Hugh Bergin

A graduate of Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Hugh brings a broad experience to his work as a consultant, his involvement in International Development emerging from years working in international overland travel. He has been actively involved with Development Education for over a decade mainly in formal education settings designing and presenting workshops for post primary schools and colleges for the development agency Self Help Africa. He has created an approachable Teacher Toolkit. Increasingly Hugh’s work is in Higher Education and Initial Teacher Education, from conducting workshops to more comprehensive courses and modules in Maynooth University and Trinity College Dublin. He is a strong advocate of participative, active learning. 

Sive Bresnihan

Sive Bresnihan has been part of Comhlámh's training and education team since 2016. In addition to this role she participates on a number of other all-island training panels including Children in Crossfire/ Educating the Heart. With a background in drama & theatre studies, and development studies, Sive worked with Trocaire in Rwanda and later in Zimbabwe between 2003 and 2008 before landing on adult education/adult learning in Cape Town in 2010. She has a growing interest in and commitment to decolonial pedagogies including somatics (body-based practices) and how we can mobilise our whole bodies /senses in service of transformative learning and, ultimately, more justice. Sive's growing love is for Leitrim where she now lives with a cat and 2 hens.

Alasdhair Collins

Alasdhair Collins is a consultant specialising in monitoring and evaluation and strategic planning for the Development Education, International Development and Environmental sectors. He worked as a secondary school teacher and university lecturer, before spending fifteen years at Oxfam and other UK charities, playing a key role in the creation of Oxfam Deutschland as a new organisation. For the last fifteen years Alasdhair has been an independent consultant at DP Evaluation, evaluating and supporting a wide range of projects and programmes implemented by consortia and organisations ranging from the very large to the very small across Europe. Some have involved travel to the Global South and over the last decade have increasingly included many Development Education, awareness raising and campaigning projects funded by the European Commission, Irish Aid, DfID in the UK, and various foundations. Although based in the UK Alasdhair has worked with numerous Development Education organisations in Ireland and was the external evaluator for IDEA’s Capacity Development Programme from 2014 to 2021. He also carried out research on the Code of Good Practice in 2021 and believes strongly that the Code is making an important contribution to Development Education practice.

Celina Del Felice

Celina Del Felice is an educator and researcher from Argentina, based in Spain. Her areas of expertise are peace, intercultural and global citizenship education, youth participation and transnational activism related to global justice issues. She works as a trainer, develops educational resources, tutors online courses, and conducts evaluations. Celina works as an associate Professor at the Open University of Catalonia, in its Conflict, Peace and Security Master Programme offered in collaboration with UNITAR and is a Senior Advisor on Youth, Peace and Security at Agency for Peacebuilding, Italy. Celina has a PhD in International Relations from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a Master in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European Peace University, Austria, and a BA in Political Science from the National University of Rosario, Argentina. Currently, she is conducting a mapping and research on global education practices in the context of youth work in Europe for the Global Education Network Europe

Susan Gallwey

Susan has over 20 years of experience in the Development Education sector in Ireland. She has worked with learners ranging from pre-schoolers to third level students to pensioners, and she has served as a staff member in organisations small (Waterford One World Centre) and large (Trócaire). She has been very involved in the IDEA network since its inception in 2003, serving on the National Council and then on the IDEA staff team. She currently is active in IDEA as an individual member, focusing particularly on the area of Quality & Impact. Susan believes that shared reflection on good practice is an essential element of Development Education, and is delighted to be part of the Code community.  

Gerry Jeffers

Gerry Jeffers spent two years teaching in Kenya, East Africa as a young teacher. This experience and perspective influenced much of his subsequent work as teacher, guidance counsellor, school leader, national co-ordinator of the support service for Transition Year, lecturer in the Education Department at Maynooth University and as a writer. From 2013-2019 Gerry served as chairperson of the Ubuntu Network’s (www.ubuntu.ie) management committee. He currently lectures on the Future Leaders programme in Maynooth University. His books include Transition Year in Action (Liffey Press, 2015) and Clear Vision, the Life and Legacy of Noel Clear, Social Justice Champion (Veritas, 2017).

Kathryn Moore

Kathryn Moore is a post primary teacher with over twenty years’ experience. She is currently working in Initial Teacher Education at the University of Galway as a school placement tutor and delivers CSPE methodology lectures. She has always had a keen interest in Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and has written and collaborated on many resources; most recently a curriculum guide for embedding GCE in Junior Cycle Music with World Wise Global Schools. She holds a Master’s degree in International Development from Maynooth University and her research interests are Leaving Certificate Politics and Society and dealing with controversial issues in the classroom. She is a Board member of 80:20 Education and Acting for a Better World and is a volunteer adjudicator for the Concern debates programme.

Gráinne O'Neill

Gráinne is based in Derry, Northern Ireland. She has been involved in Development Education since 2007 after returning from some time in Zambia with Barefeet Theatre and has worked with different organisations in the sector in this time, both in a staff and freelance capacity, including work with Children in Crossfire and Comhlámh. Gráinne describes herself as a mother of two earthy and wild children, Darragh and Naia, who keep her grounded and allow her to constantly look at the world with curiosity. Gráinne tries to bring this curiosity into her work and loves learning from the work of different organisations and how Development Education manifests within different communities and with the changing times we are in.  

Morína O'Neill

Morína has worked in Development Education for over 20 years. She worked overseas, supporting community organisers in Central America, which informed her approaches to DE. She has worked in a number of organisations including the National Youth Council of Ireland, Comhlámh, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (now Financial Justice Ireland) and with IDEA.  Since 2017, she has been working as a consultant to support IDEA and its membership to develop and implement the Code of Good Practice in Development Education in Ireland. Morína believes one of the most important aspects of the Code is that it has been developed by Development Education practitioners for Development Education practitioners, and is a participative journey, shaped by the Code members with the support of IDEA. 

Fleachta Phelan

Fleachta has been concerned about global justice and solidarity for as long as she can remember. Working in Comhlámh from 2007-2013 gave her a deep grounding in Development Education, from a focus on root causes to the power and importance of participatory facilitation methodologies, and so much more. She has a long connection with India, having travelled, volunteered and studied there over the years, and has learned a huge amount from Indian social movements. From 2013-2019 she studied for an M.A. and M.Phil in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, with a focus on African political economy. She has also worked as a freelance consultant for a number of international and European NGOs. More recently, she works in a policy and advocacy role focused on highlighting the level of poverty and inequality that disabled people live with in Ireland. 

Elaine Mahon - IDEA Staff

Elaine manages the implementation of IDEA's capacity development programme with IDEA members, particularly in the areas of Development Education practice, Monitoring & Evaluation and organisational management. Elaine has worked in Development Education since 2009 and with IDEA since 2013. She is the lead staff member on the implementation of the IDEA Code of Good Practice in Development Education working on it since the idea to develop a Code began in 2016. She has worked on all stages of Code development including the drafting, piloting, launch and roll-out. 

Elaine is also a freelance facilitator and trainer with wide-ranging experience in the Community and Voluntary sector working in areas relating to global justice, equality and interculturalism, youth participation, international volunteering and child safeguarding. Elaine has worked for international institutions including the European Commission and spent two years working in Sudan based at the EU Delegation in Khartoum. This work in international development is what set her on the path to promote engagement with these issues among people living in Ireland via Development Education.