Current Issue

May 2021 – International Edition

21st Century Skills Coalition in Latin America and the Caribbean

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), together with partners from the public and private sector, has launched the 21st Century skills Coalition to promote transversal skills and support the implementation of a new generation of educational and training policies. The latest issue features insights and opinions of the coalition members.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Video Games: More than Just a Game

Alejandra Luzardo, Head - Disruptive Innovation and Creative Economies, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) & Co-Founder, Demand Solutions

Alejandra Luzardo heads a broad initiative focus on Disruptive Innovation and Creative Economies at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She also coordinates the research, design, execution, and evaluation of projects in the Creative Economy.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Coding the Future of the New Generation

Alejandro Villanueva, Director of Education, Fundación Televisa

Alejandro Villanueva very much enjoys family, friends and food and loves nature, scientific progress, fantastic stories, and futurism. As an explorer and a solver, Alejandro is passionate about the path from a big challenge to a new solution.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Reimagine Higher Education and Revolutionise High School

Ben Nelson, Founder and CEO, Minerva

Ben Nelson is a visionary with a passion to reinvent education. Before Minerva, Nelson spent more than 10 years at Snapfish, where he helped build the company from startup to the world’s largest personal publishing service.

FEATURED ARTICLE

A World of Changemakers

Brenda Villegas, Head - Children and Youth Initiative, Ashoka Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean & Co-Founder and Director, Conciencias Unidas

Brenda leads the Children and Youth initiative for Ashoka Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and she is Co-founder and Director of Conciencias Unidas A.C. and is part of the global youth network “Global Changemakers.”

FEATURED ARTICLE

The Role of Initiatives for Raising Awareness

Carmen Pellicer, CEO, Trilema Group

Carmen Pellicer is the CEO of Trilema Group and ASHOKA Fellow 2016. She directs the monthly prestigious Journal “Cuadernos de Pedagogía”. As a theologian, educator and writer, Carmen Pellicer has set out to create a solid, tangible and functioning integral approach to change the educational system.

FEATURED ARTICLE

#crackthecode: How SK Telecom is Generating Social Value Through Coding Education in Paraguay

Changha Lee, Consultant, Inter-American Development Bank & Seongwook Yang, Senior Social Education Manager of Environment Social Governance Group, SK Telecom

FEATURED ARTICLE

The Rise of 21st Century Skills Innovations in Latin America & The Caribbean

Danny Gilliland, Head of Growth, HundrED & Liliana Serrano Pájaro, Communications Specialist - Education Division, Inter-American Development Bank.

HundrED is a global non-profit based in Finland that identifies impactful and scalable education innovations and helps them spread, and it is also part of the IDB’s Coalition for 21st Century Skills.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Challenges for an It Blended Learning Program under a COVID-19 Context

Dessiré Medina, Research Associate and Carolina Magnet, Research Coordinator, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Computational Thinking in the Uruguayan Educational System

Emiliano Pereiro, Head of Computational Thinking, Plan Ceibal

Emiliano Pereiro has a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Universidad de la República, Uruguay and a master’s degree in educational policy at Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Argentina.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Education Uninterrupted: Technology Free Holistic Learning

Janhvi Maheshwari-Kanoria, Director of the Innovation Development Directorate, Education Above All

Janhvi leads the Innovation Development Directorate in Education Above All (EAA). Her passion lies in designing solutions that advance and accelerate relevant and quality learning solutions to the world’s most marginalized.

FEATURED ARTICLE

School Drop Out Should Not Mean Educational Drop Out: The Role of Soft Skills in the Global Education Compact

José Maria del Corral, World Director, Scholas Occurrentes

José Maria del Corral is the World Director of Scholas Occurrentes appointed by Pope Francis.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Smartphone Filmmaking: A Journey to Develop Social and Emotional Skills for Underserved Communities in Latin America

Juan Manuel Pico, Co-Founder of Education Soul & Country Lead - Colombia of HundrED

Juan Manuel is an International business executive with 30 years of experience in consulting services of technology and education.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Think Equal in Colombia: The End of Discriminatory Mindsets Starts with the Children

Leslee Udwin, Founder and Executive Chair, Think Equal

Leslee was voted by the NY Times the No 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015 (second to Hillary Clinton), and has been awarded the prestigious Swedish Anna Lindh Human Rights Prize (previously won by Madeleine Albright).

FEATURED ARTICLE

SACUDETE Strategy: Empowering a Colombian Generation for Happy and Productive Lives

María Juliana Ruiz, First Lady of the Republic of Colombia

María Juliana Ruiz is committed to promoting integral development for young Colombians from early childhood into early adulthood.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Sport as a Tool to Educate and Spread Peace

Maria Vallés, General Manager, Barça Foundation

With over 24 years experience in the non-profit sector, Maria Valles has held national and international positions, such as head of Communication and Advocacy at the Global Health Institute (IS Global), Executive Director of the AIDS Foundation, and Head of Fundraising and Communication in Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

FEATURED ARTICLE

Changing the Narrative: The Power of Wikipedia to Foster 21st Century Skills

Melissa Guadalupe Huertas, Program Officer for Education and Nichole Saad, Senior Manager for Education, Wikimedia Foundation

Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites worldwide. The information it contains frequently shows up in the first pages of any search engine.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Hello Disruption!

Mercedes Mateo Diaz, Education Division Chief, Inter-American Development Bank

Mercedes Mateo Díaz is Education Division Chief at the IDB Group, where she leads an ambitious initiative to rethink education and strengthen the learning ecosystems to equip citizens with 21st-century skills.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Forge Foundation: Training and Coaching in Youth to Adulthood Transition

Rodrigo Kon, Executive Director and Francisco Ruiz, Director, Forge Foundation

Forge Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2005 to facilitate access to quality employment for youth from low-income contexts in Latin America through a system of training, coaching, and work.

FEATURED ARTICLE

The Challenges of Non-Linear Learning

Rodulfo Prieto, Co-founder, Laboratoria

Rodulfo is the co-founder of Laboratoria, an organization empowering women who dream of a better future to start and grow careers in technology. Rodulfo holds a bachelor in engineering with a master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia University in New York.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Defining a 21st Century Economy: Job Market Demands That Professionals Acquire Up-to-date Skills in Their Areas of Expertise

Sylvain Kalache, Co-founder, Holberton

Sylvain Kalache is an entrepreneur and a software engineer who has worked in the tech industry in Silicon Valley for more than a decade.

FEATURED ARTICLE

Félix y Susana: An Education Program for Peaceful Coexistence

Tatiana Henao Zuluaga, Social Management Coordinator, Fundación SURA

Tatiana Henao Zuluaga is passionate about social transformation. She believes in developing people and communities, in working with and for the people, in connecting ideas, allies and resources to produce innovative results that contribute to society.

FEATURED ARTICLE

REDUCA Fosters Inclusive Education and Life Skills in Latin America

Verónica Spross de Rivera, Coordinator of Latin American Network for Education (REDUCA) & Executive Director of Empresarios por la Educación