Who we are

 

Taking its name from the isiXhosa word for ‘twin’, Amawele is a project for schools in Ireland and South Africa. Through this website, and its offices in Dublin, Kokstad and Cape Town, Amawele facilitates the development of partnerships between schools in Ireland and their counterparts in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces of South Africa. Through a range of projects and programmes, students and teachers are able to explore the culture and experience of life in their respective countries.

It’s easy to find differences between Ireland and South Africa. When Irish people think of South Africa they think of things like elephants, lions, gold, diamonds and safari parks. What do young South Africans think of when they hear of Ireland?

Both countries saw enormous change in the twentieth century, particularly in the last twenty years. Irish and South African children in school today are living in countries that are unrecognisable compared to the countries in which their parents grew up.

Amawele’s twinning programme is a way of helping pupils and teachers, in both cultures, to see that we all want similar things from life – we have hopes, dreams, ambitions and goals, that education can help turn into realities.

Board of Directors  

Amawele Limited is a company limited by guarantee at the Companies Registration Office in Ireland (Company Number 434371) Amawele is also registered in South Africa under Section 21 of the 1973 Companies Act - Company Number 2007/015631/08

The following are members of the Board of Directors: 

 

John Clarke
Daire Coffey - Chairperson
Mark FitzGerald

Joanne Geary
Kevin Gilna

Aoife Gormley
Ronan King – Company Secretary
Brendan Lenihan

Shona O'Neill
Senator Joe O’Toole
Deirdre Soffe

 

 

Employee Profiles

 

Emma Murphy

Emma Murphy was appointed Development Education Officer for Amawele in June 2010 and is based at Amawele’s Dublin office in Templeogue. 

Emma is a Dublin native and a graduate of the University of Limerick with a B.A in History, Politics, Sociology and Social Studies and a M.A. in Peace and Development Studies. Previous to working with Amawele Emma spent two academic years as the President of the Postgraduate Students' Association in UL and was a member of the UL Governing Authority from June 2007 to June 2009.

Siomha Cunniffe

Siomha Cunniffe is currently working as a Project Officer for Amawele and is based in the KwaZulu-Natal region in South Africa.

Siomha attended University College Dublin and holds a BA in English Literature and History and an MSC in Development Studies. She previously worked as the Development Coordinator for the Niall Mellon Township Trust from March 2008 to March 2010 and joined Amawele in September 2010.

Dominic Loughran

Dominic Loughran is the Director of Strategy for Amawele and is based in the Templeogue office in Dublin. 

Dominic joined Amawele in July 2011 to oversee financial, planning and control of systems and operations.  Dominic holds a BA (Hons) from University of Ulster in Business and Law.  He has over 20 years’ experience working as an Accountant and Forensic Account in Accountancy Practice, the Revenue Commissioners and Bank of Ireland. Dominic qualified as a Horticulturalist with the Royal Horticulturalist Society in 2001. He spent two years with the Niall Mellon Township Trust as their Director of Operations overseeing all operations in Ireland and Africa.