Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University partners in SAOLTA – a Strategic Development Education Initiative for the Adult and Community Sector in Ireland
SAOLTA - Empowerment for a better world through Adult and Community Education, is a strategic initiative to enhance development education in the adult and community sector (ACE) in Ireland. SAOLTA, the old Irish world translates into “Worldly”, was launched in the Mansion House Dublin, on Thursday January 30th with a broad attendance from government departments, humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), adult and community education groups, and invited guests.
Over the next two years SOALTA, funded by the Civil Society and Development Education Unit of Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will deliver a detailed development education awareness and capacity building programme for the adult and community education sector (ACE) sector in Ireland.
In 2015, a Dochas report “Attitudes towards Development Co-operation in Ireland” found that only 25% of adults considered themselves to have above average knowledge of global issues, developing countries and poverty. The research identified a worryingly high level (49%) of public powerlessness and “a relatively pronounced absence of perceived linkages between peoples lives in Ireland and instances of global poverty”. In 2017, the European Commission Directorate for International Co-operation and Development published, “EU Citizens views on Development, Co-operation and Aid”. It reported that across the EU 28, 41% of people had heard or read about the SDG`s (Sustainable Development Goals). That figure was 5% lower In Ireland and only 15 % stated they knew what SDG`s were. Also in 2017, IDEA (the Irish Development Education Association) reported that 9 counties did not have development education coverage in the adult and community education sector.
SAOLTA is a nationwide strategic programme addressing awareness, knowledge, skills and the confidence deficit that contributes to public powerlessness. SAOLTA will engage the adult and community sector through the Public Participation Networks (PPNs), Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs), Education and Training boards (ETBs), Further Education (FE) Institutes, the Aontas Community Education Network (100+ independently managed Community education providers), the Irish Rural Link National Rural Network, and sports organisations for coverage and accessibility to development education. Reflecting the borderless nature of global challenges and reflecting the impact of adult and community education SAOLA will work nationally with the ACE sector similar to the One World Awards programme in primary schools and the WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) for second level education.
The SAOLTA project consortium comprising Development Perspectives, Concern Worldwide, AONTAS, Irish Rural Link and the Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University provides an extensive national reach and a depth of collective adult and community experience to ensure that the goal of strengthening development education in the ACE sector will be met.
At the launch Orla McBreen, Director of the Civil Society and Development Education Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spoke about the importance of strengthening development education in the ACE sector in light of Irelands leading role in securing global agreement on the Strategic Development Goals (STGs). Suzanne Kyle, Coordinator of the AONTAS Community Educators Network (CEN) and a member of the SAOLTA steering committee spoke of the importance of adult and community education in strengthening resilience and global understanding. Professor Tom Collins, past President of Maynooth University, past director of the Department of Adult and Community Education and chairperson of the Public Water Forum, noted that all issues in some way are global and local. Bobby McCormack co-founder / Director of Development Perspectives (DP) and senior lecturer in Dundalk Institute of Technology gave an outline of the SOLTA project and the partnership underpinning it. Michael Doorly, Chair of Development Perspectives and head of Concern worldwide’s Active Citizenship programme, and Sinead Dooley, Deputy CEO of Irish Rural Link and member of the SAOLTA steering committee, were also in attendance.
The Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University is represented on the steering committee by Michael Kenny lecturer and further education course director, who undertook a published overview of the Development Education sector in Ireland in 2002 (See http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/691/.