Feature
Start With A Single Step By NOLLAIG MURPHY Development Officer
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying “An investment in knowledge, pays the best interest”. History has taught us that participation in education and self-improvement augments people’s awareness of the value of community involvement. IRD Duhallow has long promoted community education and lifelong learning as a driver of social inclusion and positive social impacts in the locality. Regardless of age and circumstances, the opportunity to participate in education that is accessible has been seen to be pivotal in the Duhallow region as a change creator. For many individuals, having the right skills and opportunities can help develop confidence and self-esteem which are both essential to improving employability. Participation in education has both direct and indirect impacts. The direct impacts of education are easy to measure, particularly the concrete outcomes of formal qualifications or achieving new skills. However, participation in further education
can have indirect impacts. These include an individual accessing an improved social network or achieving an improved sense of personal identity, both of which are difficult to measure, but of great significance. In recent weeks, a group of Traveller women made the headlines as they graduated from UCC at a conferring ceremony, marking their conclusion of a course on leadership in the community. In 2020, we also saw a Traveller woman, Eileen Flynn, take up a place in Seanad Eireann. We have seen NigerianIrish poet and playwright Felicia Olusanya feature on the Leaving Certificate syllabus with one of her poems. A further inspirational story of educational achievement is that of Irish-Syrian journalist Razan Ibraheem, who worked for 10 years to save for the university fees so she could study in the University of Limerick. Ms. Ibraheem is now a wellknown media analyst and familiar contributor on humanitarian catastrophes. On an international level, we have seen famous young change creators who were impacted in their lives by extreme
Malala Yousafzai recieved the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at just 17, making her the youngest person to receive it. difficulties, yet subsequently focused their energies on helping others facing barriers in educational attainment. Malala Yousafzai is world renowned due to her passionate support of education for girls, and this has led her to become the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize recipient at the age of seventeen. Her extraordinary story came to the world’s attention when the Taliban attempted to assassinate her in her native Pakistan in 2012. Malala survived her injuries and progressed to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. All the above examples of academic attainment bring into focus the social value of participating in education and its impact in supporting change and social inclusion. An individual’s investment in their own education may bring with it a wide range of social benefits for themselves, their own households, and ultimately their wider communities.
This article is supported by the Communities Integration Fund
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Issue 64 May 20th, 2022
