 | Get involved | Nearly 100 secondary schools across Ireland are actively involved with Self Help Africa's development education programme - hosting workshops, running events, and participating in a broad range of activities designed to raise awareness and improve understanding of the challenges facing people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
If you would like to find out more about this programme, or about how you might become involved, contact us by clicking here . |
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| | Loreto schools team up on book project | Self Help Africa has teamed up with a network of close to a dozen Loreto Secondary Schools from across Ireland to produce the third in our award-winning series of books on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The third book in the 'Twenty Fifteen' series is underway, with students from Loreto Schools from Dublin, Meath, Derry, Tyrone, Kilkenny and Cork collaborating on the creation of an MDG book looking at the issue of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. All of the students involved have participated in workshops on gender, organised by Self Help Africa's development education unit.
Schools who are taking part in the MDG project include Loreto Schools from Rathfarnham, Balbriggan, Dalkey and Swords in Dublin, from Kilkeny, Coleraine, Omagh, Navan, Letterkenny and Fermoy. Self Help Africa's Dev Ed coordinator spoke on the subject at the Loreto Order's Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation conference, last year. |
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|  | Transition Year resources | Self Help Africa's ongoing work to develop curriculum materials to support the presentation of development issues in the classrooms has borne fruit, with a comprehensive resource pack now launched, and available for schools to download HERE.
The module was developed in collaboration with students at CBS schools in Portlaoise and Carlow, and is currently with the Dept of Education National Council for Curriculum Awards (NCCA) for ratification. It is being piloted in 30 second level schools across the country, and will be presented before the National Seminar of Transition Year Coordinators in Athlone, in May. Funding support for the undertaking has been provided by Irish Aid. |
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| St. Lorcan's school support |  | A big thanks to all the boys at St. Lorcan's National School in Palmerstown, Dublin, for their continuing |
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The boys will organise a school sale and sports day again this year, and are aiming to continue the fantastic efforts for people in the developing world, in 2011.
Last year the St. Lorcan's students netted close to 2,000, and in 2009 they raised over 1,200 from a day long school fundraiser. Keep up the good work, and thanks again lads !! |
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| Workshops, lectures & seminars | Self Help Africa arranges workshops, lectures and seminars on development related topics, in Irish schools.
Schools who are interested in hosting a visiting speaker, or might wish their students to take part in a participatory workshop in their classroom, should get in contact with us. |
To find out how your school can get involved contact us here. |
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|  | | | | Students win award for dairy project | | | A project by two 15 year old Carlow students has collected the prestigious Self Help Africa organised 'Science for Development' Award at this year's BT Young Scientists Exhibition.
Keane Nolan and DJ Hanley from St Mary's Academy, Carlow, received the award from Overseas Development and Trade Minister Joe Costello at the science showcase at the RDS in Dublin, recently. Their winning award looked at the question of dairy pasturisation in the developing world. | |
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| Clonkeen's Kenya success | Clonkeen College, Blackrock have continued their remarkable fundraising efforts for Self Help Africa - and have to date raised in excess of €40,000 towards the cost of constructing a new primary school at Thome, Kenya.
The school is being designed to replace an existing mud and cane dwelling, and will accommodate close to 150 students. Clonkeen College have forged an ongoing partnership with the school in Thome, and have been supporting the project for several years. |
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| School linkages | Well done to all of the students and teachers at Tullamore College, whose fundraising efforts have netted more than €17,000 to support our work.
The school's efforts are to be invested in the development of a community water resource for villagers in the Rongai Region of Kenya's Rift Valley. | | |
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| Interact on-line | | Self Help Africa has started to develop online opportunities for our students to network socially with each other across the internet. If you can help, we'd love to hear from you. |  | Self Help Africa has a Facebook page. Check it out here |
|  | YouTube channel is on the way. Check out Sarah's, or Dervilla's video, from their trip to Ethiopia. |
|  | If you can help us with our myspace page, get in touch. |
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|  | Hats on for Africa! | Hats on for Africa is a new campaign from Self Help Africa, dedicated to encouraging primary school children to get their thinking hats on about the problems facing Africa today.
When you organise your school 'Hats on for Africa' day, make sure that you take photos of the event. We'd love to see them and will publish the best ones that we get on our website. | | |
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|  | Africa Alive in the classroom | Bring Africa alive in the classroom - understand the issues, discover the rich and diverse cultures, and become a part of the solution to the challenges facing the world's second largest continent.
'Africa Alive' is Self Help Africa's innovative Development Education programme - offering teachers and students the change to engage in a very real way with the continent and its people. |
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|  | School trip to Zambia | More than 20 students and teachers from Irish secondary schools working with Self Help Africa will travel to Zambia next month, on the annual Easter field trip for schools to Africa.
Self Help Africa has been organising school trips to Africa for the past decade, and in 2011 will host students and teachers from MacEgan College, Cork, St. Mary's CBS Academy, Carlow, Tullamore College, and from Clonakilty College College - who travel as 2011 winners of the Irish Aid Self Help Africa Science for Development Award at the BT Young Scientists Exhibition.
Also travelling will be last year's BT Young Scientist winner Richard O'Shea. |
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|  | Self Help Africa's Electric Picnic | Self Help Africa's student ambassador Tara McGrath was at last year's Electric Picnic festival, demonstrating latest protypes of the fuel-efficient cooker which won her a Young Scientists award a few years ago, and also engaging the concert going audience on development issues.
We were delighted to join Tara at the event, had great fun, and made some great new connections. |
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| Classroom resources | As part of the Diseases of Poverty Consortium Self Help Africa has been working on a library of educational and information resources that can be used to support Development Education activities in the classroom.
Targeted specifically at Transition Years, the resources include information, worksheets and other support materials that are available for you to use. Why not follow the link below and find out more: | |
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| | 'My Big Idea' | | Above a short clip from 'My Big Idea', a TV document that followed Irish student Tara McGrath, in Ethiopia last Easter. Tara was a winner at the BT Young Scientists Exhibition - and travelled to field test her winning fuel efficient stove. Her trip was sponsored by Irish Aid. |
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|  | Patsy Toland is our development education co-ordinator. A former school principal, he has been with Self Help for more than six years. Patsy is available for workshops and to give school presentations in Leinster, Connaught and Ulster. |
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| Classroom resources | | Self Help Africa has a wide variety of resources, including textbooks and worksheets available, in English and Irish language versions. The documentation below was produced by Self Help Development International, the pre-integration name of the Irish NGO partner in Self Help Africa. Our contact details have since changed. | | | | | | |
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