The past week (February 12-14) representatives of the 3 Andean countries held their first regional coordination meeting in Lima hosted by the Peruvian Ministries of Education and Labor:
We reviewed the work so far done (only the first year of mostly planning activities resulting in what CIDA calls the "Project Implementation Plans") and the work to be done the coming four years. One of the main objectives of these three days was to see what the areas of common interest can be and how we can stimulate increased cooperation between the three countries on those topics. Form the Canadian side we had prepared some presentations and discussion topics on environmental impacts, gender mainstreaming and working with so-called "non-traditional learners".
The topic of non-traditional learners is something for which I have developed a great passion during the past 10-15 years. I was able to share experiences from work done in Peru, Argentina, Brasil, Mozambique and other places. After plenairy presentations we split up in smaller groups and discussed ideas and plans, to afterwards share again with the group at large:
Of course we had our lunch breaks and we had some short visits to schools in Lima and to the offices of the Ministry of Labor of Peru where they showed us services they offer to people looking for work
Just a few more photos (all taken by a professional photographer by the way) of these few intensive and productive days. Sharing experiences and ideas (and passion for social change) between people from a variety of countries is always a stimulating event:
The last photo is Ximena Rizo in action. She is my main sparring partner at SENA; a real "mover and shaker". It is s true privilege to be able to work with Ximena and her team, many of whom are such hard workers. The task for my colleague "Technical Advisors" in La Paz, Bolivia and Lima, Peru, and me is to do a lot of "active listening", ask questions and stimulate project development:
Roger working in La Paz
Sylvain working in Lima
And in the end some "thank goodness we survived these long days" photos were taken......
On the right Elsa, a labor market analist of SENA, then Ximena, Director Corporate and International relations at SENA, Maryvonne, the writer of our 100 page "Project Implementation Plan" as consultant for ACCC, and Bibiana, Director of the training center in Cartagena with whom I will be doing a lot of work this year.
We also visited the city a bit and I have photos on my iPhone, but they have to wait for another time.
The coming ten days I will be in Cartagena working with Bibiana and her team. We will visit a few of the pilot project communities in the area 6-7 hours south of Cartagena. Next blog entry will be posted in early March. Hasta luego y que vayas bien!
Good one William. You should have seen me this week though in a mine shaft of an artisanal gold miner.. :-)
ReplyDeleteSee one of the next blogs...
I love that Canada's contributions to this EFE coordination meeting are things which are valuable, oft-overlooked themes which Canada is known for in our very culturally and geographically diverse country...or at least themes which I consider Canada to be at the forefront of, though I concede that this may be a more patriotic and less empirically-based assumption...
ReplyDeleteEither way, vital topics in my opinion, and ones which I often find myself frustrated by in different cultural settings. That is to say, frustrated by the lack of such considerations and initiatives. For me, what it boils down to is that if non-traditional learners and non-hetero normative males are excluded from economic development, it doesn't matter where you are-- development is doomed for failure. You're excluding well over half of the population from an economic development with such a development infrastructure. And as far as environmental concerns go, what good is economic development if we render our habitats unliveable either now or in the future. So KUDOS!
Also, Jos, I met this week with a couple comrades of yours! For this audiovisual education program I am setting up in San Juan Apóstol School, I am soliciting donations from various businesses and educational institutions. To that end, I had a meeting with Gustavo Justo, the "Director Administrativo y Financiero" of Universidad Católica San Pablo. And he took one look at my business card and said, "Niagara College!? Tengo unos amigos alla! Conoces Jos?!?!?!?" So we chatted for a while about Niagara College and the area (I think he mentioned that he's been there...but I've had meetings with some ISUR people this week, and I might be confusing him with one of them). Anyway, after chatting about Niagara College and you and his experiences and meetings with Niagara College, he called in the head of the IT department and we were able to get them to commit 8(!) computers, speakers, overhead projectors, and an AV projector in the future. Wonderful meeting and experience. Very nice man.
Also, my aunt is visiting me from Vancouver this week and we went for lunch today at Nilton's restaurant "Mares", where all of us working internships in Peru met with you when you came here in October. I spoke with Nilton at length and he was disappointed that you won't be coming back here for a while, but wishes you luck in your post in Colombia and passes on his best and "un abrazo".
PS, "artesanal gold miner" is a thing??????
Thanks for the nice feedback. And what a small world is it, eh? An "artisanal gold miner" is a small scale miner (mostly working on his own or with a small group of people). You find them in a lot of remote regions around the world where there is a richness of minerals such as gold for example. Most of them work without any formal training, under bad safety conditions, with a very low efficiency and unfortunately causing a lot of environmental damage by the use of mercury and such chemicals. In a few of my next posts you will see some good examples of this... Cheers!
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