The Government’s development cooperation programme, Irish Aid, reflects the values and experience of the Irish people and is dependent on their continued support. An important element of the programme is support for public information and engagement, including development education in Ireland. Ireland’s new Policy for International Development, One World, One Future, reflects our continued commitment to supporting public engagement and development education. Development education is integral to our efforts to develop understanding of, and debate on, global development issues. Ireland’s development education funding supports activities which build a stronger understanding of global development issues, strengthen public awareness of the reality of the issues involved in our commitment to development cooperation, and promote a stronger sense of global solidarity.
The Dóchas research referred to examined a number of areas of expenditure on public engagement, including development education, between 1995 and 2009. I am pleased to confirm that over the last five years, despite the very difficult economic situation, Irish Aid has maintained expenditure on development education at around 1% of ODA. This represents a very significant investment and supports a wide range of organisations and activities. We have managed to maintain this level of funding by focussing on core priorities for development education and on strengthening the focus on results from our investment in development education. Core priorities include initial teacher education; post-primary schools-based work; online access to development education resources; capacity building for the development education sector; and a programme with third level students in Irish universities.
Expenditure under the Development Education budget amounted to €3.2m in both 2011 and 2012. The approved budget for 2013 is €3.5m. In addition, Irish Aid has asked NGOs which are provided with long term development programme grants to incorporate development education and public engagement initiatives in their work programmes. Last year, €1.5 million was expended on such initiatives.
I am proud of Ireland’s international reputation for the delivery of high quality development education, through which we aim to deepen our citizens’ understanding, and encourage people to take action for a more just and equal world. In order to further strengthen the quality of development education in Ireland, and in line with the commitment in our new International Development Policy, I have appointed a new member of the Irish Aid Expert Advisory Group with significant development education expertise to advise on development education.
