centre. And students from Tanzania will be visiting the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS in January 2012. We look forward to meeting them there.

Final touches being made to the programme…

The Dev Ed Week in NUIM is a long standing tradition in the Department and has evolved over the years. This year we are pleased to announce a very full programme of events including guest speakers from across Ireland and the UK.

St Mary’s Academy, Carlow and Presentation College, Carlow will join forces on Tuesday morning to present (in an active and creative way) a range of the activities that have informed the Dev Ed programme in their schools and will discuss the impact this has had throughout the two schools.

We are very pleased also to welcome to Maynooth a number of NGOs and colleagues working in the area of Development education.

Throughout the week PDE students will have the opportunity to gain an insight into the work of different organisations as well as having a chance to experience active teaching and learning methodologies in the workshop sessions. This year we’ve included a de-briefing session with tutors to consider the ways Dev Ed can be genuinely integrated into one’s teaching practice.

Final details of the programme will be circulated to students via Moodle – but in the meantime details of most of the sessions and speakers are now available on this site.

Meanwhile here is a short video from two years ago that will give an insight into what Dev Ed is all about…well sort of!

DevEd Week 2011

Plans are currently underway to put this year’s Dev Ed week schedule together. The event will take place from 6th to 8th December and the details of the programme, speakers and new resources will be available soon. Stay tuned!!