IDEA Annual Conference 2020

2020 has been a year of dramatic change. Our lives are in flux, systemic inequality is in the spotlight, and our response to the looming economic and climate crises hangs in the balance. One thing certain about 2020 is that it has shown that when we work together, support each other, and make something a collective priority we are capable of change on a massive scale, opening up new possibilities for how we can move forward.

This conference was an opportunity to come together with others to unpack 2020 and to explore how we can work together to rise to the challenge. We ran a range of sessions across the 4 days including an Opening Session, Keynote Session, 2 Panel Sessions, 4 Workshops and a Closing Session.

Workshops

Videos

Reports

Highlights

Graphic Harvest

Agenda

Philip Alston

Philip is a Professor of Law at New York University. From 2014 to 2020 he was UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He was previously Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights from 1991 to 1998, and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions form 2004 to 2010.

Dr Lorna Gold

is a social scientist and climate activist living and working in Ireland. She lectures in the Department of Applied Social Studies in Maynooth University and works as an independent consultant on climate justice. Prior to her current roles, she led Trócaire’s Policy, Research and Advocacy for almost two decades, until April 2020. She holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the University of Glasgow. She is vice-chair of the board of the Global Catholic Climate Movement and is a member of the recently established Vatican Commission on the post-COVID world. Her most recent book Climate Generation – Awakening to our Children’s Future was described by Naomi Klein as “an anguished journey into the heart of the climate crisis.” It tells her personal story of waking up to the ecological emergency as a mother, academic and activist. Her academic research interests include just transition, civil society movements, and the role of faith groups in climate activism.

Amelia Cizwala Peterson

Amelia Cizwala Peterson is Assistant Country Director/Head of Programs for GOAL International in Zimbabwe. An environment, law and development expert, Amelia’s experiences include mobilising resources for sustainable community transformations in Africa, Latin America and Asia through regional and local interventions to promote sustainable ecosystems (climate adapted agricultural livelihoods, resilience, making markets work for the poor, energy justice). In her current role, Amelia has oversight over GOAL Zimbabwe’s programs which include rural and urban interventions targeting the poor and ultra poor through nutrition, water sanitation & hygiene, and livelihoods programs reaching over half a million people each year. Of Zimbabwean and Swazi heritage, and having worked in several contexts and regions, including Southeast Asia, the Americas and Africa, Amelia considers herself a citizen of the World. She holds a Master of Laws in Energy & Natural Resources and a Doctor of Laws.

Mark Malone

Mark Malone is a communications worker and independent researcher. Recently Mark has been involved with a community project researching the growth of extremist and far-right movements in Ireland as they emerge which can be found here https://medium.com/@farrightobservatory. With a background in local/transnational social justice, grassroots campaign work and community organising, Mark has an interest in the impact of communication tools and social technology, and how these are shaping both progressive and regressive social forces in Ireland and beyond.

Wongani Grace Taulo

Wongani Grace Taulo has over 20 years of experience working on education and social justice. Wongani works with UNICEF HQ office in New York as Senior Education Advisor, Gender Equity and Inclusion (GEI). The GIE team promotes and supports access to equitable and inclusive education through global advocacy, networking and partnerships. The team leads the production of strategy guidance, tools and resources to support inclusive and equitable education programming within UNICEF. GEI teams also supports strategic programming for gender responsive education systems and leads the global Out of School Children Initiative (OOSCI). Wongani was previously Chief of Education in Iraq and Sierra Leone and before joining UNICEF, she worked with Open Society Foundation, ActionAid and CRS. Wongani holds a Master of Management degree in Public Development and Management from Wits University, South Africa. Wongani also holds post graduate certificates in Microfinance from the University of New Hampshire, Manchester, and Peace Building from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA as well as a Professional Certificate in Education Economics, Financing and Planning with Wits University.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal is the Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF International. He has 35 years of experience in environmental law and policy and served as Minister of the Environment of Peru (2011 to 2016) and President of the Twentieth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP20 in 2014. Manuel was the Executive Director of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, an influential institution in Latin America. He has a law degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, where he is a professor, and has completed studies for a master’s degree in Business Law at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas. He is a board member of Forest Trends, Amazon Conservation Association and Peruvian Society of Environmental Law and a member of the Assembly of the World Wide Fund for Nature - Colombia.

Bulelani Mfaco

Bulelani Mfaco is an activist and Spokesperson for the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI). Growing up in the apartheid ghetto of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, he became involved at an early age in protests for adequate housing & access to land with Abahlali BaseMjondolo, health care in the Khayelitsha Health Forum, and improved policing in neighbourhood watches. In 2017 he claimed asylum, seeking protection from violence and targeted killings of LGBT+ people. He is one of the Spokespersons at MASI – the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland where he is campaigning for the right to work for all asylum seekers, and to end Direct Provision.

Gavan Titley

Gavan Titley works in the Department of Media Studies, Maynooth University. His research broadly focuses on questions of racism and media/communications. His most recent book is Is Free Speech Racist? (Polity Press, 2020).

Valery Molay

Valery Molay is currently working as a Climate Justice officer with the National Youth Council of Ireland Youth 2030 programme. She is the outgoing Irish UN Youth Delegate 2019-2020. Valery was the Irish Youth delegate to cycle five of the EU Structured Dialogue, a European Commission initiative to include young people in decision making. She was part of the last youth delegation to the EU-AU Youth Summit where she served on the Environmental Cluster. Valery has previously sat on the steering group committee of the youth section of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (Y-Factor) and the expert group on membership, diversity and inclusion for the European Youth Forum. She has additionally had the privilege to be the Chairperson of the European Network Against Racism Ireland (ENAR Ireland).

Stephen McCloskey

Stephen McCloskey is Director of the Centre for Global Education, a development non-governmental organisation based in Belfast which delivers education programmes and services that challenge the underlying causes of poverty and inequality, locally and globally. He is editor of Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review, a bi-annual, peer reviewed journal funded by Irish Aid since 2005. He manages education programmes in Palestine and Lebanon, and has published research in 2020 on the impact of the war in Syria on Palestinian refugees. He regularly publishes in openDemocracy on poverty, education, economics, social justice and the Middle-East.

Orla McBreen

Orla McBreen is Director, Development Education and Civil Society unit, Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Having completed her MA in European Studies at the College of Europe, Natolin, Poland, Orla taught EU Politics and Policies in both Natolin, and Bruges, Belgium. Since joining DFA in 2000 she has held a number of positions across the organisation including as Acting Director Strategy & Performance Division, Assistant Chief of Protocol, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Ireland at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg. She worked for five years at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN (New York) with responsibility for Human Rights and Gender Equality. She then took on the role of Consul General at the Irish Embassy in Chicago before returning to Ireland in 2016 to become Head of Public Service Reform at Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and recently completed an MA in Leadership and Strategy with the IPA in 2018.