What is Development Education...?

There are many different ways to describe Development Education. Irish Aid’s definition of development education is:

An educational process aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world in which we live. It seeks to engage people in analysis, reflection and action for local and global citizenship and participation. It is about supporting people in understanding, and in acting to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives and others at personal, community, national and international levels."

Other definitions of development education include this from the Development Education forum at CONCORD, the European platform for development NGOs:

"Development education is an active learning process, founded on values of solidarity, equality, inclusion and co-operation. It enables people to move from basic awareness of international development priorities and sustainable human development, through understanding of the causes and effects of global issues to personal involvement and informed actions.

Development education fosters the full participation of all citizens in world-wide poverty eradication, and the fight against exclusion. It seeks to influence more just and sustainable economic, social, environmental, human rights based national and international policies."

 

Download our leaflet "What is Development Education?" (PDF 1.36MB)

You can find more alternative definitions of DE here.

You can also read our presentation below.