Global Development Education

Educational approaches that critically look into global development share a paradigm of promoting the interconnectedness of global development by establishing cause-effect links in the lives of the people in countries with developed economies, and the people in countries with developing economies*. The learners in this process are encouraged to rethink their understanding of the global status quo and assess their individual actions in relation to it.

That transformative aim has a possible relevance to the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) programme, especially after the latest addition of the Humanitarian Aid strand. This article argues that a compilation of the established educational approaches in the field of global development under the term Global development Education (GDE) can add value to the non-formal learning process of ESC volunteers participating in ESC projects in neighbouring partner countries, and humanitarian aid strand projects in eligible countries worldwide. Furthermore, the article proposes incorporating some activities from the GDE educational approach into the support to learning plan that is already in place within the ESC projects timeline, mainly in the General Online Training (GOT) component, and the Training and Evaluation Cycle (TEC).