Newsletter – n°21 – May 2013

In other news

Is development education and activities implemented reaching local community? This question was raised repeatedly at the seminar “Development Education – Responding to the Global Crisis?” which took place on 17 May in Dublin (Ireland) at the initiative of IDEA, Dochas and CONCORD.

Development education practitioners were invited to consider the best way to proceed in order to address and involve Europeans more directly in their activities. This is critical to generate public support to development cooperation and raise awareness of development issues.

Contributing to the opening panel Mr. Momodou Sallah, Senior Lecturer in the De Montfort University (United Kingdom), highlighted that the work at local level is key for achieving results in development cooperation. He also recommended to work with young generation and to appeal to their genuine desire to help not only their peers but also other target groups.

Several delegates have expressed similar ideas, and recommended that development education pertain to topical and understandable issues for local community.

The Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments together with several Latvian municipalities have recently started to explore the field of development education in the context of the project “Working together for Development”. Local governments are sharing their knowledge and experience through information campaigns on development cooperation issues, youth voluntary work and on the implementation of development cooperation projects. All together the project involved partners from seven European countries, as well as associated partners from nine countries outside the European Union’s borders. For more information on this project write to agita.kaupuza@lps.lv.