Madam, – Over the past 20 years I have seen funding grants for development education being furnished by Irish Aid and organisations such as Trócaire. Understandably, they can provide only tiny percentages of their budgets to this vital, challenging and far-sighted work.
However, I have seen little public understanding or debate on the importance of development education. It is somehow seen as a luxury or an “add-on” which we can afford only when times are good.
While many thousands would die in an earthquake as violent as that in Haiti, no matter where it happened, it is now clear that the consequences are far worse for a people who live in poverty in a world falsely divided between rich and poor.
Can anything more starkly show us how much we need our future generations to understand the concept of sustainable development? Those of us who seek support for development education should no longer have to defend our work.
Governments and universities around the world support technological, scientific and entrepreneurial initiatives, and curriculum reform in those areas. Areas such as development education are never accorded the same status.
To the detriment of all of us, the world’s powerful fail to see the importance of being able to develop skills, attitudes and values that will enable us all to live with dignity. In solidarity with the people of Haiti, ar dheis Dé go raibh siad. – Yours, etc,