Transformative Education in times of Crises

Trainers: Tereza Čajková, Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective, and Aurèle Destrée, Consultant on land-based and transformative education for Civil Society Organisations

Workshop Content: This online workshop explores how decolonial perspectives can support us to engage (with accountability) in a world characterised by increasing uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It will look at questions such as: How has education perpetuated the ways of thinking, relating and acting that have brought us to this unprecedented stage of multiple global crises? How can education support a shift towards reconfiguring the systems we rely on, based on deep social and ecological accountability? 

This workshop will invite you to take a break from the urgency of action and to develop greater understanding. It will explore how certain affective and intellectual patterns  - commonly internalised by those of us socialised in modern/colonial societies - are contributing to the unconscious perpetuation of the very way of being that has led us to the current complex global crisis. Participants will be invited into spaces of uncertainty and will be offered tools and practices with which they can occupy difficult realities without feeling overwhelmed.

Ecosystem Restoration and Development Education: Regenerating people and wider nature

Trainers: Co-founders of Síolta Chroí, Gareth Conlon, formerly Comhlámh, Development Perspective and ECO-UNESCO, and Karen Jeffares, Peace Brigades International 

Workshop Content: How can systems be created that restore ecosystems, sequester carbon and build biodiversity while supporting communities to thrive? 

This workshop will introduce the concepts of permaculture and regenerative agriculture exploring what Development Education can learn from them and what they can learn from Development Education and how together they can offer a powerful lens through which to reimagine and recreate our world. This perspective can bring us beyond sustainability and towards a more regenerative and abundant world.

War, Peace and the Future of Development Education

Trainers: Zelalem Sibhat, Lecturer in Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia, Gerard McCann, Senior Lecturer in International Studies and Head of International Programmes at St Mary's College Belfast, and Gertrude Cotter, Lecturer at the Centre for Global Development, UCC

Workshop Content: This workshop focuses on the theme of War and Peace, the implications of conflict for ordinary people around the world, and an activity exploring the future role of Development Education in the context of the continuing destruction of millions of lives as people become trapped in a vicious cycle of violence, hunger, poverty and inequality. It focuses on the war in Tigray, with the story of one man, Zelalem Sibhat, who gives powerful witness to the impact of the war in Tigray on his life and that of his family, friends and community. It also explores the Northern Ireland context with particular attention to the complexities of peace processes. Facilitators will extract some wider meanings which may not be directly applicable to other parts of the world, but which at least offer a way of exploring hope in a deeply entrenched context. Workshop Facilitators see Development Education as an Education in radical hope and this hope is important for educators as learners. The format will be a combination of personal testimony, reflection on the implications of these experiences for Development Education and participatory methodologies. It will bring the collective experience of participants together to focus on our role as global citizens and the future of Development Education in seeking understanding, solutions and actions.  

Global Business and Human Rights

Trainer: Mark Cumming, formerly of Comhlámh, who has spent 30 years involved in international solidarity work

Workshop Content: "Everything a Development Educationalist needs to know about business and human rights but was afraid to ask"! The relative power of business to nation states is frequently cited in development education resources and materials. However, many practitioners are not familiar with the range of accountability mechanisms that can be utilised by ordinary citizens, including the learners we work with, to pressure business and challenge corporate behaviour. This workshop will focus on the issues of the accountability of business to respect human rights. Specifically the workshop will equip participants to understand the discourses around Corporate Social Responsibility and Business and Human Rights. It will serve to equip participants with the necessary frameworks through which actions can be taken to engage in the process of holding businesses to account for abuses of human rights.