Development Education: The New Prospect For Africa

Julius “Mwalimu” Nyerere sees Development as the process of making people happy and content; John Dewey sees Education as not the preparation for life but is life itself. Hence, I see Development Education as the study and practice of happy life.

Africa has a history and presence of poverty, injustice and inequality since the threshold of its exposure to the money economy which requires buying and selling from its traditional practice of barter. Since the inception of globalisation and increasing competition in the world, Africa has not been able to compete on a large scale with the rest of the world. She is lurking behind in almost every aspect of human life.

Though Africa is endowed with most of the world’s natural resources, it is evident by all indications that, she is the home to the world’s myriad problems like climate change; conflicts; corruption; diseases such as Ebola, HIV/AIDS and malaria; illiteracy and stagnant economy. In fact, all the issues impeding cultural, economic, environmental, humanitarian, political and social development, sustainability and justice.

But indeed, this appears to be the beginning of the end of these cankers bedeviling the African continent, since introduction and incorporation of the study and practice of Development Education (DE) into the higher institution of learning and organizations respectively.

Development Education has been in practice since the 1970s in the Nordic countries and USA. In 1976, a DE officer was appointed by UNICEF leading to the establishment of the first UNICEF DE paper for its educational activities. By the 1980s, the activities of DE expanded its focus from NGOs and the formal education system to target groups such as youth; women and religious groups; trade unions; legislators; local authorities; publishers (Achanso, n.d.). In 2010, the University for Development Studies, the developers’ University, pioneered the programme of DE at diploma; bachelor degree programmes and later in 2013, was the master’s degree level in Ghana. DE is prevalent also in the southern part of Africa and is expanding rapidly across Africa. It is widely practiced in the UK, Ireland and Australia

New, as the profession may be in Africa, it is distinct from other development profession, as Development Education is not just a profession, but a movement seeking sustainable development and global justice. “DE seeks to achieve and sustain those through fostering critical and creative thinking, self-awareness and open-mindedness towards difference, understanding of global issues and power relations and action for a better world” (DEA, 1993).

In light of that, students are specially trained in strategic and practical courses that affect spheres of life like cultural, economic, environmental, humanitarian, political and social development. For the purpose of nurturing adept DE practitioners, students of DE are imbibed with the knowledge and skills in participatory approaches; policy and planning; programme and project development and management; working with communities; research and education (training, facilitation, capacity building, sensitization), languages ( French and English ), advocacy, development communication and a host of development skills and also knowledge on contemporary development issues to enhance their abilities to holistically approach sustainable development.

Students of DE are given and taken through practical and results-based assignments, presentations and field trips, aimed at preparing them for the world of works and to practice in any part of the African continent and beyond.

Enviably, DE as an art allows its practitioners to “work without borders” in the development field. To this end, any government institution, organisation, individual that has its vision and mission of contributing to the cultural, economic, environmental, humanitarian, political and social development, sustainability and justice, should seek the services of the interpreter and implementer of this new prospect: the Development Education practitioner.

Special focus on Ghana
In Ghana, before the introduction of DE, there has been the practice of Citizenship (civic) Education with limited focus on promoting citizens’ support for public institutions and policies and lacks the Freirean’s critical pedagogy and postcolonial theory dimensions to empower the citizens to be agents of change (Eten, 2015). As such, there should be a review, upgrade and expansion of the constitutionally mandated body under chapter 19 of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana thus the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to National Commission to Development Education (NCDE) to expand its scope and functions to effectively work hand in hand with other development stakeholders to ensure the development process is understood at all levels thus from grassroots to elites of the Ghanaian society.

Studies and empirical observations reveal that, developmental issues in Ghana can be attributed to lack of knowledge and understanding of fundamental and foundational elements encompassing the cultural, economic, environmental, humanitarian, political and social life of the Ghanaian. It is due to this that DE seeks to expose citizens to such issues and empower them in what they do or can do about such issues to actively participate in development process at the personal, community, national, regional and global level.

Atura Joshua Oscar
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