IPAD - Instituto Portuges de Apoio ao Desenvolviment-I.P
IPAD - Instituto Portuges de Apoio ao Desenvolviment-I.P

Abstract: Since the Maastricht Conference in 2002, Development Education (DE), or Global Education as is better known in other European countries, has been recognised to be determinant for a better understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty, the impact of development efforts and for raising awareness in developed countries about these issues. Living in a globalised world challenges us to rethink development approaches and particularly to acknowledge the multidimensionality of human development. In this context, there is a growing consensus about the importance to change structures, values, behaviours and attitudes, in order to help promoting a more equitable and fair world. In Portugal, there was already, since the late 70s, a tradition among Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGDOs), to carry out DE activities in formal and non-formal education but, the truth is that the governmental support was late to arrive. The process for preparing a National Strategy for Development Education (NSDE) was formally launched in May 2008, at an international seminar held in Lisbon where the Portuguese Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation announced the political commitment of Portugal to promote debates and actions about DE at the national and international level. The DE principles were taken into consideration, so that an option was made for a participative and inclusive process, in spite of all the difficulties of this kind of approach. The option to engage in a real participatory process was a way of assuring that the strategy would live beyond the publication of the final report, and would be broadly embraced by all the DE stakeholders in order to ensure its long term impact. The process was organized into three different levels of participation. The leadership of the process was the responsibility of a small “strategic group”, led by the former Portuguese Institute for Development Assistance (IPAD), also including the Ministry of Education, the Portuguese Platform of Development NGDOs and CIDAC (a Portuguese NGDO that, for being member of the Global Education Network Europe GENE, made the link with this international organisation). The tasks of this group were mainly to guide the process and ensure that all the activities were going to be accomplished on schedule. At another level there was an advisory board of 15 representatives of public institutions and civil society organisations with an expertise on specific topics (development, education, peace, environment, multiculturalism, gender) or on specific social groups (youth, teachers); At the third level were the organisations to be consulted at the final stage of the process (Development NGOs, Polytechnic Institutes, Environmental NGOs and others). As a result of this participatory process, the final document contributed to bring conceptual clarity about different understandings of DE and to get the commitment of all the parts involved in its preparation. In September 2009, the Portuguese National Strategy for Development Education was formally signed by the Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and by the Secretary of State of Education. It was also presented at a public ceremony where it was the effort of both public institutions and civil society organisations working together towards a common approach. The main objective of the strategy is “to promote global citizenship through the universal access to Development Education in a long term perspective”. The next step was to create the Action Plan for the Strategy, an essential document for the strategy to achieve its goals and effectively implement its approach. The Action Plan defines a coherent set of priorities to be achieved until 2015 and corresponding activities that are being implemented through annual plans. In these plans the organisations can include the activities they consider to be in line with the objectives and methodologies defined by the National Strategy Document. All concerned institutions contribute with activities and propositions that will be implemented until 2015, with a midterm review mechanism that will assess if the objectives defined at the outset are on track. The monitoring of the implementation of the NSDE is done by a team set up by the Higher School of Education of Viana do Castelo under a contract for the former IPAD. The Reports for 2010 and 2011 will be published in December together with the start of the planning process for next year. More Information: - Guimarães, S. & Santos, A. (August, 2011). The Portuguese National Strategy Process: A success story threatened by the budget crisis. In DEAR matters – Strategic approaches to development education in Europe. DEEEP thematic dossier.

Keyword(s): Strategies ; Development ; DEAR ; Approaches ; Portugal ; Global Citizenship