Development Education Association

The National Association of Development Education Centres (NADEC) was formed as a network of local centres in the early 1980s, with a core staff of 2-3 people. In the 1980s, NADEC established a Joint Agencies Network (JAG) which was a youth work network. Later, at the end of the decade the Inter Agency Committee for Development Education, an informal network of development NGOs engaged in development education, was set up. This, in turn, established the National Curriculum Monitoring Project (NCMP), a lobbying network with a part-time worker for curriculum change. The Agency also discussed the setting up of a Global Education Network (GEN), a broader NGO network, but this never came to fruition. In 1993, NADEC became subsumed within the Development Education Association (DEA), taking JAG with it. Initial research for the DEA had been undertaken in 1991-1992 with funding from Rowntrees, and the Inter Agency Committee for Development Education became a joint founder. After the 1993 launch a Council (essentially a Board of Trustees) and various Sub Committees were set up. Plus, the DEA continued to control the network of about 50 Centres - a key part of Development Education history - independent local centres which had originally been accredited in terms of status by NADEC. The DEA held an AGM and a range of conferences from 1994 onwards and in 1997 a major expansion of organisation saw the establishment of DFID and development education funding from UK government. As a consequence, a significant youth work programme was established in the late 1990s around the theme of global youth work.