USAID applauds Yemen agriculture program

mayo 13, 2014

5 lectura mínima

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USAID applauds Yemen agriculture program

Por Maggie Farrand

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A more stable and positive future for Yemen depends on having strong agricultural markets and farmers with the capacity to supply them, dijo nosotros. Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID) Mission Director Herbie Smith.

USAID’s support for Yemen’s farmers and value chain professionals has been evident; it funded Creative Associates International’s four-year Community Livelihoods Project, which provided vital services like basic healthcare, agricultural inputs and technological upgrades, desarrollo de capacidades, recovery of livelihoods and economic growth opportunities.

At the project’s Transition Conference on April 30, Smith se dirigió a una multitud de más de 80 people at the Movenpick Hotel in Sana’a, including Yemen’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Señor. Farid Ahmed Mogawar, delegates from the U.S. Embassy and USAID, donor agencies and international organizations working in Yemen.

En sus comentarios, Smith commended Creative’s dynamic team for what he deemed “outstanding work” from 2010 a 2014.

“The CLP Agriculture Program has built a strong record of success in the agriculture sector," Smith dijo. “Working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation to reach farmers and the private sector, CLP has helped demonstrate advanced technology which has significantly increased productivity and farmer incomes.”

The Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation echoed Smith’s comments.

“CLP had big impacts on the livelihood of the farmers in the rural areas…and in a very critical political situation,” said Mogawar. “The results have been excellent.”

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The Best Mother’s Day Gift: Why women around the globe play a central role in creating better economies

mayo 12, 2014

4 lectura mínima

Este blog apareció originalmente en el Foro Construyendo la Paz. Puedes ver el original., posted in March 2014,aquí. – See more at: https://www.creativeassociatesinternational.com/#sthash.W2oUFRWb.dpuf

This blog originally appeared on The Globalist. Puedes ver el original., posted on May 10, 2014, aquí.

Mother’s Day has become a commercial phenomenon in the United States and elsewhere in the Western world. People living in these countries are flooded with messages about the perfect gift for the one who loves us unconditionally. With one crucial caveat: We regale her with flowers and perfume, but not always with love and respect.

What Mother’s Day 2014 should really celebrate is a little understood statistic about women. Once properly understood, it will change our approach to economic development.

Treating mothers well in the workplace makes good sense for the bottom line. Y ahora, it is proven that the way a nation treats its women is an indicator of its ability to grow economically and succeed.

An economic fact of life

Érase una vez, this type of data was often thought of as feminist propaganda. But this economic fact of life goes beyond women’s studies programs. It is clear that a society that neglects its women as economic actors will fall behind in its capacity to grow.

Janet Yellen, the first woman to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve, said that the benefits of the growing participation of women in the economy are “clear and substantial” as the United States continues to recover from recession.

Yellen added that the success of the United States since the 1970s, including the sustained growth of family incomes, coincided with the fuller contribution of women in the economy.

For that reason, President Obama, in his April executive order to fight pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of equal pay, was only reinforcing a long-known fact about the way forward for the United States.

While the executive order will not right all the wrongs of income inequality, it has certainly made it harder for U.S. employers to conceal disparate salaries that once were the way women’s participation in the work force was treated.

Stunning pay gap

Women are the primary breadwinners in 40% de EE.UU.. households but are bringing home 23% less than their male counterparts. That stunning pay gap means less for families’ everyday needs, less for investments in our children’s futures – and, when added over a lifetime of work, substantially less for a woman’s retirement.

And that pay gap is significantly greater for women of color, with African-American women earning 64 cents and Latinas earning 56 cents for every dollar earned by a U.S. Caucasian man.

What does this mean for economic development in a globalized economy? It’s really simple: Women’s participation in a community’s economy can make or break any investment made by the international community. Their participation improves lives and ensures stability and economic growth.

More important, sin embargo, is that sustaining these gains – whether in agriculture, health care delivery, or early childhood education – are not possible unless women are factored into the design and the final outcome of the investment.

And this means that governments and the private sector who invest in any given country must create a strong partnership that values the salience of women’s participation in the economy.

Across the global south, women have always borne the burden of agricultural work, child care and domestic labor. Todavía, in spite of tremendous investments in women’s economic development – from micro finance programs to girls’ elementary education and literary programs – the fruits of such programs are often negated.

The reason why is cultures that would keep women in slave-like conditions through forced child marriages and/or total elimination of such simple rights as access to basic health care, primary education, or even contact with family members after marriage.

Con demasiada frecuencia, women are thought of as consumers of security, as the victims of conflict. En efecto, there is no shortage of real evidence of this type of abuse.

Women as economic producers

But women are also producers of security in their neighborhoods. They are the first line prevention of children becoming gang members. They are the ones who organize neighborhood watches when crime impedes freedom of movement.

And women are often the interlocutors with local police authorities who often seek women out to help them gain access to areas held by criminal gangs.

Partnerships with women in a community by local and national government agencies can create a powerful nexus between security and development. Además, more security enables a better climate for investment and growth.

Changing our understanding of women as producers in any economy is the first step to building a culture of equality. If we are to create a movement that values the work of women globally, we must start in our own country. There we must work with the wide range of government programs and civil society organizations that can help take the vision of a world of education and productive women to a global level.

For quick results

All of that is why we should use this Mother’s Day to reinforce a message that will be heard worldwide: Treat women as economic actors and treat women as an integral part of any community’s development program and the results will come quickly.

Ensuring the value of women in any society can become the best gift any mother can get – more than flowers, candy or any other material good. And this gift is affordable and in the national interest.

When our nation invests its tax dollars in helping women in the developing world, and when it encourages foreign direct investment that partners with women, the result will not only be higher returns.

Such investments will also demonstrate that ignoring half of the world’s population will not solve the problems of war, poverty and neglect.

Creative provides valuable training to AAAS Fellows

abril 8, 2014

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Creative provides valuable training to AAAS Fellows

Por Maggie Farrand

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Dr. Bradford Strickland of Creative presents at AAAS.

Conflict analysis training delivered to 18 post-doctoral Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will enable them to provide more conflict-sensitive guidance to federal agencies and future U.S. programming around the world.

The March 26 training session, titled “Diagnosis and Programming in Fragile and Emerging Markets,” focused on policy and programming in conflict-affected settings. It was held at the AAAS headquarters in Washington, CORRIENTE CONTINUA.

“Creative has developed great skills in the design and implementation of programming in fragile and conflict-affected areas,dijo Charito Kruvant, Presidente & director ejecutivo de creatividad. “This training was a great opportunity for us to share that expertise with a like-minded audience at AAAS.”

el entrenamiento, based on the U.S. Departamento de Estado y EE.UU.. Agency for International Development fragility framework, familiarized Fellows with key aspects of the framework and discussed some of the often-unintended consequences of international development.

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On World Health Day, ‘WASH’ increasingly important to combat disease

abril 7, 2014

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Lack of access to clean water and sanitation affects women and girls most acutely. The burden of fetching drinking water from outdoor sources falls disproportionately on women and girls. Every day, young girls travel on foot for miles to collect water—reducing the time girls have available for school attendance.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) at Khorobody primary school in South Sudan, tasked with teaching the school community about the importance of using clean water for drinking and hand-washing, encountered a major barrier to behavior uptake: The school lacked access to water.

By making contributions through Khorobody primary school’s parent-teacher association, the group was able to purchase a donkey and a cart. Ahora, someone is able to collect enough water for children and teachers and bring it back to the school more easily.

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Compartir el escenario para obtener ganancias en educación

abril 1, 2014

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Compartir el escenario para obtener ganancias en educación

Por Maggie Farrand

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E-learning experts gathered at Al Akhawayn University for a three-day training. — E-learning experts gathered at Al Akhawayn University for a three-day training on taking teacher training modules to an online platform.

Ifrance, Morocco—We arrived at Al Akhawayn University early Saturday morning. The workshop was already underway, so we snuck in the back of the classroom and found seats along the wall where we could observe and not interrupt. With only three words of Arabic in my vocabulary, my colleague from the local office provided brief, whispered translations.

In front of us, hands were raised and an energetic presenter paced across the room. It was a group of 19 e-learning experts mixed with representatives from Morocco’s Ministry of Education.

The three-day workshop was dedicated to engineering ways to adapt the Ministry’s training program for teachers to their online portal.

It was not the first time Ministry’s teacher training had gone digital. Four years ago, Ministry staff identified online learning as an emerging field they needed to tap into – to keep up with 21^calle century technology, but also to reach teacher trainers in rural areas of Morocco. So they transferred eight of 12 pre-service modules (for newly hired teachers) to e-learning training, and then tested it with 600 zapatos de deporte.

Based on the success of the first round, the same group was tasked with taking two more modules, Support for School Success y el Enhanced Reading Program, to an online audience – this was their task as I observed from the back of the room.

The workshop is part of Creative’s five-year Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education project that supports Morocco’s Education Ministry reform goals of improving teachers’ professional skills to stem the tide of middle school dropouts. Está financiado por EE.UU.. Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional.

I learned the animated presenter at the head of the room, the one scribbling diagrams and notes on the whiteboard, was Dr. Abdelkader ezaki, Deputy Chief of Party for the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program. I’d seen his name on emails in my inbox, but never met him in person. He was animated, passionate and spewing Arabic at a rapid pace.

He was joined by Dr. Miloud Ahbeddou, the king of all things e-learning for Creative’s program. Dr. Ahbeddou worked for 26 years as a teacher trainer at a university in Rabat, and has become an expert in training, teaching and online applications.

There were three other men at the front: Aziz El Hajir and Abdellatif Fergoug, employed by the Ministry’s Center for Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation, and Hassane Darhmaoui, an expert in e-learning from the Al Akhawayn University, which has contributed greatly to the development of the program’s e-learning model.

The five men fielded questions and comments, hashing out the strategy for adjusting these courses for an online platform.

durante el pause-café, a regular mid-morning coffee break, I was introduced to Mohamed Hosni, the Distance Learning Division Chief within the Ministry’s Center for Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation.

He applauded USAID for contributing to the development of technology for education through infrastructure improvements and new training materials. Mejorar la capacitación para el avance de la calidad en la educación nacional, he told me, is now allowing the Ministry to usar the infrastructure to strengthen their training systems.

In his words, Creative’s program has “brought the soul to the body.”

Hosni also saw the program providing other advantages: it has allowed him to interact and collaborate with Ministerial groups as he never had before. De hecho, the man to his left, Mofaddal Douhid of the Central Unit for the Training of Trainers, was a perfect example.

Before Creative’s program, these two men had never worked together, yet as Ministry employees, their work and ultimate goals are actually quite aligned. The Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program brought them together during the development of the first set of e-learning courses, and Hosni could not be happier.

"Antes, there was no collaboration," él dice. "Ahora [regional teacher trainers] are requesting training in new technologies from us. And Central Unit for the Training of Trainers is aware of the importance of distance education.”

I realized, as I watched the four presenters from my seat in the back of the classroom that they – just like Hosni and Douhid – have the same ultimate goal: improved teacher training, and improved education quality throughout Morocco. Through Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education, they have come together to work toward that goal.

That day, I learned that Creative’s partnership with the Ministry was not just for show. Two representatives from the program and two from the Ministry presenting at the workshop was not an accident. Fue, En realidad, very deliberate. It was how the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program had been working for more than four years. And their success was the product of a genuine partnership.

In its four plus years, Creative’s program has teamed with the Ministry to develop e-learning courses, improve in-service and pre-service training programs and provide Ministry staff with skills in training and project implementation. These activities have been led by the Ministry, with guidance from the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education program.

When the program closes in a few months, it will technically end the partnership with the Ministry, but it won’t end the Ministry’s progress. The Ministry will continue its work in improving teacher training; and now, thanks to Creative’s program, it has even more tools to do that.[/vc_column_text][/columna_vc][vc_columna ancho=»1/12″][/columna_vc][vc_columna ancho=»1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=»barra lateral-primaria»][/columna_vc][/vc_row]

Las claves para construir un programa de lectura duradero en Marruecos

marzo 25, 2014

4 lectura mínima

Ezzaki para Voces

En 2001, Marruecos realizó el primer estudio internacional sobre los avances en la competencia lectora (PIRLOS), El estudio internacional sobre el rendimiento en lectura en cuarto grado.. Los resultados no fueron geniales.: Las puntuaciones de lectura de Marruecos fueron las segundo peor del 35 países participantes. La prueba PIRLS más reciente en 2011 no mostró ninguna mejora: Marruecos volvió a estar a la cabeza final de la lista.

En un país cuyo sistema educativo muestra graves debilidades en el rendimiento académico general de los estudiantes, ¿Cómo se desarrolla un programa de lectura que cambie esos resultados y apoye la mejora del aprendizaje de los estudiantes en el nivel de escuela intermedia??

Ésa era la pregunta que me rondaba por la cabeza hace más de cuatro años, cuando me uní al Mejorar la capacitación para el avance de la calidad en la educación nacional (ITQANE) proyecto.

el programa, financiado por USAID, comenzó bien cuando el Ministerio de Educación instituyó su Plan Educativo de Emergencia, con un enfoque en aumentar la calidad de la educación y la formación docente. Nos asociamos con el Ministerio para asegurarnos de que nuestras actividades complementaran su Plan.; Esto incluyó un gran énfasis en la formación de docentes.. En 2012, Combinamos la necesidad de formación de docentes con los bajos resultados de PIRLS de Marruecos y lanzamos el módulo del Programa de Lectura Mejorada de cuatro volúmenes para docentes en servicio.. Hoy, más que 3,000 Los profesores han sido capacitados en el módulo..

Desde que iniciamos el Programa de Lectura en 2012, He aprendido mucho sobre lo que hace que un programa de lectura sea exitoso y sostenible.. Aquí, Comparto contigo diez de las lecciones más importantes.:

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La cultura de la lectura en Yemen es clave para la alfabetización

marzo 18, 2014

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La cultura de la lectura en Yemen es clave para la alfabetización

Por Maggie Farrand

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toronto, Canadá—Cuando Fathi El-Ashry reveló que el plan de estudios para los alumnos de primero a tercer grado en Yemen no había sido revisado desde 1995, la audiencia en el 2014 Sociedad de Educación Comparada e Internacional (CIES) la conferencia estaba alarmada. Como expertos en educación, Sabían que el ciclo típico de revisión de los planes de estudio era de seis a ocho años..

Ese hecho no, sin embargo, ayudar a explicar las preocupantes estadísticas del país: una tasa de alfabetización de adultos de sólo 54 por ciento y un informe que indique que 27 por ciento de los estudiantes de tercer grado no podían leer una sola palabra.

“Ha habido una pérdida de la cultura de la lectura.,dijo El-Ashry, Asociado Senior en el área de práctica de Sistemas de Instrucción y Gobernanza Escolar de Creative.

En 2012, Creative se asoció con EE. UU.. La Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional y el Ministerio de Educación de Yemen crearán y entregarán las actualizaciones curriculares atrasadas. Llamado enfoque de lectura de los primeros grados de Yemen, introdujo un programa de lectura basado en la fonética para 400 escuelas.

El-Ashry se unió a Joy du Plessis, exdirector del programa educativo de Creative en Yemen en un panel titulado “Alfabetización lectora en los primeros grados: practicas, evaluaciones, éxitos y desafíos” en la conferencia CIES de la semana pasada en Toronto, Canadá.

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Los investigadores ven de manera diferente los programas de desarrollo dirigidos a mujeres & implementadores

marzo 17, 2014

3 lectura mínima

Subtítulo — Es posible que las iniciativas que se consideran sencillas para reducir la pobreza no siempre sean así. Rekha Mehra cree que los implementadores siempre deberían volver a la investigación. © David Snyder

Como profesional del desarrollo, ¿Con qué frecuencia ha deseado tener una herramienta práctica y comprobada para reducir la pobreza?? Dirigirse a las mujeres ha sido una estrategia sencilla y eficaz para alcanzar este objetivo..

Se encuentran pruebas convincentes de este enfoque en los programas de transferencias monetarias condicionadas., que ahora se utilizan ampliamente en más de 30 países.

Por ejemplo, a través de Bolsa Familia en Brasil, Los hogares pobres reciben pagos regulares en efectivo si aceptan establecer requisitos, como mantener a los niños en la escuela y llevarlos a chequeos médicos regulares.. El dinero se proporciona principalmente a las mujeres en estos hogares, ya que los estudios muestran que es más probable que lo gasten en niños..

Al programa se le atribuye la reducción de la pobreza.. Los factores que contribuyen al éxito son una buena implementación., escala para alcanzar 13.8 millones de familias (una cuarta parte de los pobres) y la disponibilidad de servicios de salud y educación para satisfacer la demanda creada por el programa..

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El apoyo de la comunidad es esencial para mejorar el aprendizaje

marzo 13, 2014

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El apoyo de la comunidad es esencial para mejorar el aprendizaje

Por Maggie Farrand

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toronto, Canadá: cuando una madre en Jordania lleva a su hijo al jardín de infancia, a menudo la rechazan y le dicen que espere hasta primer grado. Con miles de personas en fila y la inscripción limitada a 25 estudiantes por clase, esto es algo que ocurre regularmente.

Durante la última década, Jordania ha estado atravesando una reforma educativa nacional integral. Un foco central de esa reforma es la educación de la primera infancia., jardín de infantes particularmente de alta calidad. Hace quince años, sólo había unos pocos jardines de infancia públicos. Hoy, hay más de 1,000.

Pero aún así, no es suficiente para satisfacer la demanda. A los niños en edad de jardín de infantes se les niega sistemáticamente, y no están preparados para el primer grado.

Es por eso que Creative Associates International se asoció con el Ministerio de Educación y Save the Children para iniciar el Paquete Padre-Hijo., una oportunidad para que las madres apoyen el aprendizaje y la preparación escolar de sus hijos en casa. Es parte de Creative Programa de apoyo a la reforma educativa, financiado por los EE.UU.. Agencia para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID).

Katherine Merseth, Subdirector creativo en Jordania, se unió a un panel de expertos creativos que presentaron formas innovadoras de involucrar a las comunidades en la programación en una discusión llamada "Involucrar a la comunidad para apoyar la lectura", parte del 2014 Sociedad de Educación Comparada e Internacional (CIES) Conferencia celebrada marzo 10 a 15 en toronto. La conferencia de este año recibió a asistentes de más de 130 países.

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Youth Speak promotes girls’ voices

marzo 7, 2014

3 lectura mínima

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Youth Speak promotes girls’ voices

Por Maggie Farrand

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Bahija for Voces

Rabat, Morocco – Souad Achehabou was a star student at her school in Jdour, a rural commune in Morocco’s Youssoufia province, 185 miles south of Rabat. She loved studying and was excited to go to school. But she lived far away and was regularly without reliable transportation. Many mornings, she would hitchhike. Worrying about her safety, her parents pressured her to drop out.

“I did not want to," ella dijo. “I like studying and was eager to continue.”

At times when she was kept home, she would send notes to the school pleading for help. Her teachers would occasionally respond by picking her up in the morning, and driving her home in the evening. But teachers weren’t always available, and pressure from her parents continued; before long, she became yet another middle school dropout.

For young girls in Morocco like Souad, dropping out of school is not uncommon. De 300,000 a 400,000 children discontinue their studies each year, more than half of whom are young girls. They cite a lack of safety and money, being discouraged by teachers and early marriage as reasons for leaving school.

That’s why in a recent youth-led research initiative that investigated the problem of middle school dropout, girls were given the opportunity to tell their stories.

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educar a una niña, educate a nation

marzo 5, 2014

3 lectura mínima

Audrey Mwansa is the Deputy Chief of Party for Creative’s Read to Succeed program in Zambia. En honor al Día Internacional de la Mujer 2014, Le preguntamos su opinión sobre las mujeres en su país y su profesión., y lo que la inspira.

Pregunta: Por favor explique de qué manera su programa involucra a las mujeres..

Respuesta: Women are involved in all our trainings. Measures are taken to ensure that of the teachers we train, there is at least a 50/50 representation. In most rural schools where we operate, the majority of the teachers are men. As a program, we have been advocating for more female teachers who could be used as role models to the girls in order to help them aspire for higher positions as well as help them stay in school.

q: como mujer, ¿Cómo es trabajar en estos temas??

A: I find my work with women energizing and more empowering because of my firm belief in the fact that once you educate the girl you educate the nation and if you empower the woman you empower the nation. como educador, this is why I invest all my energies in issues that empower women and girls.

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Comprometidos con el desarrollo, a pesar del peligro

marzo 5, 2014

4 lectura mínima

Corina López de Mena es Coordinadora de Donaciones del Proyecto de Prevención del Delito y la Violencia en El Salvador. En honor al Día Internacional de la Mujer 2014, Le preguntamos su opinión sobre las mujeres en su país y su profesión., y lo que la inspira.

Pregunta: Por favor explique de qué manera su programa involucra a las mujeres..

Respuesta: Nuestro programa en El Salvador se enfoca en la prevención del crimen y la violencia a nivel municipal y comunitario en 20 municipios y más de 115 comunidades en todo el pais.

Muchas mujeres que viven en estas comunidades participan activamente en las actividades de nuestro programa.. Identifican áreas problemáticas que deben ser abordadas por el programa y actividades que contribuirán a lograr el objetivo principal del proyecto., cuyo objetivo es evitar que los jóvenes participen en actividades relacionadas con el crimen.

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