Suas Educational Development
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Suas Educational Development is a secular registered charity 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 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 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.
Contents
Programmes
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 to the community, with a focus not just on formal learning but also on health care, 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 assistants 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.
The Bridge to college (B2C) is a mentoring programme for transition year 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, animations and films. The mentors act as facilitators and provide a role model of a college student. 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, 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.
