“Moving On Ireland” is one of ten projects linked to my PhD research. The tile of the thesis (not yet submitted) is:

“FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL – A JOURNEY WITH DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION, COMMUNITY AND MULTIMEDIA”: What can educators learn about engaging adult learners in Development Education? A critical investigation into the power of Community-Linked Learning and Multimedia Methodologies in Higher Education.

I wanted to take Development Education to a group whom I felt are often excluded in Development Education and to combine this with a student work placement. I had previously worked with people with Intellectual, Neurological and Physical Disabilities as a ‘Transition Coordinator’. My job was to assist individuals to move out of institutional care into their own homes in the community. I had found the work deeply rewarding and wanted to develop Development Education learning opportunities that would bring people with ‘mixed abilities’ together. After a long process relating to ethical consent, these two individuals joined what would become the ‘mixed abilities’ Development Education group.

When I attended a course myself on the theme of Sustainable Development I was fortunate to meet a woman who worked in another NGO serving people with intellectual disabilities. She too had been hoping to run a Global Citizenship course with some of the residents and we began to plan the project together. Meanwhile, the course coordinator of a course for people with intellectual disabilities at UCC asked if I could take one of their students on a work placement. This student joined our planning sessions and helped with the organisation and facilitation of the workshops. We ran six two hour workshops on Development Education themes attended by twelve students, six from UCC and six from the three other groups. We also had a guest speaker from a former asylum seeker who had attended the digital story telling workshop above. One of the organisations also had a branch in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) India. We had an online discussion with the group there about life in India and in Ireland. One of the participants also had a sister who worked as a development worker in community radio in Kenya, with Irish Aid. She came to speak to the group about her work. The project which all students worked on together was the production of a radio show as part of the Global Hub. This radio show can be found by clicking HERE and includes an interview with the Aid Agency Concern as well as what the group had learned during their six week workshop. At the end the students were also presented with a certificate of participation.

The research findings are not yet published but watch this space!