The Centre for Global Development through Education (CGDE) Steering Committee meets three or four times a year, and is comprised of representatives from all of the partner institutions that are involved in CGDE, including representation from Southern Ireland, Northern Ireland, Lesotho and Uganda. The most recent Steering Committee meeting was held in University College Dublin (UCD) on the morning of Friday the 25th of June.

The fourth annual DICE (Development and InterCultural Education) conference took place this year at Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Limerick on Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th of June. The central objective of the DICE Project, which is funded by Irish Aid, is to support the inclusion of development education and intercultural education perspectives as essential elements of initial teacher education.

Africa Day Limerick took place on Sunday the 30th of May in the grounds of Limerick City Hall, from 12 noon to 6 p.m. The event was hosted by Irish Aid, Ireland’s overseas development programme, who work to tackle poverty and hunger in developing countries. Africa Day provided a fun, family oriented day out with interactive cultural and educational activities for children and adults, which celebrated and showcased the diversity of African cultures and societies.

The first phase of the Teacher Exchange Programme took place in Lesotho College of Education (LCE) from April 5 to 19, 2010. Four teacher educators from Ireland worked with four colleagues from LCE. This is a general overview of the Lesotho Teacher Educator Exchange Programme in April, written by Stella Long, MIC.

The first part of the Ugandan Teacher Educator Exchange Programme took place from the 10th of April to the 25th April 2010 in Uganda. Carmel Hinchion was one of the Irish teacher educators who took part, and this is an account of her experience.

The Minister for Finance, Government of Lesotho, Dr Timothy Thahane, gave a talk entitled ‘Managing Economies in Turbulent Times’ on the 7th May in Dublin. The event was hosted by Trinity College Dublin nd the Director of CGDE, Dr Rosarii Griffin, was in attendance. Dr Thahane opened his address with a reflection, ‘if we look at the world, it has become interdependent, bound by technology, trade and finance as well as communications’.

CGDE commissioned Donie Kelly and Kieran Pearse, both engineers from Mary Immaculate College, to travel to the Lesotho College of Education and Kyambogo University to facilitate in resolving some IT communications issues. The technical visit and needs assessment proved to be very successful, resolving many problems and highlighting other issues which need to be addressed.

The Programme of Strategic Cooperation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes 2007-2011 Second Annual Showcase Event was held on the 19th of April in the Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre on O’Connell Street in Dublin. The purpose of the Annual Showcase event was to exhibit progress made by projects funded under the Programme, and for the project leaders to share and discuss lessons learned and best practice.

Bryan Patten provided an update on Suas’ work with Community and Government Schools in Kenya and reflected on how the national level crisis has had an impact on both public and private schools. He also reflected on the approaches which DFID and USAID are taking to address the issues of corruption within the national level programme.

The Centre for Global Development through Education Programme for Teacher Educator Exchange Planning Day took place on Friday the 19th of March in preparation for the upcoming trips in April. The group consisted of the team of teacher educators from CGDE partner HEI’s (north and south of Ireland) undertaking the Teacher Educator Exchange Programme in both Uganda and Lesotho.