IDB, JP Morgan and HundrED Spotlight the Top 15 Innovations Fostering 21st Century Skills

• Findings from the Spotlight Report on 21st Century Skills in Latin America and the Caribbean released highlighting innovations all of whom feature citizenship education and social and emotional learning programs.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), J.P. Morgan, and HundrED are pleased to announce the 15 selected innovations for their 21st Century Skills in Latin America and the Caribbean Spotlight Report. The selected innovations cover topics ranging from peer to peer and civic education mentoring programs to entrepreneurship education and comprehensive intervention programs. They were chosen from a total of 380 proposals from 16 countries making it one of the most successful HundrED Spotlights of all time. Download the Spotlight Report here.

The Spotlight, which was launched in 2020, aims to identify effective models for cultivating 21st century skills in students by looking for innovations in learning from the region. IDB and HundrED, a global education nonprofit, spent the last year researching effective digital, music, sports, citizenship, and entrepreneurship interventions implemented inside and outside formal education.

The IDB 21st Century Skills Initiative will continue to prioritize programs related to the coordination of policies and solutions at the regional level to address and mitigate the combined consequences of structural inequality and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean. As part of IDB’s Vision 2025 to turn the crisis into an opportunity for the region, IDB is prioritizing five key areas to ensure that the region recovers robustly and sustainably — and, by developing talent and relevant skills, will be a central part of it. “We hope that the innovations reflected in this report will serve as a useful reference to strengthen learning ecosystems —and ultimately contribute to achieving more prosperous societies. We ask for your help broadcasting these success stories and hope they will help investors, entrepreneurs, and policy makers identify, learn from, and scale innovations that will greatly impact the region,” remarks Benigno López Benítez, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge at the IDB.

In collaboration with HundrED and J.P. Morgan, IDB fulfilled the initial aim to discover and gain insight about the enabling conditions to successfully implement programs that help students develop life skills.

J.P. Morgan’s collaboration with IDB and HundrED is part of the firm’s $350 million, five-year global initiative to prepare for the future of work and meet the growing demand for skilled workers. “Business leaders have an important role to play in addressing structural inequalities by helping people in underserved communities access training and skills for the workplace of the future. As part of J.P. Morgan’s commitment to prepare people for the future of work, we are joining this effort to help connect youth across Latin America with stable and promising career pathways that can boost social mobility,” Hanka Boldemann, Executive Director Jobs & Skills International, Global Philanthropy at J.P. Morgan. 

“There is much to be done to improve our educational systems, and it is a shared responsibility that involves governments, businesses, academia, citizens - an entire ecosystem. We created this report with the intention that it would serve as an open invitation for dialogue.  Our hope is that we might collectively imagine a better future and begin thinking about what it will take to get there,” said Saku Tuominen, Co-Founder and Creative Director at HundrED.

Innovations were carefully reviewed based on its impact and scalability by HundrED and a specialized Advisory Board composed of over 67 education experts in the region. You can find the full list of 15 selected innovations below and download the 21st Century Skills Spotlight Report to see the full list here:

• Academias Ciencia Joven / ACJ, Chile - Comprehensive intervention program for educational communities through STEM education.
• aeioTU Educational Experience, Colombia - A pedagogical curriculum developed to promote children to be creative and competent citizens of society.
• Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA), Haiti - A movement to equip a network of Haitian civic leaders for educational justice.
• Caixa de Ferramentas Jovem (Youth2Youth – CxFY2Y), Brazil - Promote to Prevent.
• Peer to Peer Mental Health.
• Cámara Mágica Foundation, Chile - A program that creates children’s stories with cultural identity that are then turned into books to be donated to children.
• Creating Together by By Kids to Kids, Brazil - An innovative teaching methodology through which children exercise verbal, visual, gestural and auditory communication.
• Education for Sharing (E4S), Mexico - Forming better global citizens from childhood through the power of active play.
• Fundación Mustakis, Chile - A program that designs, creates and implements innovative, non-formal learning experiences in the areas of science and technology, art and culture, body and expression and nature.
• La Aldea: Stories to stay at home, Colombia - An education strategy, designed to provide schools, government institutions and cooperation agencies with the necessary tools to implement a ready-to-use and scalable educational emergency strategy which involves students, teachers and families.
• MAIA Impact School, Sololá, Guatemala - The MAIA Impact School is Central America’s first secondary school designed specifically for Maya girls in rural Guatemala.
• Nube Lab, Chile - A pedagogical model that develops and enhances essential creative skills to face the new challenges raised by contemporary societies.
• Puentes Educativos, Chile - A project that develops 21st century skills and community participation for students in rural areas.
• Self-sustaining School Model, Paraguay - An educational model based on “learning by doing, selling and earning”, giving underprivileged young students access to quality education.
• SERES, Guatemala - Professional and personal development program that stimulates an active civil society driving towards the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• To be a Leader Project, Bogota, Colombia - An educational project with a psychosocial approach.

To learn more about the initiative, visit clic-habilidades.iadb.org and download the Spotlight Report here.