Board Member with HR/People and Culture Expertise

IDEA is seeking a new Board (National Council) member with significant experience in human resources (HR) and people and culture. This is a voluntary role, and the successful candidate will provide strategic HR insight to support the development of IDEA’s people and culture strategy.


The right candidate will play a key role in contributing to IDEA’s governance, ensuring the organisation has strong HR strategies and policies to support its mission and objectives.


The Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) is the national network for global citizenship and development education in Ireland. We support and represent members to ensure that everyone in Ireland has access to quality development education to become active global citizens. Our work strengthens global citizenship education by building expertise, fostering collaboration, and influencing policy.


Our values are rooted in social justice, equality, and sustainability, and we work collectively to build a more just, sustainable, and equal world.


Governance

IDEA is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, governed by a voluntary Board (National Council) that provides strategic oversight. The National Council consists of individuals with governance skills relevant to the development education sector. IDEA is committed to the highest standards of governance and complies with the Charities Governance Code.


Key Responsibilities

Chair the Remuneration & Nominations Committee, leading discussions on HR policy, recruitment, and governance matters.

Provide HR expertise and guidance in areas such as organisational culture, workforce planning, and people development.

Support the review and implementation of HR policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with best practices in the not-for-profit sector.

Advise on staff wellbeing, diversity, equity, and inclusion matters.

Offer guidance on best practice HR management, supporting IDEA’s leadership team in people-related decision-making.

Work collaboratively with other Board members to provide strategic oversight and ensure IDEA meets its governance responsibilities.


Time Commitment

Board meetings: Six times per year, hybrid, typically 5.00pm-7.30pm.

Board development day: One in-person meeting per year, typically in January.

Annual General Meeting (AGM): Attendance required (approx 2.5 hours hybrid or online)

Committee work: This role includes chairing the Remuneration & Nominations Committee, which meets via Zoom 2-4 times per year.

Term of Appointment

Board members serve a three-year term, with the option for reappointment for a second term.


Who Should Apply?

We welcome applications from candidates who have:


Experience in HR, People & Culture 

A passion for social justice, education, sustainability

Previous Board experience (desirable but not required)

Knowledge of the not-for-profit or education sector (desirable but not required) 

Experience in modern hybrid work environments


How to Apply

If you are interested in this role, please apply via Boardmatch or if you have specific questions, please contact sal@ideaonline.ie. Recruitment will be via a selection committee that includes an external consultant with relevant expertise.


IDEA is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences.


The deadline of application is 24 March, 9.00am.


October 8, 2025
We are looking for a consultant to design an interactive data visualisation tool for our Theory of Impact for Global Citizenship Education in Ireland. The consultant will lead the design or tailoring of off-the-shelf survey software and analytics software to our needs, in collaboration with IDEA staff. Please submit a tender including a description of stages in the development process, number of days, expected fee, and experience of relevant personnel for the work to be carried out to anya@ideaonline.ie . The deadline for application is Wednesday, 29 October, 5.00pm. Read the full terms of reference here.
October 6, 2025
After three remarkable years with IDEA, we are sad to share that Anya Sparynska is moving abroad to begin a new adventure. During her time with us, Anya made an indelible mark - first by shaping a pioneering programme role, and later by guiding us in a capacity development role that strengthened our impact across Ireland’s development education sector. From designing and implementing innovative initiatives to building partnerships and capacity across our member organisations, Anya has left IDEA stronger, more connected, and more ambitious for the future. “I am sad to leave at such a pivotal time in IDEA: we are faced with unspeakable horror, as the need for justice and accountability grows ever more urgent. I have seen, however, our members and staff respond with creativity, humanity and dedication to these challenging times and find inspiration in it, even at this darkest hour. A desire to be close to my family and the pressure of the housing crisis have driven me to Brussels, but I know I will be back as Ireland - it’s passionate, brave and kind people - now feels like home. I will be sure to follow IDEA and our members’ work closely in the coming year and hope to stay in touch! “Working at IDEA has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Seeing ideas and passion turn into real impact and change has been incredibly fulfilling - I’ll carry those lessons, and the very special friendships made along the way with me always.”
September 26, 2025
Date: Tuesday, 04 November, from 3.30–4.30pm Location: Online via Zoom IDEA is thrilled to invite members to the online launch of our new “Theory of Impact for Global Citizenship Education” on Tuesday, 04 November, from 3.30–4.30pm, Online via Zoom. During this session, we will present the model, share insights into the process behind its development, and explore how it will be used to strengthen impact across the sector. We will also introduce a new tool in progress, an interactive data visualisation map designed to showcase our collective impact as a network. For many years, IDEA and its members have been grappling with the concept of impact in Development Education/Global Citizenship Education (GCE). As GCE practitioners, tracking impact helps us to identify how, where and with whom our work is creating positive change, as well as investigating areas in which our impact could be stronger. Furthermore, we can also benefit from examining the collective impact of GCE carried out by the wide-ranging work of IDEA members, and from exploring how these impacts contribute to the major social changes to which the GCE community aspires. Driven therefore by the need to understand how projects and programmes are collectively “making a difference” in IDEA we looked at models that could help us visualise and capture GCE “impact networks”. We formulated our vision of impact and then a theory of how we expect this desired impact to be achieved to allow us to map our activities and collect data to corroborate that theory. This Theory of Impact model is how we hope to illustrate this complex GCE impact network. Building on work done by IDEA over many years including building sectoral capacity in using Results Frameworks for GCE, our Quality & Impact working group, engagement with Irish Aid on their Performance Measurement Framework (PMF), and the successful roll-out of a Code of Good Practice for DE/GCE, this Theory of Impact represent the next stage of our effort to ‘develop a consistent approach to measuring impact among the sector’. We are therefore thrilled to invite you to the presentation of our ‘Theory of Impact for GCE’. At this online presentation, we will tell you about the process that led to the creation of this model, how it will be used and what we hope it could bring to the sector. We will also touch on a new tool being developed based on the model, which should allow the creation of an interactive data visualisation map of our collective impact as a network. Join us as we launch into this exciting new phase of our Impact Measurement work. Join us as we begin this exciting new phase of our Impact Measurement work. Register below!