History

The Institute for the Development and Education of Adults (IDEA), both the outcome of individual journeys and the result of a common work during several years, was founded in 1987. Indeed, the co-founders used to work together at the Churches Ecumenical Center (COC) and shared the same vision regarding Education. The creation of IDEA consequently enabled them to carry on a team work, while specializing in a common approach (in this case the Pedagogy of the Text).

After almost 20 years of work in direct partnership with governments of the South but also under mandate of the Swiss Cooperation or in collaboration with NGO's, IDEA made the decision to merge with Enfants du Monde (EdM) to become a single entity by October 26th 2006. It is worth noting that IDEA and EdM were collaborating since 1995 on multiple programmes particularly on the PoT trainers training programme. It finally became visible that it was more rational for the two institutions to combine by integrating the IDEA programme within the very Education sector of Enfants du Monde ( details of the merger ).