A guest blog post by Anna Shepherd, IDS Partnership Fundraising Manager
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
How true this is.
And we all know how much there is in the world that needs to
be changed for the better. For every action that must take place – to eradicate
poverty, to tackle injustice, to promote respect and equality – there must be a
sound underlying theory and strategy, a logical and evidence-based rationale
that will win over any doubters and ensure sustainability.
IDS research and teaching provides the underpinning for
development theory and action. Our international Alumni go forward equipped to
engage with global issues, to make those changes and to go on to teach others.
We receive many applications for our prestigious development masters programmes and requests for PhD supervision. But in too many instances talented men and women are unable to take up their well deserved offer of a
place due to financial constraints. This situation produces a class and
geographical imbalance amongst our students and unfairly curtails talent and
commitment. It is something that our Alumni, students and staff recognise and
often identify with – many of us did not get where we are today without a
helping hand. (I myself went to university with 2 small children and my PhD was
only made possible by substantial support from a well-known medical charity.)
So who are these students who need our support? Let me give
you two of many examples:
Twice, a young woman who works in advocacy and support for
sex workers in South Africa has applied to IDS and twice she has been accepted.
Her NGO work involves striving for human rights, and supporting policy, legal
and other interventions; a masters from IDS would both strengthen and inform
the important on-the-ground work that she does day in and day out. On each
occasion she has tried valiantly to raise the necessary money for her tuition
and living costs, only to fail to secure the full amount needed.
Another gifted young man from Pakistan was the fortunate
recipient of a fees only scholarship from an outside agency, but this first class
candidate had his visa refused by the British High Commission as he was unable
to raise the money to make up the difference between the scholarship he had been
granted and the full amount required to cover his maintenance. He is from a
family that is not well off and lost his father as a young child. As a local
government worker, his salary is simply not enough.
The loss of such talent, of the opportunity to educate and
collaborate with strategically placed men and women who can make a difference
in some of the most challenging corners of the globe, is a loss to us all and
to our collective future.
This is why we have the IDS Scholarship Fund. It is the
right to education, the striving for betterment of the individual and of
society that has impassioned all of us here at IDS, not least our director,
Lawrence Haddad, who has recently requested that any tokens of respect and
admiration being considered for his imminent departure, be translated into
donations to the IDS Scholarship Fund.
Join us. Make a real difference. To one. To many.
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