DSA Ireland

LAUNCH OF DSA IRELAND

Visit the DSA Ireland webpages for more information and blog

The inaugural conference of the Irish affiliate of the Development Studies Association (DSA) took place in Trinity College Dublin on September 13th 2010.

The event brought together about 100 participants from academia, non-governmental organisations, policy and business to discuss and debate the issue of Ireland and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) prior to the United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting on the MDGs Summit. The keynote address was given by the president of the DSA, Lawrence Haddad who outlined the challenges of linking research and policy. In his address, Lawrence reiterated the DSA’s mission of connecting and promoting development research and teaching in order to increase its impact. He also stressed the importance of researchers understanding their audience and not lapsing into advocacy while remaining dispassionate about their research but passionate about communicating their findings.

The presentation given by Kevin O'Sullivan of UCD School of History & Archives examined the history of Irish aid from the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-70, through Live Aid in 1985, Mary Robinson’s visits to Somalia and Rwanda in the 1990s, and the central role played by Irish Aid in this state’s foreign policy. Michael King of Trinity College, Dublin outlined how the agenda for Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) is set out in the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid which adopted coherence as a guiding principle for Ireland’s overseas development assistance programme. While PCD is regarded by many as a nebulous and impractical tool for policy analysis, Michael clarified a lot of of the ambiguities surrounding the concept by showing how PCD is achieved when policies across a range of domestic policy areas support the attainment of overseas development objectives. Tellingly he asked, what are the incentives for those government departments which do not deal with development-related areas to worry about global poverty?

Paul Wagstaff of Concern Worldwide gave a very extensive presentation about the successful use of conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe. Paul documented the three primary principles of conservation agriculture namely, minimal soil disturbance; protection of the soil by covering it; and crop rotation. He illustrated how Concern started to promote this form of agriculture in Zimbabwe in 2004 and how, in the six years since, those farmers who have been involved with the Concern scheme are no longer beneficiaries of food aid but rather are providers of food aid themselves!

Olive Moore and Maeve Bateman of Trócaire then offered an exploration of the relevance and future of the MDGs. Their presentation was based upon a survey taken of development practitioners. While half of those practitioners believe the MDGs are still relevant, a quarter of respondents were unsure, while another quarter holds that the MDGs are no longer relevant in 2010.

The afternoon session, consisted of the inaugural meeting of DSAI which set the agenda for the coming year, including the election of a Steering Committee which was mandated to serve a one-year term.

Listen to the  Podcasts

Presentations

Linking research and policy or “If a research paper is published and no one is around to use it, does it make a sound?”
Lawrence Haddad, DSA of UK and Ireland and IDS

Postcolonial Humanitarians? A history of Irish aid
Kevin O’Sullivan, IRCHSS Postdoctoral Fellow, UCD

Policy Coherence for Development
Michael King, IIIS and Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin

The Impact of Conservation Agriculture on Food Security in two districts of Zimbabwe
Paul Wagstaff, Agriculture Advisor, Concern Worldwide

Leading Edge 2020: Where Next for the MDGs?
Olive Moore and Maeve Bateman, Trocaire

Interested parties can contact moderators Ronnie Munck or Sarah Glavey for further information

Photos

1. Ronnie and Lawrence

Ronaldo Munck, DCU, Irish Representative to the Development Studies Association

Lawrence Haddad, President, Development Studies Association

2. DSAI Steering Committee

Gerard Downes, University of Limerick

Chandana Mathur, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Sarah Glavey, TIDI Coordinator, TCD

Ronaldo Munck, Dublin City University

Lawrence Haddad, President, Development Studies Association

Tom Lodge, University of Limerick

Edward Lahiff, TIDI Doctoral Programme Officer, TCD

Olive Moore, Trocaire

Deirdre Healy, Kimmage Development Studies Centre

Rosarii Griffin, Mary Immaculate College


3. DSAI Presenters

Tom  Lodge, UL, Session Chair

Kevin O’Sullivan, UCD, Presenter

Maeve Bateman, Trocaire, Presenter

Olive Moore, Trocaire, Presenter

Michael King, TCD, Presenter

Paul Wagstaff, Concern, Presenter

To be confirmed

Round Table Forum on Sustainable Development Goals for Africa
Theme:  Independent Ideas for an Independent Africa: Sustaining Africa’s Development in a Post 2015 Landscape

University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
Tuesday 12th June – Friday 15th June 2012

Organisers: The Development Studies Association of UK and Ireland (supported by DfID and the Commission for Africa)

More information

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Development Studies Association of Ireland (DSAI)
“A Critical Analysis of North-South Educational Partnerships in Development Contexts”

Mary Immaculate College (MIC), University of Limerick, Ireland
Wednesday November 30th, 2011

The conference took place under the auspices of the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS).  

This conference on North-South Educational Partnerships brought together Irish and international experts in the area of educational partnerships and intends to assess and evaluate such partnerships and to consider how future planning and policy decisions, both nationally and internationally, may be improved. The conference also identified and itemised the key issues to be addressed within sustainable, mutually-beneficial teacher education partnerships and will also consider how future planning and policy decisions nationally and internationally may be improved.

The primary concerns of the conference will be to examine:

• Principles of partnership (focusing on a critique/evaluation of partnership modalities)
• Partnerships in practice
• Policy perspectives on partnership

After the conference we intend to produce either an edited book of papers or a journal special edition to disseminate the lessons learnt from North-South educational partnerships in development contexts which may help to inform future collaborative projects in this field.

Development Studies Association Ireland - Annual Conference and AGM
September 8th 2011

Download programme

The annual conference and AGM of the Development Studies Association Ireland took place on Thursday 8th September at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, around the theme ‘From Research to Practice’. Confirmed speakers included Professor Lawrence Haddad (President, Development Studies Association of UK and Ireland) and Ms Bronagh Carr (Irish Aid).

BACKGROUND

Following the DSA 2009 conference held at the University of Ulster, Coleraine a number of people involved in development studies in Ireland began discussing the constitution or re-constitution of a Development Studies Association branch. This included people from across the academic and the NGO communities. There had been DSA activity in Ireland in the 1980's and the annual conference had been held in Dublin, but sine then there had been no organised DSA presence.

This group and interested others held a number of informal meetings during late 2009/early 2010 and an open call went out for a DSA planning meeting that was held on 6th May 2010. That meeting decided that the time was ripe to launch a DSA Ireland and that it would hold an inaugural meeting and conference on Monday 13th September 2010.

Ireland has always ‘punched above its weight' in regards to development. Irish Aid is highly regarded by the international donor community. It is time to re-energise the intellectual and political edge of development studies in Ireland especially in the context of the Programme of Strategic Co-operation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes as crucial debates in the global development arena are opening up.

If you are interested in knowing more about the fledgling DSA Ireland and, indeed, if you would like to help organise the September launch event or more generally contribute to the development debate in Ireland please contact us. We shall soon be developing a web presence but hope that in the meantime this notice will reach potential DSA Ireland members.