Learning about the ‘Co’ in Ecovillage!

As part of the Challenging the Crisis campaign the Young Global Advocates (YGAs) normally meet up every few weeks for day-long meetings but with the campaign now well underway and the end date for the project drawing closer we felt we needed a longer, more intense meeting to go through our ideas and plans. We decided to go for an overnight trip to  Cloughjordan Ecovillage  where we would also have the opportunity to see Social & Solidarity Economy in action. Over the course of the weekend we did much of what we normally do at our meetings but more of it! We also focused on how to best communicate the message of the campaign as we have felt that it can be hard to make Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) as a concept clear and concise.

On top of that we got a chance to learn about Cloughjordan Ecovillage from Davie Philips of Cultivate, who talked us through how the village came into being and how it functions day-to-day. We found it very interesting to experience an actual living, breathing social and solidarity organisation. As a group, we benefitted from the experience and found it uplifting to see that the concept we have talked so much about in the last year is actually, not only feasible, but existing and functioning successfully. It made it clear to us that our campaign supports what SSE organisations need in terms of awareness-raising and informing people about their existence, so they can flourish and also lead to further growth of SSEs. We don’t need to invent them, we need to promote them so they can grow. Also in the spirit of SSE we did some weeding for the community, which was a nice change of scene from the meeting room. We also got a chance to present to the people living in the village, outlining our campaign for them. Their response was very supportive.

We also got some good news at the weekend. We learned that the Challenging the Crisis project has received funding from Action/2015 (www.action2015.org) to hold public engagement events, across the 6 Project countries, to promote our campaign and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our campaign is most closely linked to goal 8 which is: Promote strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all. We see SSE as a way this goal can be achieved because if our economy is run through co-ops, mutual associations etc, this means that the work people have will be more within their control and reliable because the aim of SSE companies isn’t solely profit, it is sustainability and the betterment of society.

We'd like to say a big thank you to the residents who accommodated our stay and everyone at  Cultivate and the Resiliance Centre for facilitating our meeting and visit. 

About the author:

Méabh Hennelly has been a member of the YGA’s since March 2014. She has also been involved with  Amnesty International Ireland  and  ROSA. She just finished her leaving cert at Newpark Comprehensive School, Blackrock, and hopes to study Politics, Sociology and Philosophy.

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 (hereinafter ‘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!
September 26, 2025
Date: 11 November, 10.30am – 4.30pm. Location: IDEA offices, 6 Gardiner Row IDEA launched its new Advocacy Toolkit and GCE Policy Guide resource pack in early March. The advocacy toolkit and policy guide were developed for IDEA members to strengthen their capacity to effectively advocate with policymakers and to actively engage in policy processes on GCE in Ireland and the wider world. IDEA will facilitate a full-day in-person workshop on these resources in the IDEA offices on Tuesday, 11 November ,10.30am – 4.30pm. Places are limited to 20 participants and will be given on a first come, first served basis. Please note that this is a repeat of the workshop that took place in May and is aimed at members who did not have the opportunity to participate in May. A vegetarian lunch will be provided. Register below!
September 26, 2025
Date: 06 November a nd 18 November from 3.30–4.30pm Location: IDEA offices, 6 Gardiner Row, Dublin 1 Due to positive feedback following a workshop during our annual conference, we are thrilled to invite members to a full 2-part interactive workshop about “Racial Justice” on 06 November and 18 November. This event will take place in-person in Dublin. Our facilitators Bronwyn April and Mdahyelya Bassi will guide participants through a critical exploration of the interconnections between racial justice, philanthropy, migration, and decolonisation within global and Irish contexts. The workshop will delve into how historical and ongoing colonial legacies influence contemporary issues of racial equity and social justice in Ireland and beyond. The dates for this event are fast approaching, so if you have any specific accessibility requirements, please email events@ideaonline.ie as soon as possible. Places for this event are limited, and registration is mandatory. Deadline to register is Monday, 04 November. Register below!