Enfoque Educación

Latin America suffered some of the world's longest school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compelling countries to explore diverse alternatives to maintain children's education. At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), we investigated various strategies to counteract the learning crisis instigated by these closures and the pre-existing conditions of low educational attainment in the region. We found that one of the most cost-effective strategies was phone tutoring. ConnectEd served as our primary inspiration for this approach.

**Keynote speech delivered during the Lemann Foundation UNGA 2023 Side event “Eradicating Illiteracy in Brazilian Schools: Lessons for the Global South.”

Let me start by talking about an enormous problem—and then about an enormous opportunity to solve it.

“Beyond learning music, it awoke something bigger in me. . . . This is what I have always been searching for, the room to be taken seriously as an artist.”

—Merily Ajcip, cellist, Orquesta Alaíde Foppa, Antigua, Guatemala

International evidence demonstrates that music education can play an important role in childhood and youth development.

"Flor now knows how to read; she says that the letters, which to me look like complicated drawings to understand and put together, are counters of things and that when you learn to read, it's like stories are being told to you." This excerpt is from Letras en los cordones (Letters on Shoelaces) by Cristina Falcón Maldonado and Marina Marcolin. It is a picture book that tells the story of Flor and her six siblings' experiences at school. It illustrates how reading and writing can shape complete educational trajectories and open opportunities to overcome poverty and exclusion.

School feeding programs support children's health, nutrition, and education across Latin America and the Caribbean. When COVID-19 closed schools in 2020, these programs adapted by shifting to take-home rations, ensuring 80.3 million children continued receiving meals. As schools reopen, integrated approaches are needed to get kids back on track.

Promoting diversity and inclusion in the realm of audiovisual content creation is vital. It's a driving force propelling the audiovisual industry in Latin America and the Caribbean to new heights, transforming it into a true powerhouse for economic and social progress. This entails ensuring the representation of various ethnic, cultural, and gender groups and providing opportunities to individuals who have traditionally been marginalized within the industry.

Promoting training in digital skills for social and labor inclusion is the primary goal of Guayerd. This EdTech company supports and professionally integrates talent from socially and economically vulnerable groups in Latin America. Learn about the education in technology proposal and the testimonies of some participants who received a free scholarship to study programming.

How many women would Amelia Earhart have inspired without her incredible determination? Would Gandhi have changed the course of social movements without empathy? Or would Albert Einstein have revolutionized our understanding of the universe without his ability to handle frustration or think creatively? The history of humanity and its progress has been built on the shoulders of those who persevered, were passionate, creative, resilient, and demonstrated empathy towards the needs of others.

Caregiver engagement is vital for early childhood development. When parents or other caregivers actively participate in their child's learning, provide a nurturing and supportive environment, and engage in meaningful interactions—children benefit in multiple domains, including cognitive, social, and emotional. Yet, many caregivers, particularly those in low-resourced households, may face challenges in optimal engagement. Factors such as limited time, financial constraints, lack of access to educational resources, and other socioeconomic pressures can impact caregiver engagement.

Policymakers in the education systems of Latin America are bracing themselves for what they expect will be unwelcome news. Following the devastating impact on schooling of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are looking ahead with some trepidation to the results from the latest round of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that will be released at the end of this year.