As part of the collaborative work being carried out by the KIX Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Hub with participating countries, institutional visits and meetings were held with various educational actors, ministerial representatives, academics, and civil society actors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Saint Lucia. These meetings helped develop areas of collaboration, identify the main challenges, and strengthen relations with representatives and other key actors in the educational ecosystems.
During their visit to Honduras, Raúl Chacón, director of SUMMA’s KIX LAC program, and Maciel Morales Aceitón, project coordinator and researcher, held coordination sessions with the Ministry of Education and visited public schools to work on identifying priorities and challenges based on the perceptions of principals and teachers.
Later, during a 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. The meetings highlighted the main guidelines and priorities for continued collaboration. Of particular interest was the exchange of knowledge regarding the national priority of early childhood and initial education, with a view of the educational trajectory towards primary and secondary education. In addition, topics related to 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, UNICEF and researchers from Don Bosco University. These meetings highlighted the value of the articulated work between the Ministry of Education, academia and civil organizations that support the government.
Finally, Rafael Carrasco, Deputy Director of SUMMA and Raúl Chacón visited the island of Saint Lucia, where they were received by the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Didacus Jules, the Director of Education, Sisera Simon, and her team of collaborators. Working sessions were held to analyze the progress and achievements of KIX, as well as the co-construction of the Hub’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 Senior Education Officer, Dawson Ragunanan, as well as with the other representatives of the country for the Hub: Merle Auguste from the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Don Howel from the Teachers’ Union, and James Merphilus, President of the Disabled People’s International North America & The Caribbean. Participants provided updates on national educational priorities and challenges related to teacher professional development, the strengthening of school support systems, and an emphasis on advancing the analysis of financing systems. Finally, a meeting was held with Angel Caglin, from Raise Your Voice, who is implementing a KIX social innovation project with teachers and school principals in Saint Lucia.
