CAF Ensures Quality Education for Adolescents in Vulnerable and Remote Rural Contexts

With the presence of the Minister of Education of Argentina, Mg. Jaime Perczyk, his cabinet and the members of the Advisory Council, as well as the participation of UNICEF and CAF, the second meeting of the year was held to update on the progress on issues related to education in contexts of vulnerability.

The purpose of the meeting was to present the status of the two projects in response to COVID-19 already underway: “Alternative models of access to connectivity and appropriation of technologies in vulnerable rural and urban educational communities” and “Support for the establishment of the module for the registration of students in SINIDE,” as well as reviewing the roadmap of multisectoral actions in education for 2022.

Based on the work of the Technical Working Groups carried out during the first meeting of the Advisory Council this year, with the participation of more than 40 specialists of Generación Única, efforts were focused on ensuring access and sustainability of technological infrastructure (connectivity and devices) in hard-to-reach vulnerable and rural contexts.

During the event, the Minister of Education of Argentina, Mg. Jaime Perczyk, noted: “The pandemic exposed that the map of connectivity is the map of social justice. Where there is more exclusion or more poverty, there is less connectivity, and where there is more concentration and more wealth, there is more connectivity. Therefore, the role of the national state is clearer there, because one of the objectives—in a federal Argentina—is to collaborate in the resolution of deep inequalities.” In that sense, Perczyk then stressed: “We are developing a very strong bidding plan, for technical resolution, so that the year 2022 can be the year of full connectivity of the entire educational system from the initial level to the higher level. And this is a commitment that we strongly undertake, in collaboration with UNICEF, with the 24 provincial ministries, with ENACON and with all Argentine universities.”

Cora Steinberg, Education Specialist at UNICEF Argentina and one of the directors of the CAF-funded publication “Alternative connectivity models for hard-to-reach schools,” added: “We work with a total of 5,550 institutions and one of the first steps was to develop a map of what alternative technologies had proven to be effective in this and other regions of the world, to reach schools and institutions in contexts where connectivity and traditional technologies did not ensure connectivity.” She stressed that “with these two experimental models that we are implementing, we can provide solutions to more than 3,000 hard-to-reach institutions, impacting about 200,000 students with a concrete solution. And this represents an answer for more than 50% of the total we are working with.”

In this publication, a study was developed focusing on a systematic review of evidence from national and international experiences to identify was to adopt technologies in schools whose connectivity needs are not adequately met with traditional methods and therefore require alternative forms of connectivity.

The analysis shows that currently available technologies provide technically feasible solutions for any connectivity problem. However, the economic and financial aspects of application condition the viability of widespread implementation. A dynamic analysis of various ongoing projects suggests that in a few years, technology availability will be significantly improved with new solutions of a much more favorable cost/performance ratio than today

In this regard, CAF representative in Argentina Santiago Rojas said: “This project seeks to produce robust evidence for the development of public policies based on the collection of timely information regarding the state of affairs of schools, the systematic analysis of national and international experiences of intervention in similar issues, the implementation of pilot initiatives and their evaluation.”

Thus, the challenge of ensuring connectivity to schools in hard-to-reach contexts requires strengthening both the financing and technical capacities of public stakeholders to identify, design and implement specific solutions. Similarly, it is necessary to guarantee access to school equipment and infrastructure to ensure that connectivity comes with a relevant pedagogical appropriation.

The evidence produced by Generación Única seeks to address emerging challenges and, thus, strengthen educational systems to ensure that all boys and girls can make a full transition from adolescence to adulthood, acquiring the tools and skills necessary to exercise their citizen rights and build their future life project.

About Generación Única

It is the local chapter in Argentina of the global multisectoral alliance Generation Unlimited, promoted by UNICEF, which aims to accelerate the development of solutions to the key problems faced by adolescents and young people around the world, favoring the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

This global alliance brings together a diversity of stakeholders from the public sector, UN agencies, multilateral funding agencies, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia and young people, to identify and scale solutions in a sustainable way to ensure that everyone can achieve the proposed goals.