Development Education In Practice
- Some Case Studies
(all of these projects have been supported by DCI)
Case Study 1
Inner City Dublin - the Lourdes Youth & Community Services
Lourdes Youth and Community Services (LYCS) is a community development
project that was established in 1984, as part of a broader based community
development movement in Dublin's north inner city in the late 1970s
and 1980s. LYCS supports community based education, training, recreational
and development projects concerned with giving participants of all ages
the opportunity to become involved in their own development and the
development of their community. Development Education makes up one important
strand in the agenda of the organisation.
LYCS began using Development Education as a tool to bring a global
perspective to its work over ten years ago especially in the context
of increasing understanding and knowledge of issues and regions in the
developing world and the value of seeing and understanding the connections
between the local and the global.
Development Education was introduced initially through adult education
work when exploring issues such as poverty, drugs and domestic violence
with women’s groups. The interest developed among staff and participants
through sessions and later through courses that looked at issues arising
for women in the community internationally and locally. In addition,
LYCS has also seen the value to local groups of using Development Education
as an educational tool in itself.
Now the Development Education activities carried out by LYCS include:
- Outreach work with local organisations- promoting and facilitating
the use of a global perspective in their work
- Delivery of training and education to staff and participants of
LYCS and other local organisations
- Hosting events and supporting others in hosting and/or participating
in events
- Providing information, resources, networking opportunities and
policy advice
Many of these activities are delivered in partnership with other organisations
such as Comhlámh (the association for returned volunteers), Banúlacht
(focusing on women’s issues in development and the Kimmage Manor
Development Studies Programme. Some of the issues dealt with have included
trade and wealth distribution, food, poverty, education, health, human
rights, drugs, women’s rights, violence against women, culture,
refugees and anti-racism.
Exploring Debt - Local And Global
Participants in the LYCS adult education programme had raised the issue
of debt in discussions concerning poverty and wealth distribution. A
significant number of the participants were faced with pressured personal
financial situations and money lending organisations feature in the
community and people are often in a position where they need to borrow
to meet basic needs.
A workshop was organised to examine the issue of debt in partnership
with the Debt and Development Coalition to plan the session and made
use of resource material from Banúlacht. The aim of the half-day
session was to give people an opportunity to explore the causes and
consequences of debt and to introduce people to debt as a global phenomenon.
Participants explored their first memory of money and their thoughts
on words associated with money, the causes and consequences of debt,
two case studies of the cycle of debt, one from Dublin’s inner
city and the other from the Philippines before looking the lessons of
the day. |
