Development Education

Twice a year EIL members meet for a weekend of workshops, raising awareness actions and fun. Here, EIL members are raising awareness on Human Trafficking in Dublin city centre.

EIL members conducting a survey on the views of shoppers in Dublin city centre on fairtrade.

EIL Network members take part in a drumming workshop as part of the range of activities during a Network Weekend.

EIL Global Awareness volunteers facilitating a workshop on HIV&AIDS after returning form volunteering in Nigeria and South Africa.

EIL Development Education members raising awareness of the international impact of AIDS.

Development Education is about raising awareness and promoting understanding of development issues. But it is more than that - it aims to empower people to take action by encouraging them to think critically about what connects the lives of people across the world, rich and poor. After participating in an EIL Programme, you are part of the EIL Network and you are invited to take part in our development education activities and events aimed at promoting global justice and respect among the peoples of the world.

We believe that your travel, exchange programme or volunteer experience overseas should be followed by actions in order to effect positive change here in Ireland. We ask you to be the voice of the people you worked and lived with and to highlight their experiences of poverty and inequality. We encourage you to understand and educate others about the circumstances and root causes that make people vulnerable, the work the local projects are doing to help bring about real change in people’s lives. We also encourage you to challenge stereotypes and prejudice and help other people to understand how their actions at a an individual, community, national and international level can positively affect the life of people in the Majority World. Act together with us for a more just and equal society, you can really make a difference!

Upcoming events

EIL Network Weekend

Time: 21 April 2012 - 11:00am - 22 April 2012 - 2:30pm

News and Events

Aine and Ciara on Newstalk

Well done to Aine Carroll, Ciara O'Meara and James O'Connor of Open Heart House who were interviewed on Newstalk's "Global Village" about the work of the EIL Global Awareness Programme and of Open Heart House in Dublin. A really great listen... provides some fantastic information and perspective. Brilliant job guys! You can listen in here, the interview is at the start of Part 2.

Winter Newsletter 2011

The Development Education Winter issue has just been published! Check it out here

Nancy Navigates in Northern Thailand

Nancy Ormond decided to go volunteering with EIL Intercultural Learning for 8 weeks in January 2011. "But Nancy is not your usual volunteer and for a lady of her maturity it was certainly a brave undertaking by her to have travelled out to Northern Thailand in January this year, unaccompanied, except for her much younger volunteer colleagues". Read this article to hear about her experiences and her report a photo presentation that she organised in Mullingar on her return.

“Connecting the Dots” at a UN conference in Bonn, Germany

My experience so far in northwest Argentina

Chilecito is a small city with a main plaza. This plaza is where I hang out, drink coffee and meet with my friends. The plaza is only a 5 minute walk from my host house so I am in walking distance from the banks, shops and post office. The landscape is extremely dry here, with the only water supply coming from the Famatina Mountains. I feel very lucky to have been granted the individual travel award to volunteer in this beautiful place.

Coming to the end of our South African experience

As our final week here in South Africa looms, special moments and memories have already formed. After spending time with the NGO, we then moved on the HIV and AIDS Clinic, where we are volunteering now. This is a day hospital with a special ARV unit (the medication taken when you are HIV+ and your CD4 count is less than 250). The unit is divided into sections where there are doctors, counsellors, nutritionists and personal advocates. All of them are there to help and support clients who have contracted HIV.

57 Days in Mexico - Final count down

Another lovely sun shining day in Mexico City, The weather is to die for, not too hot neither is it too cold. It rains in the evenings mostly which is lovely as it reduces the pollution in the air and the water cleans the streets.

My experience in a HIV and AIDS clinic

Today felt like an “Irish Day” here in South Africa as the sky clouded over with grey mist and heavy rainfall. However, this rainfall was a blessing for the South Africans as it allowed the reservoirs and lakes to fill with fresh water to prepare for the annual drought of the Summer to follow. People seemed quite happy with the change in the weather pattern from the last month of blistering sun and dry earth to a more damp, wet and cold atmosphere.

Barra de Potosi: Aventura número dos

Firstly I just want to apologise I haven´t been able to blog as much as I like which means I have to try cram everything into one blog, i´ve been trying to keep up with the blogs, loved reading Aisling the other travel award winners blogs, I am not able to blog so often as I have limited internet access but I will try get everything more or less that I have done so far,with great diffic

First three weeks!

It is hard to believe that three weeks has passed by already! While there are times when it feels like both Aisling and I have been here for much longer, there are other moments when it feels like each day passes us by so quickly.

For the past three weeks we have been working with an organisation called Sothemba AIDS Action, which focuses on raising awareness of HIV & AIDS in Cape Town. It is a small organisation based in the suburbs of Bellville just outside of the city in Cape Town. It consists of three full time staff and seven part time staff.

Photos and Videos

Opening ceremony of the conference with video address from Ban Ki Moon

Sonja (EIL delegate from Germany) and Aislinn (EIL delegate from Ireland) at the EIL booth at the UN conference in Bonn

Federation EIL delegation at UN conference in Bonn