As part of the collaborative work being carried out by KIX LAC with the countries that make up the center, institutional visits and meetings were held with various educational actors, ministerial representatives, academics and civil society actors from El Salvador, Honduras and St. Lucia, with the aim of promoting the development of thedevelop areas of collaboration, identify the main challenges and strengthen relations with representatives and other key stakeholders in the educational ecosystems..
Honduras
During their visit to Honduras, Raúl Chacón, director of SUMMA’s KIX LAC program, and Maciel Morales Aceitón, project coordinator and researcher, carried out the following activities, they visited public schools to work on the identification of priorities and challenges based on the perceptions of principals and teachers.
A meeting was also held with KIX LAC representatives: Marissela Figueroa, Russbel Hernandez and Carolina Maduro, as well as with representatives of the KIX ecosystem projects, researchers and ministerial representatives. During these two days of work, the educational priorities of the country were discussed, highlighting the need to have a systemic view of teacher policy and to be able to move forward in teacher professional development, curriculum and early childhood, among others.
El Salvador
Later, during his visit to El Salvador, meetings were held with KIX LAC representatives from this country, Ana Marta Navarro, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Yeny Rivas, Max Mirón and Erika Alvarado, where the main guidelines and priorities were highlighted in order to continue aligning collaboration efforts, especially the exchange of knowledge regarding the national priority in early childhood and initial education, with a view of the educational trajectory towards the primary and secondary education system. In addition, topics related to the strengthening of information systems and the use of evidence, challenges associated with pedagogical advice and the gender approach, among others, were addressed.
Working meetings were also held with the Ministry of Education, RESALDE, the local education group (GLE), UNICEF and researchers from Don Bosco University. In these meetings, the value of the articulated workbetween the Ministry of Education, academia and civil organizations that support the government was highlighted.
Saint Lucia
Finally, Rafael Carrasco, subdirector of SUMMA and Raúl Chacónvisited the island of St. Lucia, where they were received by the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Didacus Jules, with the director of education, Sisera Simon and its team of collaborators, where working sessions were held to analyze the progress and achievements of the KIX program, as well as the co-construction of the Center’s next initiatives in the Eastern Caribbean region.
In this context, joint meetings were held with representatives of the Ministry of Education of Saint Lucia, led by the Chief Education Officer, Dawson Ragunananas well as with the other country representatives for the Hub, from the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Merle Auguste; from the Teacher’s Union, Don Howel; del Disabled People’s International North America & The Caribbean, its president James Merphilusto update national educational priorities and challenges on issues related to teacher development, the strengthening of school support systems, and an emphasis on advancing in the analysis of financing systems. As part of the activities, a meeting was held with Angel Caglin, from Raise Your Voice, who implement a KIX social innovation project with teachers and school principals in St. Lucia.
During the work in the 3 countries, educational centers at the pre-school, primary and secondary levels were visited. In all cases, working meetings were held with teams made up of teachers and directors to learn about their perceptions from the local territories regarding their short- and medium-term educational challenges.
“The meetings held in Tegucigalpa, San Salvador and Santa Lucia confirm that the strategic actions of SUMMA and its KIX LAC center are aligned to respond to the common educational challenges of the countries in our region, whether related to the curricular reforms led by the ministries of education, as well as the processes of strengthening the teaching profession, or the particular interest in promoting and enhancing the development and strengthening of early childhood and pre-school education in the education systems. In particular, we highlight the high commitment of all of them to strengthen the public education system and to consider the contributions of the different institutions and local actors working for national educational development”, he assured Chacón.
