UNESCO IN THE WORLD — UNESCO IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

1981 Regional meeting defining the modalities of action of the Second Major Project, Quito, and Major Project launched 1987 Sixth Regional Conference of Ministers of Education and Those Responsible for Economic Planning organized in co-operation with CEPAL (MINEDLAC VI), Bogota Creation of UNAMAZ, Association of Amazonian Universities 1996 MINEDLAC VII, Kingston Ibero-American Summit on the theme ‘Education, Democratic Management and Management of Education Systems’, Santiago 1997 Latin American Teachers’ Congress ‘Pedagogía’ 97, Havana	CO-OPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT      1946-1996 *
	MY TRAINING AT CREFAL The time I spent studying at CREFAL was to shape my later professional life. Under the guidance of an accomplished team of professors - most of them Mexican - I worked full-time for 18 months on an issue which became very close to my heart: the education of poor people. We had theoretical lessons, visited various projects in different parts of Mexico, but spent almost half of our time in practical work in the neighbouring communities. The contact I had with other grant-holders from all over Latin America - with some of whom I developed social and working relationships which lasted until recently - the ability to study on my own those problems I was interested in, thanks to the library at CREFAL, and the stimulating example of social policy which was then being applied in Mexico, all considerably broadened and enriched my professional com-petence and my knowledge of Latin America, which I spent two months discovering by train, bus, boat and plane. In conclusion, I would say that the grants awarded by UNESCO, if they are awarded at the right time and in the right form, are a considerable source of both personal improvement and professional commitment. Miguel Soler Roca

RADIO SUTATENZA in the Colombian Andes Open your books ... and listen... Since 1947, Father José Salcedo has been running Radio Sutatenza which broadcasts educational and cultural programmes over a radius of 1000 km. At the beginning, he was helped by Father Rodriguez who is now in charge of a radio school in Belencito specially set up for steelworkers. In 1951, Father Rodriguez was able to perfect his studies during a UNESCO international fellowship in Canada. Texts are prepared by two members of UNESCO’s Technical Assistance Mission in Colombia. 'The invisible professor', Father José Salcedo first broadcast to his parish in 1948 with a home-made transmitter. Today he is the director of one of the world's biggest programmes of adult education by radio. Never too old!.. Afternoon classes are usually attended by the women and children because the men are then busy in the fields. Here, an old lady follows the lessons she hears on the radio by writing on the blackboard. She is very im-portant because she acts as an ‘auxiliar inmediato’, repeating the radio lesson to her classmates. The UNESCO Courier, No. 2, 1955.

Juan Carlos Tedesco (Argentina) Director of OREALC from 1987 to 1992 So far as the countries of the region are concerned, the situation is paradoxical. Insofar as the social structure is characterized by the existence of serious imbalances, the development of heterogenous systems generates limited training. For example, the public sector of the educational system can only be compared very partially to the private sector, because, in reality, they address different audiences. The limited nature of training thus acquired equally reduces its possibilities to be expressed as a factor of force and innovation. El desafio educativo: Calidad y democracia, Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires, 1987 Sylvain Lourié (France) Assistant Director-General for Planning, UNESCO, from 1988 to 1990 Experience during recent years has taught us that single uniform strategies are unsuited to social contexts of such cultural and socio-economic diversity. If we are to foster innovation, creative participation, committed action and responsibility for results, we must accept the principle of diversification of ways and means of attaining the objectives of the Major Project. Diversification offers better prospects of success, especially if it is accompanied by effective procedures for evaluation and levelling out differences. Meeting of the Regional Intergovernmental Committee for the Major Project, Guatemala, 1989

SOME PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY UNESCO
BRAZIL: Education of the disabled THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN: Development of vocational education DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Planning and renewal of the education system ECUADOR: Training of educational personnel NICARAGUA: Basic education in rural areas PERU: A National Multi-Sectoral Literacy Plan TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Servol Programmes for young children and adolescents COSTA RICA: Generalizing and consolidating the educational applications of information technology
TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, Vol.I)

                               

FOOTNOTES:

* Cumulative, in millions of current dollars (not re-evaluated) utilized for the implementation of projects involving UNESCO.

TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, Vol. I)

• Development and Education in Latin America. Elements for a Dossier: Prospects, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 1978. (English, French, Spanish)
• Education and Development: Strategies and Decisions in Central America. Sylvain Lourié. UNESCO-IIEP, 1989. (English, French, Spanish)
• Deuda externa y financiamiento de la educación. Su impacto en Latinoamérica. Fernando Reimers. UNESCO/OREALC, 1990. (Spanish)
• Redefining Basic Education for Latin America: Lessons to be Learned from the Columbian Escuela Nueva. Ernesto Schiefelbein. UNESCO-IIEP, 1992. (Fundamentals of Educational Planning, 42). (English, French, Spanish)
• Pre-School and Basic Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO-IIEP, 1993. (English, French, Spanish)
• Situación educativa de América Latina y el Caribe, 1980-1994. Proyecto Principal de Educación. UNESCO/OREALC, 1996. (Spanish)