Integrated education in Calamarca

The Andean Development Corporation and the Eco Pueblo Foundation signed an agreement to execute the Integrated Education Program in Calamarca municipality located on the La Paz Altiplano. The joint effort is a strategic alliance to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Aymara population.

The signing ceremony, held in Calamarca, was attended by the ministers of Health Fernando Antezana; Participación Popular Roberto Barbery; Vice Minister of Education Celestino Choque; CAF Executive President Enrique García; Eco-Pueblo Foundation President Rosario Salinas de Siles; Calamarca Mayor Antonia Santa Maria; General Secretary Calamarca (Mallku) Eduardo Hinojosa Escobar; the University of Aquino (UDABOL) and other representatives of the Calamarca local government and community.

The program´s main purpose is to relieve the social exclusion generated by inadequate access to the formal education system and the high dropout rate in the municipality, by treating socio-cultural and educational factors that stimulate dropout and/or student lag.

CAF Executive President Enrique García said that the project was an innovative community building initiative centered on generation of basic capacities and social capital among all the actors in the education community: parents, teachers, students and education authorities at municipal and national level. “We are increasingly convinced that the task of generating human capital has to be based on building social capital that generates the right conditions for developing local talent. Without a committed education community, the efforts to harness these talents and combat poverty will not give their full fruits.”

García said that the CAF had been present for some years in Calamarca, supporting the installation of a telecenter, which has introduced children, young people and adults to new information technologies, breaking down the technological gap. He emphasized the importance of the cultural component, whose richness constitutes a value of identity that must be preserved.

Rosario Salinas de Siles, president of the Eco Pueblo Foundation, said that the local governments and traditional authorities agreed that integrated knowledge, education and technology had to be offered to the population, based on valuation of their identity and culture in an effort to awaken the spirit of betterment and excellence in new generations.

This project attacks the factors that cause the phenomena of student lag and dropout in Calamarca. These problems perpetuate poverty, which undermines society by denying young people the possibility of integrating into the labor market on advantageous conditions and seriously limits their opportunities for intellectual and spiritual development.

The project provides training for teachers in teaching techniques, for high-school graduates as kindergarten teachers and technical graduates, and for all young people in a variety of occupations. The entire population benefits indirectly from the undeniable contributions of education to the progress of the community.

Under the project, the community itself will manage education services, with a leading role for all the key actors in the local education community. All major education decisions are taken through a dialogue that integrates the community´s concerns, expectations and culture, especially in relation to intercultural and bilingual curricula. The principles of gender equality will be applied to favor the inclusion of women as proactive elements in decision-making that affects the future of the community.

The Eco Pueblo Foundation has been doing exemplary work since 1992 in participative planning with the social actors of the Cajamarca municipality and community to create a model for the Bolivian Altiplano. This experience has led to the development of several integrated projects that address specific needs and problems in priority development areas.

The Foundation´s successes include a health post to provide care for 27 communities in the municipality and housing for resident doctors; building of a permanent training center for use by community members to improvement their productive activities; a telecenter to educate the Aymara people in the use of information technology; and for the first time a children´s garden as an alternative for developing the basic capacities of small children.