Upcoming Events

Mobilising for Social and Environmental Justice: from Durban to Dublin

Venue: Central Hotel, Exchequer Street

Tuesday 25^th October – 7.00 pm

Bloom: Movement for Global Justice and Friends of the Earth invite you to a meeting with Patrick Bond, a leading scholar-activist based in South Africa, to discuss local and global struggles for climate, economic and social justice

As resistance to austerity grows in the US and Europe and Durban prepares to host critical climate change talks in December, Durban based activist Patrick Bond will talk about the rise of the climate justice movement in Africa and its connections with other social movements in Africa and elsewhere, such as struggles for trade and debt justice and access to social services. Irish climate and community campaigners will respond to his insights. The meeting will ask what can we learn from movements in the South, and how can we link the local and global struggles we are engaged in?

Speakers:

Patrick Bond (Centre for Civil Society, Durban, South Africa)

Patricia McCarthy (Community Technical Aid, Dublin)

Molly Walsh (Policy and Campaigns, Friends of the Earth Ireland)

Patrick Bond is a political economist with long-standing research interests and NGO work in urban communities and with global justice movements in several countries. He teaches political economy and eco-social policy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, where he directs the Centre for Civil Society and is involved in research on economic justice, geopolitics, climate, energy and water.

Patricia McCarthy is co-Director of Community Technical Aid, which provides support to local communities and projects in north inner-city Dublin. She has a long-standing interest and experience in anti-poverty actions, social inclusion and participation.

Molly Walsh is Policy and Campaigns Manager with Friends of the Earth Ireland. She leads their campaign for an Irish climate law and will be attending the make-or-break UN talks in Durban at the end of November.

For more information or to register please contact Fleachta@comhlamh.org

'Be the change' Skills in campaigning and changemaking
This training course starts October 1st and runs over 3 Saturdays. During this course you will meet experts from the global development sector who are active in Ireland and:

• Find out what’s happening in Ireland and identify ways you can continue to support global development efforts; 
• Use your experience of volunteering overseas or interest in global issues to fight injustice from Ireland;
• Learn how to plan a campaign and effectively use social and traditional media to communicate your message; Meet other interested people, discuss the issues and identify ways to raise awareness.

 Find out more at http://www.comhlamh.org/be-the-change.html

Volunteering Overseas: Where do I start?

A one-day workshop for anyone interested in volunteering or working overseas for global development.

This workshop provides a chance for those thinking of volunteering or working for global development to meet with others and consider the options available. The sessions will explore development and underdevelopment, the role of the development worker in the context of development aid, types of development and aid agencies, motivations for going overseas, and solidarity work from Ireland.

The course will be facilitated by Comhlámh staff and returned volunteers. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to meet with and hear the personal experiences of returned volunteers and development workers. The workshop is participatory and is designed to explore the issues in a way that will encourage action on development issues from a justice and equality perspective.

Date: Satruday 22^nd October
Time: 9.45am-5pm
Venue: Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre, Dublin
Cost: €15- Comhlámh members/students or unwaged; €30- non-members (waged)
Booking: To book a place please complete the online booking form. For further information please contact Cillian at 01-478 3490 or volops@comhlamh.org 

Places are limited, so please book as early as possible.

Comhlamh's Coming Home Weekend, 15th & 16th October
Have you returned home from development work/volunteering abroad? Feeling a bit out on a limb?
Come and spend the weekend sharing your experiences and adventures with other returned development workers & volunteers, hear their stories, make new friends, have a bit of craic, do a bit of networking and maybe readjust to the culture shock of being home again. Where: Dublin . Cost: 50 euro. Places restricted to 16 so the sooner you book the better. Contact deirdre@comhlamh.org /086-3367683 for more details.

Some of the things we've done in the past 

New issue of index: Bringing it back home: learning from volunteering

In this issue:
    •    Does overseas volunteering need Dev Ed?
    •    Reality TV - Are you serious?          
    •    Can Dev Ed work with the media to do the right thing?
    •    Learning from European Voluntary Service
    •    Action projects motivate volunteers to engage
    •    Travel broadens the mind?           
    •    Resource Review: Youth for the Future
Read more here

Comhlámh's NEW Careers and Course leaflet is now available online!
Whether you are a returned volunteer or development worker, or just interested in finding out more about courses and careers related to the development sector, please click here to download our new Careers and Courses leaflet. Please ring the office on 014783490 or email info@volunteeringoptions.org if you would like to receive a hard copy.

Comhlámh One-to-One Advisory Session, 24 February
Thinking of volunteering?
Want to know more about the options available?
20 minute appointments are available with Comhlámh staff to talk through options for volunteering for global development.

Where: Irish Aid Volunteering Centre, O’Connell Street.
Booking: To book an appointment please contact Stephanie on 01-4783490 or volops@comhlamh.org

Shamrocks for Schools, Dublin Cork and Galway, 17 March
Each St.Patrick's Day Suas holds this nationwide event where volunteers fundraise by facepainting in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The proceeds will be used to support vital education projects in under-resourced communities in Ireland, Kenya and India.

To sign-up for this event, log onto http://www.suas.ie/sign-up.html

Calling all returned development workers
The Centre for Global Education and Comhlámh have commissioned research that aims to further the engagement of returned development workers with global justice issues in Northern Ireland / North of Ireland and the border counties. 
In order to carry out the mapping of engagement with global justice issues we have prepared a survey.  For most respondents you will spend no more than around 20 minutes completing the survey.  This is an important initiative and we do hope you will give us your valuable time so that we accurately map your engagement with global justice issues as a Retuned Development Worker. 
Please click here to access the survey

Follow Comhlámh on Twitter!
Comhlámh has joined Twitter two months ago and we are happy about every new follower! If you want to receive our regular updates on Comhlámhs news, events, courses, meetings and campaigns join Twitter and become a follower. It is a good way to stay engaged and informed about the work we do. If you e-mail me with your news item to kamila@comhlamh.org, I’d be delighted to include it in our daily list of tweets! 
You can view our Twitter site here

Become a Fan of Comhlámh on Facebook! 
Comhlámh is busy updating Comhlámh's Fans with news on our events, courses, meeting, action and compaigns. If you would like to receive our regular updates please become our Fan on our new Facebook page. You can also post your development and global justice related news, links and updates on Comhlámh's Facebook wall. Within the last month the number of Fans of our page increased to over 550!
Click here and become a Fan of Comhlámh on Facebook

Watch Some of Comhlamh's Videos Online!

Just a click does the trick! http://www.comhlamh.org/resources-downloads.html

Fashioning an Ethical Industry
Fashioning an Ethical Industry is a Labour Behind the Label project that aims to provide fashion college students and tutors with an overview of working conditions in the garment industry, raise awareness of current company practices and initiatives to improve conditions and equip students to play an active role in raising standards in the supply chains of the companies they will working for in the future. More at: http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org

Bhopal Campaign
The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people's organisations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal. Three organisations of survivors from Bhopal play a leading role in the international network.

Members of ICJB continue to pressure Union Carbide's current owner The Dow Chemical Company and the US and Indian governments to ensure adequate health care, safe environment and proper rehabilitation for the survivors of the disaster and their children. Exemplary punishment of the Corporation and its guilty officials is one of the key demands of ICJB. Learn more at: www.bhopal.net

'Images of the Global South' Flyer 
Compass - Development Education in the Primary School (Comhlámh) has published a free leaflet for teachers, ‘Images of the Global South - Guidelines for primary educators for working with photographs from around the world'.
The leaflet is designed as a guide for primary school educators who wish to enrich the global dimension of their work with children through the use of images. Photographs are one of the most direct and accessible means of introducing the wider world into the classroom, but images can be contentious and complex.
This resource provides specific criteria on how to go about choosing images of the developing world, suggestions for developing photo-literacy in the classroom, ideas for incorporating image work across the curriculum, and resources and contacts for further reference.

For hard copies of the leaflet contact Ali Leahy at Comhlámh - tel: 01-478 3490 or email ali@comhlamh.org.

'Images of the Global South...' 

Comhlamh's Guyana Film at Your Library's Central City and County Branch
Comhlamh's video documentary, 'Guyana: A Rough Deal', is now available through the public library system nationwide and through selected academic libraries.
The film explores the difficulties resulting from international trade agreements and illustrates the need for Trade Justice and the continuing importance of campaigning on this issue.
The documentary is an initiative of the Comhlamh Action Network in Cork and was produced with funding assistance from the EU.

More information at: http://www.comhlamh.org/resources-downloads.html, where you can also view the documentary. Local libraries: http://www.library.ie/public/