Education, Science and Technology > Education, Training, Science & Technology
About Us
Improving education has consistently been at the top of the Latin American and Caribbean agenda over a period that goes back to the late eighties. Investment in human capital is seen in the region as a key building block of growth and development, particularly in this age in which the knowledge capital of a society has become the key to productivity growth. At the same time, social cohesion rests to a large extent on the ability of a country to offer fair and open opportunities for all to advance and find a constructive place in society. Thus, there is hardly an aspect of society that is so central to economic and social development as its education system. And this conclusion has become all too evident now that the full effects of increased worldwide economic competition are being felt by each and every nation.
The IDB has supported education investment since its origins, but it has responded to the growing priority lent to educational investments with a significant expansion of its education portfolio over the past 15 years.
In this context, the overarching goal of the Education Unit is to enhance IDB work aimed at the the promotion of equity and quality in education throughout the region, both through direct support for IDB lending operations and through the delivery of non-lending products. In doing so, the education unit:
- Regularly provides technical advice and support to teams during loan preparation and loan execution phases in all 26 borrowing countries.
- Plays a leading role in preparing and supervising regional education programs, including technical cooperation operations and financing for regional public goods.
- Maintains and active role in education knowledge management, which includes in-house applied research on key policy issues and best practices and a continuing program for the dissemination of such research through publications, conferences and seminars.
- Maintains regular collaboration with international agencies involved education in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
- Develops and fosters strategic orientation for the IDB education activities, and monitors the alignment of operations with such orientation.
- Contributes to the task of programming, evaluation and benchmarking of IDB activities in the education sector, along other units of the Bank.
Contact us at:
Education Unit / Sustainable Development Department
Inter-American Development Bank
1300 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20577
Stop B0819
Tel: (202) 623-2720
Fax: (202) 623-1558
sdsedu@iadb.org
