Development Education
LYCS is a community development project based in Dublin’s North East Inner City. One of the ways that LYCS seeks to empower local people to play a part in transforming their communities is through ‘Development Education’. This form of interactive education involves exploring issues relevant to the community (e.g. drugs, food, inequality, housing) from local and global perspectives. Essentially, Development Education is about linking the local to the global, and empowering people to become active players in our increasingly globalised and unequal world.
The Development Education (DE) programme aims to provide opportunities for people to explore the development challenges faced locally, in Ireland and in communities around the world. It fosters critical thinking, active citizenship and a sense of shared struggle for a more, fair and equal world.
Examples of programmes developed and run the Dev Ed team
Dialogue Events
LYCS run events based on the World Cafe style of facilitation, which gives each participant a chance to express what they feel about various issues locally and globally, in an informal and accepting environment seated around large tables with their peers. We run Cafes on various pressing issues in Dublin's North East inner city. In 2016 for example, 100 people participated in 1916 Democracy Café and chatted and shared about how democracy can be made stronger. More recently a series of Cafés have been run around the issue of women's empowerment in Dublin's North East Inner city.
Training for Trainers
Every year we provide themed trainings for practitioners and activists including: Zero Waste Educator Training, Women of the World; Healthy Eating without Costing the Earth; Migration; Transforming our World through Music; and Facilitation Skills which built their capacity to engage others in this kind of learning.
Accredited Training
LYCS provide Fetac Level 4 and Level 6 training in global development issues. In 2017 we brought asylum seekers and Irish people together to participate in an innovative global development course in Mosney Accommodation Centre. Participants explored issues such local and global poverty, migration, culture, the legacy of colonialism, racism and development.
Sectoral Leadership
Irish Aid launched their new DE Strategy. LYCS has played a key role in engaging with the DE sector and Irish Aid to promote an understanding of how local-global learning can be an effective educational tool for the community sector. Our experience and engagement is reflected in the new Irish Aid strategy.