Overview

What is Development Education?

Development education is 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.

Development education is transformative. It enables people to analyse and challenge the root causes and consequences of global poverty and inequality and to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives and the lives of others. It aspires to change the way people think and act; empowering them to take action and become active global citizens in the creation of a fairer, more just, more secure and more sustainable world for all.

Development education addresses a wide range of themes and issues, including:

Why do we provide Development Education funding?

Our funding to development education supports the implementation of the Irish Aid Development Education Strategy 2017-2023‌. The long term goal of the Strategy is that through the provision of development education, people are empowered to analyse and challenge the root causes and consequences of global hunger, poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change. 

Development education plays an important role in building the conditions in which we can continue to meet ongoing global challenges, contributing to both our foreign policy and international development policy objectives.  The four core values underpinning our foreign policy are a fairer, more just, more secure and more sustainable world.  Irish Aid promotes these values abroad through our international development programme and at home through our support for development education.  Development education promotes citizenship literacy among the Irish public by deepening understanding of global justice issues and Ireland’s core values, advancing our foreign policy aim of contributing to the collective international effort to build a better world for all.

Our funding for development education enables us to work in partnership with educators across the primary, post-primary, higher education, youth and adult and community education sectors to increase the accessibility, quality and effectiveness of development education in Ireland.

Projects and programmes approved for development education funding share the following characteristics:

• Contribute to the learner’s knowledge and understanding of global justice issues and facilitate the learner to engage with multiple perspectives
• Enhance the learner’s skills and competencies, placing particular emphasis on the development of critical thinking skills
• Strengthen the leaner’s values and attitudes, supporting the learner to recognise our global interconnectedness and consequently our rights and responsibilities as global citizens
• Promote action at a local and global level,  empowering the learner to engage in individual and/or collective action to bring about a positive difference in the world

All projects and programmes approved for development education funding have a strong focus on achieving the results set out in the Development Education Strategy 2017-2023 and the Performance Measurement Framework and contribute to awareness raising of and engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Our Development Education Partners

Payments totalling €2,863,000 were approved for 33 partners working in development education in 2017.

Development Education Annual Grants Funding

Of this, €1,080,000 was allocated to 30 organisations funded under the 2017 Development Education Annual Grant Scheme. The organisations approved for funding are as follows:

European Commission DEAR (Development Education and Awareness Raising) Co-funding

Development Education Strategic Partnership Programmes

A further €1,783,000 is provided to 5 organisations for multi-annual funding under the Development Education Strategic Partnerships Programme as follows:

Applying for funding

How to apply for project funding?

Irish Aid issues an annual call for project grant proposals. The Development Education Annual Grant call is open to Irish-based organisations only.

Grants are allocated in the range of €10,000 to €180,000 for a period of one year. All proposals need to have a strong focus on development education results for the Irish public.

The 2018 Development Education call for proposals is now open.

Application Process

Organisations who wish to apply for funding must request an Eligibility Form by emailing developmenteducation[at]dfa[dot]ie. Organisations will then receive an Eligibility Form and Application Form from Irish Aid. Completed eligibility forms must be submitted to developmenteducation[at]dfa[dot]ie by 5pm on 20 October 2017. Organisations who fail to meet the eligibility deadline cannot be considered.

All organisations that submit a completed Eligibility Criteria Form in advance of 20 October 2017 will be notified of their eligibility by 27 October 2017. Eligible organisations will be asked to complete an application form which must be submitted to developmenteducation[at]dfa[dot]ie by 5pm on 17 November 2017. Please note applications which are received after this date will not be considered.

The completed application form, signed by the legal representative of the organisation (e.g. the CEO or the Chair of the Board) should be e-mailed to developmenteducation[at]dfa[dot]ie by 5pm on 17 November 2017.

Further Information

Please note that individual meetings cannot be held with applicant organisations while the call is active and Irish Aid officials will not be available to answer questions or provide clarifications on an individual basis.

Questions or queries in relation to the Round should be addressed directly to “Development Education” using the ‘Contact Us’ page on the Irish Aid website. A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document is available on this website. Queries will be responded to up to two weeks prior to the application deadline.

Please note that any attempt to influence the outcome of the decision-making process in relation to grant applications will result in disqualification. Please also note that no individual meetings will be held with organisations that plan to apply for funding once the call for proposals issues.

Please find below relevant documents for Irish Aid’s Development Education Annual Grant 2018:

• Development Education 2018 Funding Guidelines‌
• 2018 FAQ Development Education Funding

Focus on Results

Organisations who receive Development Education funding are responsible for effective and ongoing monitoring throughout the course of the funding period. 

Each grant is based on a contract and an agreed set of results. Organisations must report on the progress towards the expected results annually to Irish Aid through the annual reporting process.

Reporting requirements

Irish Aid monitoring of Development Education Grants includes:

• Annual report on results and expenditure
• Audited accounts to be submitted annually