Development Education and Awareness Raising in Belgium. Are for-profit private actors and technical and vocational education underserved target groups?

Belgium is one of the main investors in development education and awareness raising (DEAR) in Europe. Previous research suggested that in the current DEAR activities provided by development NGOs, for-profit private actors and vocational and technical secondary education (VTSE) receive less attention. This study picks up where previous research left off: it puts on trial the hypothesis of two underserved target groups, and explores if and why the current supply of DEAR fails to reach these target groups. Firstly, the study does not find strong indications that the current DEAR supply is underserving VTSE. A large proportion of DEAR offered by Belgian NGOs targets secondary education, and there is no evidence that VTSE is excluded from accessing it. On the contrary, NGOs have increased their efforts to involve VTSE in their DEAR activities. The bigger question however seems to be how much of this DEAR is actually developed for and truly adapted to VTSE audiences. Secondly, the study confirms that DEAR targeting for-profit private sector is scarce, and often fails to connect with its audience. With relatively few bridges between the development NGOs and the private sector, interaction is hindered by image problems, mismatches between NGO and business attitudes as well as daily managament practices and by a lack of knowledge of the other.The study discusses different initiatives that attempt to overcome these challenges. Finally, an issue raised by both target groups, is that target group specialisation in DEAR risks diverting the efforts from a truly ‘tailored’ approach that respects the diversity within both of these groups.nrpages: 34status: publishe