Suas Educational Development
Encyclopedia
Suas Educational Development is a secular registered charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 in Ireland. It tackles educational disadvantage in India, Kenya and Ireland and has a strong ethos of youth development. Suas was founded by a group of students from Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

 in 2002 and is currently one of the fastest growing charities in Ireland with an annual income of over $1.3m and a staff base of 14 at its offices Dublin. Suas partners with several education NGOs in the developing world
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

 in order to provide quality education to underprivileged youth. These include Development Action Society - Kolkata, Sabuj Sangha - Kolkata, Vikramshila - Kolkata, Gatoto Community Primary School- Nairobi, Maweni Primary Schools- Mombasa and Kongowea Primary Schools- Mombasa.

Overseas

Education for All Programme provides technical and financial support to eight partner and education projects in India and Kenya, promoting high quality education for 14,000 children a year. The money and resources provided by Suas to these partner schools enable the schools to provide holistic education
Holistic education
Holistic education is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace. Holistic education aims to call forth from people...

 to the community, with a focus not just on formal learning but also on health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, curricular activities, social well-being, future employability and motivation.

Since 2002 the Suas Volunteer Programme has facilitated over 600 volunteers to work with schools and education projects in India and Kenya. They work as teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...

s and coaches for 10 weeks during the summer and fundraise enough to cover the costs of the trip and a donation to the school. In 2011, 90 volunteers were sent to these various schools.

Ireland

In Ireland Suas has a network of 10 college based societies which provide opportunities for members to volunteer in the local community, fundraise for the overseas schools and raise awareness about development issues. Suas runs an annual programme of 30 evening courses and speaker events nationwide that aim to engage and inspire the wider public to participate in social change
Social change
Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...

.

The Bridge to college (B2C) is a mentoring programme for transition year
Transition Year
Transition Year is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Certificate in Ireland and is intended to make the senior cycle a three year programme encompassing both Transition Year and Leaving Certificate...

 students from disadvantaged areas in Dublin. Third level students work with school students to create projects using multimedia technology and computers. The work produced includes newspapers, radio shows
Radio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....

, animations and films. The mentors act as facilitators and provide a role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...

 of a college student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

. The programme takes a constructivist approach to learning. It is run jointly with the Centre for Research in IT in Education in [Trinity College, Dublin].

Suas Global Issues Series Evening Course for Students

For those that are interested in the world around them, The Suas Global Issues Series is an interactive course designed to give participants an overview of a range of global development issues as well as the opportunity to engage with field experts from Irish and international NGOs. The courses run in third-level institutions across Ireland and last between 6 and 8 weeks. Topics covered include Health, Debt, the Environment, Gender, Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, Conflict and Trade.

The aims of the course are as follows:
  • Broaden the number of people engaged with development issues;
  • Deepen participants’ awareness, knowledge, and understanding of development issues;
  • Engage participants with challenges of development and their role as agents for change;
  • Explore the principles of development and what are the rights and responsibilities of global citizens; and
  • Support participants in their individual and collective efforts to effect positive change.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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