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Fe y Alegría International Federation
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This Impact Evaluation gives us a very favourable image of the contribution that Fe y Alegría has made to the three levels analyzed. But it also reveals many challenges that the Movement faces. Often recommendations and challenges go hand in hand.
1. To preserve the best of the identity of the Popular Education Movement amid institutionalization Fe y Alegría, as an explicit feature of its identity, has always maintained the central goal of driving social transformation by strengthening public education systems of which it is part. Its relationship with the State has been regulated in a particular way in each country and has generated different tensions. Some school administrators and teachers recognize that, while this institutionalization is desirable, regulation carries a cost: there is a danger of ceasing to be innovative. It seems clear that, insofar as the State signs agreements with Fe y Alegría, it may lose autonomy and part of the Movement’s mystique, raising questions that are serious challenges for the future: • How to continue being creative within the institution? • How to respond to the new demands of reality while preserving the identity of the Movement? • How to preserve the Movement’s own drive, regardless of the Governments’ ideology?
2. To reconcile the growth of Fe y Alegría with educational goals and efficient management The accelerated growth that Fe y Alegría has experienced for decades comes with drawbacks as the administrative teams, with their technical capabilities, find it difficult to keep up. Thus, the management of Fe y Alegría, which the Impact Evaluation illustrates as transparent, reliable and efficient, suffers from work overloads and occupies institutional energies in matters that distract from the pedagogical objectives.
