Development in Action (DiA) is a development non-governmental organisation (NGO) run by young people for young people. Our main objective is to promote global citizenship by encouraging engagement in global issues amongst young people in the UK.
**VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR 2008 HAS PASSED**
Read on...! To learn more about Development in Action you can read some of the thoughts of our returned volunteers, or our quarterly magazine below.
Our printed magazine for winter 2007/08 is now published! You can download it in pdf format here.
The ethical consumer
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Street vendors protest outside a new branch of Reliance Fresh |
Welcome to the Spring Edition of the Development in Action Magazine. It’s bursting with contributions from past volunteers, members, trustees and supporters all interested in issues of ethical consumerism, fair-trade, and sustainability.
Other articles in this edition include:
- Who foots the bill? - Homebased workers campaign for their rights
- The new India? - The changing face of retail and consumerism in India
- Empowering women through micro-finance in Madhya Pradesh.
- Ethical design - Can design be a sustainable solution to 'Make Poverty History'?
- The ethical oxymoron - How can we consume ethically?
- Book review - The Kite Runner
On the ground with DiA
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Trainees at the Barli institute |
DiA is always striving to develop effective and sustainable ways to communicate volunteers' understanding and experiences of development to a wider audience. This issue of the magazine focuses on volunteer experiences and reflections during their time on placement at DiA’s partner organizations.
Other articles in this edition include:
- Angalakuppam A model village for sustainability?
- Volunteering at Barli - A development institute for rural women
- Grass roots women's empowerment - Reflections on interviews
- Teenage kicks - Snapshots of some very diverse Indian teenagers' lives.
We're all on the same one planet!
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Our actions have a global impact. |
We live in a globally interconnected world and our actions on many levels have an impact on the lives of those in other parts of the world. In this edition of the magazine we examine several issues, and show how we can in fact 'do our bit' to make the world a fairer place. Read the full editorial here.
Other articles in this edition include:
- Ethical consumerism - What are our options as consumers?
- Micro-finance - Hailed as a breakthrough for poor communities
- The slave trade - How this terrible practice survives today
- Going green - Or rather, why don't we?
Getting to grips with "Development"
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Development efforts at the local level. |
There is much made, not least by DiA, of popular terms such as ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Global Citizenship’. But these can seem to encompass all kinds of things. In this issue we try to get back to basics, to show that the point is that we each individually have a part to play, and that our actions every day can contribute to making the world a more just place. Read the full editorial here.
Other articles in this edition include:
- Everyone's invited - Development is not a private club!
- A buffalo tale - Practical development at its best, home-grown solutions for indigenous problems
- Think Global, Act Local - How HIV/AIDS groups in Pune are working on spreading their message
- Six months in twelve pictures - A photo diary with a difference
- DiA's Touring Exhibition - Progress report on DiA's most exciting Development Education project!
On the road to sustainable development.
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On the right path for development. |
Each of us is linked to the rest of the world in many ways whether we realise it or not. How we relate to it and face up to the challenge of being a global citizen can be looked at on several different fronts. Read the full editorial here .
Other articles in this edition include:
- Global Citizenship - What does it really mean to be a global citizen?
- Global citizenship and religion - its past role in peace and contemporary calling for a more stable global community
- Women as Global Citizens - the challenges facing women in India, and the role of women in the UK
- ‘Britishness’ or ‘Globalness’? - To what should we relate our identity in today‘s world?
- Voices of India - An interview with Dr Rupshri Baxi, a director of a large Rajasthani NGO
- PhotoVoice - the world of a photojournalism organisation that gives the subjects of documentaries the chance to become their creators.
- Dedication - Dr Chris Thiagarajan
- Book review - 'The white man's burden', William Easterly
- Book review - 'There you go!', Oren Ginzburg
Making a song and dance about development.
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The musicians beat a steady rhythm |
Development can take many different forms, and progress can sometimes be impossible to measure. This is illustrated by the diversity of ways in which art and the social community can feed into the development process. Read the full editorial here .
Other articles in this edition include:
Education, education, education.
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Smiling in the face of adversity. Children at the Convent School |
When the current UK Prime Minister launched his first election campaign back in 1997, his memorable testimony was that the three highest priorities in government were ‘education, education and education', and almost a decade on all three are still political hot potatoes. Read the full editorial here .
Other articles in this edition include:
Year of the volunteer
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Flying the flag for DiA |
Welcome to the winter edition of the Development in Action magazine. 2005 was the ‘year of the volunteer' (www.yearofthevolunteer.co.uk) a national initiative to promote and celebrate giving up your time for causes worthy and wide. Through Development in Action hundreds of young people have volunteered in NGO's in India over the past ten years. As the initiative recognises, “active citizenship” is one of the greatest benefits conferred by volunteering. Read the full editorial here .
Other articles in this edition include:
- Success for the 10th anniversary of Development in Action
- DiA at the ‘Make Poverty History' Rally
- Attitudes to the ‘Make Poverty History' campaign from this year's DiA volunteers
- Impressions of the ‘Make Poverty History' rally from people on the DiA bus
- India at the WTO negotiations: friend or foe of the third world?
- Bono, Bob, Brown and Blair: a critical look at the Make Poverty History campaign (July 2005)
- Book Reviews - Introduction
- Gill Hubbard and David Miller Arguments Against the G8
- Jenny Edkins Whose Hunger? Concepts of Famine, Practices of Aid.
- Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire
- Jeffrey Sachs The End of Poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime.
So, what can one person do? DiA newsletter summer 2005
Lunch is served at Sewa Mandir
Read the full editorial here.
The Highs and Lows of a Sponsored Cycle Ride : Two of the most committed volunteers in DiA cycled through the heartland of the Industrial Revolution in the name of DiA.
Filling the Gap: The Step from Gap Year Volunteering to Global Citizenship : Is it time that we packed in the "Gap-Year" mentality and instead encourage potential volunteers to donate their airfare towards local and sustainable development projects?
An Irishman in Indore : The remarkable story of Jimmy, a Northern Irish development worker who has lived in Indore for over 20 years and works tirelessly for the rights of rural young women
A Return to Sewa Mandir : Follow one volunteer as she returns to the deaf and blind school where she spent her placement almost three years ago.
2004: the year that challenged our assumptions and our comfort zones.
Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square at the Make Poverty History rally
To allay fears at the start, you are not being subjected to yet another publication's 'review of the year', and the regurgitating of emotional reactions to familiar images and stories in aid of calendrical nostalgia. Yet the legacy of 2004 will have an acute impact on the development world, and on the growth of DiA as an organisation. Memories both of celebration and grief will affect how we meet the challenges of the coming year. Read the full editorial here.
Other articles in this edition include:
- Development in Action celebrates 10 years of achievement
- Band Aid.. 20 years later
- So, can we Make Poverty History?
- Female Vicars march to Make Poverty History
- Engaging with the Developing World is for life, not just for Christmas
- The WTO's Geneva Decision: Implications for the Third World
- Jubilation?
- "Dubya" as a Second Term President: What does the future hold?
Development in Action takes campaign to engage young people in global issues to Parliament
Tom Brake MP at Development in Action's 10th Anniversary
On 23 November 2004, leading MPs and peers joined DiA volunteers past and present to celebrate Development in Action's 10th Anniversary at the Palace of Westminster.
Has the Penny Dropped? Development is in our interest
Development In Action - Autumn 2004
With a focus on some of the leading issues in international development and India, this issue hopes to bring to attention the importance of global awareness, and how DiA views the problem of global awareness amongst young people in the UK. This edition includes:
Development In Action - Summer 2004
Development In Action - Summer 2004
Welcome to the summer edition of the Development in Action online newsletter. This edition is themed around children – some of the principle beneficiaries of development initiatives and a sector of the population of the South that remains of utmost importance, both because they represent the best hope for achieving some of the goals for the future that the international community has set out, and because they remain vulnerable and often defenceless in the face of the many problems facing the world. This edition includes: Read the full editorial here.
- The thorny issues surrounding the practice of child marriage – cultural tradition or economic necessity?
- Liza Coffin outlines the UNMDG’s focus in child issues.
- Child Soldiers - how can the international community can best help those forced into battle instead of the classroom?
Development In Action - Spring 2004
Development In Action - Spring 2004
Welcome to the first edition of the new format of the Development in Action Newsletter. The plan is to have three web editions a year and a print edition in September, as an annual review of the year’s articles. Full editorial here. This edition includes: