Strategic Objectives

There are four strategic objectives that guide the work of the International Federation:

Strategic Objective To promote quality and inclusive education, which 1 takes into account diversity; which contributes to the integral development of individuals and to community social promotion; to generate in participants’ attitudes knowledge, skills, and critical values that enable them

to transform their realities of exclusion, poverty, and marginalization.

Juan Camilo Olaya Gomez was born on December 24, 1996 in Pereria, a city in the Republic of Colombia, the capital of the Risaralda administrative district with 464,719 inhabitants and located in the central-western region of the country in the Central Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. He is the only son of the Olaya Gomez family. “My father is a driver and my mother is a housewife, the two of them have been responsible for giving me many of the foundations that make me who I am; I was raised with much love, I think that helped me become a secure person, full of dreams.

Last December, the 17-year-old received a strange e-mail. “I didn’t believe it. In the e-mail it said that I had won a prize, and it invited me to travel to Bogotá with my father; I really only believed it when I saw the plane tickets.” Juan Camilo, a student at Colegio Fe y Alegría Santa Juana de Lestotnac, was awarded by the Colombia Ministry of National Education as having the best scores in the SABER 11 exams in the Risaralda administrative district.

The SABER 11 exam is a test administered by the State for students who are completing their 11th grade education.

There are several test objectives: check the skill level of the students, provide an evaluation for the students on elements of their development, and finally, provide relevant information on competencies of those who aspire to higher education programs.

Juan Camilo spent much of his school life at Colegio Santa Juana Lestotnac, located in the town of Dosquebradas, annexed to the city of Pereira. A public school traditionally run by the Sisters of the Company of Mary, and which, for some years, has been managed by Fe y Alegría in their concession schools model, a new figure with which Fe y Alegría Colombia continues to contribute to public education in the country.

“When Fe y Alegría came to us, I was in seventh grade and I remember how much they cared about offering us things that really helped us in all aspects of our lives. The pastoral, spiritual, vocational, values were some aspects that were always reinforced. Fe y Alegría had a lot to do with my SABER Tests achievement. The teachers were very concerned about preparing us; I took many practice tests and drills for almost two years, which helped me a lot because it allowed me to become familiar with all aspects of the test. Hunger, fatigue, stress, and sleep were things I could handle because the drills also taught us to handle those as well.”

Juan Camilo not only demonstrates the conditions of a good human being and a good student in his SABER test results. Today when the first semester courses at Medicina en la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (a public university that receives over 3,000 applications each semester from young people who aspire to obtain a professional degree, but only has capacity for 60 on average), you can predict his personality when conversing with him; understand his challenges, his fears, his desires, I hear him talk about his school days, his relationship with the teachers; hearing all this suggests that his journey through school was filled with values that will soon be returning with a vengeance to society.

“The SABER tests have been my first great achievement, but I will not settle for that, I want to really help people who suffer; from my profession, medicine, I can smile back at many people, I can think of no greater satisfaction than to help others. Since I was a child I have heard how important it is to give your life for others. First from the nuns of the Company of Mary; they integrated into their charismas those most in need, to reach out, to support those who are excluded; Fe y Alegría then came and showed me in many ways it is really worth working for others, in this institution I expanded my spectrum of what it means to help, to reach out. “

Juan Camilo’s life is spent between books, his family, his friends and a flute that accompanies him daily. He doesn’t lack gratitude in his words for his teachers, those who saw him grow up, who helped him in his training and allowed him to learn, not just what he knows, but what characterizes him as an individual. “In my heart there are many teachers and many moments, but especially Nubia Zapata, Sergio Montenegro, the philosophy teacher, I remember them all with affection and gratitude and I dedicate this to them and all the achievements I hope to achieve.”

“I am also aware that having studied at Fe y Alegría is a big commitment. This is an institution with a great reputation, not only in Pereira or Colombia, but in the whole world. That’s why I hope to show each day the best of me without fear and with confidence that everything I achieve will be used to help those who need it most.”

Strategic2 Objective

To strengthen the Participatory Management model

within the organization to ensure transparency, sus-

tainability, and economic and social movement that

allows empowerment and active participation to be

generated among the different actors involve in the Fe

y Alegría educational model.

Nate Radomski, journalist, is currently finishing his Masters in International Social Work at Boston College, and has been working as an intern since January of this year at the Office of the International Federation of Fe y Alegría, located in Bogotá, working in the Management, Projects, and Communications departments.

It was my third day working at the Federation and Enrique, Management Program Coordinator, put me in charge of writing the participants immediately. “We have to reserve the flights as soon as possible,” he said. I had been at the Office of the Federation for less than a week and I was already writing to National Directors and fundraising teams to inform them about a 4-day conference that we would hold in Colombia, specifically in a small village an hour outside of Bogotá called Choachí.

I arrived at the Office of the Federation through a joint project with Boston College: “Strengthening the Present to Ensure the Future.” Just as I was finishing my classes, Boston College decided to begin a collaboration with the International Federation. That’s how I ended up here, working and learning from the three departments they have asked me to work with. But between all of the sent e-mails and logistics, I never thought I would begin to understand what Fe y Alegría is all about in my very first task: collaboration and shared passion.

From the moment we all arrived in Choachí, it was very clear that we were working as a team. Even though there were 23 participants from 11 Fe y Alegría offices, representing 10 countries, I felt like a member of one team working in the same direction. It was the first time I managed to understand just how large Fe y Alegría

is; working from the Office of the Federation, it is difficult to comprehend just how large the movement is. Each person who came to the conference arrived with a special enthusiasm and vigor, ready to contribute and advance our common goal: Fe y Alegría’s sustainability.

This attitude, present in every person in attendance, was really what made the conference such a success. Our leader from Fundación Cláritas, Diana García, brought together our collective enthusiasm and we spent eight hours each day learning, discussing, sharing and exchanging our ideas and experiences of what sustainability means.

The activities, for me, were the best part of the conference.We often talk about sustainability, as if it were this grand idea, and what we often lose in the discussion is the practical application of what it really means. The process of exchanging ideas, experiences, and visions among the different countries was a very important source of knowledge. How else would I have come to understand the fundraising activities being executed in FyA Guatemala or learned about the alliances and partnerships being developed in FyA Uruguay, if hadn’t been for the this experience? The impact of doing this in person made all of the difference. Even though the first and third phases of the “Strengthening the Present to Ensure the Future” project are conducted virtually, this second phase had to be done in person. I truly believe that the conference in Choachí was vital to the advancement of the knowledge and process of the project.

Overall, the week was a big success. Returning to Bogotá from Choachí, it was very clear that each team was ready to go back to their prospective countries and begin the plans they had developed at the conference. Personally, I have enjoyed being a part of this project, which aligns with the Federation’s second Strategic Objective: “strengthen the Participatory Management model with the organization …” I love that word: participatory. It reminds me, just as the conference in Choachí did, that we are not alone in this work. We are a network of people, each one contributing something to fulfill our mission and vision. The goal of the conference wasn’t to come together for a few days, throw around a few ideas, arrive at a plan and then leave it at that. The goal was sustainability. This was just the beginning. Our goal will be complete in a year, in two, in five years, in 59 years. The goal is sustainability. What is sustainability? To build “economic and social empowerment movement that allows empowerment and active participation to be generated among the different actors involve in the Fe y Alegría educational model.”

Strategic objective3

Strengthen the capacity of the Movement to influence public policies and programs that promote quality

education for everyone, teacher training, overcoming

poverty and social inclusion.

“Let’s all peacefully invade the Venezuelan media”: that’s the command, which has been given annually for the last 17 years to the entire school population of Fe y Alegría Venezuela

It is not an isolated incident, much less improvised, nor is it just an activity that is conducted annually. The invasion of the media is a peak moment for Fe y Alegría Venezuela, from which the general public, government, business, educators and civil society recognize, appreciate, admire and decide to join the work being done by Fe y Alegría. It’s time to place importance on talking about popular education with all sectors of society.

“It all started in 1997 when Roberto “Bobby” Coimbra, a Brazilian lawyer who settled in Venezuela and became a successful publicist, described as “the King Midas of advertising,” told us the following expression when trying to define the campaign Fe y Alegría should do: “Top of mind”. An advertising term that translates to: place something in the minds of the people.

When Sylvia Oteiza, a collaborator with Fe y Alegría for more than 20 years, remembers those moments, it evokes the need organization had to establish itself in the minds of different sectors of society. “That was really what we wanted. We were not interested in people only hearing what Fe y Alegría was; what we really wanted was to be recognized for what had been done, to know who had admired our work, and who could publicly affect different sectors.

However, we knew that was not going to be easy. Father Jesus Orbegozo, National Director at the time, and I wondered, “How are we going to accomplish such a task?”

The first year was hard; we spent a lot of time explaining what Fe y Alegría’s mission was, but gradually the media opened up to us.

The invasion began as an annual event that takes place in the early months of the year, usually as a prelude to the founding anniversary on March 5. For one day, the entire Fe y Alegría family leaves their daily routine to go out with a wealth of knowledge and experiences that they want to share with society. “Literally we took over the radio. Parents, representatives, pupils, teachers, teachers, managers, staff and workers were the protagonists in different parts of Venezuela. On that day everyone raised their voice to testify to what they lived and were within Fe y Alegría.”

Year after year this activity has grown stronger, growing more roots, and not only on the radio, but gradually it has grown into an invasion of the education media. “Today we visited radio stations, newspapers, television stations, community radio; there are more than 600 people across the country present in every place open to us, where in addition to talking about what we do, we seek to promote public debate about the importance of education from the experience of the Movement of Popular Education of Fe y Alegría. “

“The invasion had its starting point 17 years ago, but what is done annually is a renewal of each year’s motto, one issue that we believe we can influence society. Every year in June, a meeting takes place where participants from different departments of the National Office, of course headed by the National Director, choose the theme for that particular year, this year for example, School for Life. From there, we construct and define objectives, basic documents, actors, a media plan, trainers, coverage, a monitoring and evaluation plan, and define other entities that are involved. In the words of Erika Briceńo, “the preparation of the invasion is so that we will set the standard for many other communication activities that are carried out at the National Office.”

After 17 years of doing this, one could say many things, but perhaps the most successful statement to be made is by the current National Director, Manuel P. Aristorena, better known as “Father Stone.” “The invasion has, for me, two key moments. The first is when the invasion becomes the moment of greater presence and recognition of Fe y Alegría in society; it is time to remind people of our mission, our charisma. It’s time to raise our flags again of quality popular education, when we say to society and stakeholders that the education model of Fe y Alegría is so relevant that it has spent 59 years transforming lives in our societies. But it has a second moment, which is important to me, which is the time when all who are part of the Movement renew our identities, something like the renewal of vows . It is a time when we recommit ourselves, it is very beautiful to see all staff with the preparatory reading materials, getting ready to answer questions from journalists; I think this activity is a great time to remind everyone what our mission is at Fe y Alegría.”

Strategic 4 objective

Strengthen new frontiers, so that the Fe y Alegría edu-

cational model is an option to face new forms of social,

cultural and geographical exclusions raised by today’s so-

ciety. Fe y Alegría is especially interested in reaching the

African continent, which represents the biggest challenge.

Last November 21st, Father Joaquin Ciervide SJ, former Director of Fe y Alegría Chad and appointed by the General Coordinator of the Federation as Advisor to the affairs of Africa and Madagascar from the International Federation of Fe y Alegría, arrived in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

With the arrival of Father Ciervide to Madagascar, the Federation started a process that will allow Fe y Alegría to initiate actions in rural school districts belonging to Ikalavony and Solila, which currently encourage Father Emile Ranaivoarisoa SJ.

Two Months in Madagascar

“In the first two months we were able to take a brief tour of different parts of the Ikalamavony and Solila districts and also have a very short teacher training experience.

This is certainly a beautiful country: very soft green hills, descending into valleys where rice terraces are grown and flooded rivers lay, emboldened by the daily rainfall. There is little forest. Where there is no rice, there are fields of corn, cassava and peanuts, but also large areas with only grass. A central valley reveals picturesque villages of 10 to 20 houses, all built in the traditional model threestory adobe bricks without cement, small windows that let in very little light and thick thatched roofs that protect rain and corrugated iron better than heat.

At the exit of villages, you can distinguish an older building without floors. It is the school, and in the dark interior you can see a few old desks and a broken blackboard with chalk.

In contrast to this rural setting exists what we call ‘urban centers.’ The largest, Ikalamavony, has a majority of the offices within the province: the office of the mayor, the police and army, a hospital, churches and shops; the mid-sized center, Solila, and the smallest, Mangidy. As in other parts of the world, schools in centers are better equipped and have younger teachers. It’s the schools in villages where more abandonment is becoming apparent.

Globally, poverty and isolation dominate, both of which are favored by the horrible state of the roads and pathways through which one travels. Electricity only exists in Ikalamavony (four hours daily). There are mobile phones too, but the Internet and television are still a pipe dream in the entire region.

To develop its actions, Fe y Alegría selected 22 schools: two in Ikalamavony, one Catholic and one public; the same process occurred in Solila and Mangidy; the remaining 16 are scattered schoolhouses among villages, the majority of which are Catholic. Of the 22, the largest has 563 students, the smallest 27.

It is clear that the most needy are the small village schools. The Catholic schools in Solila and Ikalamavony are led by Sisters, specialized in teaching and it is very noticeable that these students receive a better education than the others in the villages.

But we are going to create a ‘network’ to support for these 22 schools to help one another. In Solila, the weekend of January 25th and 26th, 37 teachers from 10 schools responded to our invitation to spend two full days considering issues such as the use of the blackboard, students who are left-handed, group work, dictation, etc.. The following weekend we did the same event in Mangidy for 26 teachers from 6 schools. In March (when cyclones pass!), we will have a similar experience for the 44 teachers in the Ikalamavony region.

Educators are saying that they want to be trained: they ask for French classes in the evenings and want the Malagasy language training intensified. They show great willingness to help each other and hopefully will grow progressively, creating a spirit of solidarity among themselves that deserves the name of the Fe y Alegría spirit.

Two months is too early to make judgments but everything suggests that this is promising.

The International

Federation of Fe y Alegría

Develops actions for eight federative programs, a network of peers and three committees.

Improving the Quality of Popular Education Training for Work. IT in Education Teacher Training Non-Formal Education and Social Promotion. Management and Institutional Strengthening Systems Education in Human-Christian Values Public Action Network of Fe y Alegría Radio Institutes (IRFA) Commissions: Migration, New Frontiers and Indigenous.

In this edition of Institutional Memoir, we present to our readers testimonials of projects developed from the federative programs.

Education in Human-Christian Values Program

Fe y Alegría developed an educational model in which education is organized in Human-Christian values and evangelization to strengthen institutional identity and encourage participants in the human and citizens’ attitudes of respect, love, tolerance and peace that allows them to become transforming agents of society.

By forming pastoral teams and an evangelization strategy, we work with different audiences (children, youth, principals, teachers, parents of families) to strengthen the identity and values, which Fe y Alegría provide all of its congregations.

Projects: Currently, the “Strengthening Fe y Alegría’s Pastoral Work” project is being executed, financed by the Province of Castilla (Spain) and Entreculturas--Fe y Alegría Spain, and seeks to:

• Functionally insert the pastoral proposal within the educational proposal for each of the participating countries. • Provide a teachers training program in six modules, which enables teachers to address the current challenges facing pastoral ministries. • Organize children’s participation strategies in each country, through which the learning of generated values are expressed.

The project is being conducted in 14 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. It is expected to reach 60 schools, 600 teachers and 300 youth.

Raymundo Paul Lara Ventura, a Peruvian youth influenced by Fe y Alegría’s Pastoral Work

“I came to Fe y Alegría by life circumstances. With the death of my grandmother, I had to move out of the neighborhood. We came to an area called My Peru, a slum on the outskirts of Lima, near the Lurigancho prison, one of the most dangerous in the country.

While there, my mother began the task of searching for a school for my sister and me. I started fourth grade, I was nine or ten years. After much searching, a neighbor told us that there was a Fe y Alegría school in the area, Centro Educativo Fe y Alegría 33, he said it was very good, the teachers were very dedicated, and that it also cost nothing. Immediately my mom enrolled my sister and me. I stayed there until I finished high school.”

What does Fe y Alegría represent to you?

“Fe y Alegría for me and my family is the place where we learned many things, not only academically, but also values. We were formed as people, as worthy human beings. You feel it when you see a student from Fe y Alegría speaking to a guy from another school. You can easily tell the difference.

I actually use now, in my daily life, what I learned at Fe y Alegría; for example, at work, in dealing with your partner, with your family, with others, in the way you live with different people. I think what I was taught at Fe y Alegría has made me live differently, with more respect and more commitment.

I also think Fe y Alegría has been the place where I have built a community. Today my friends are my classmates, my teachers, we all continue to see each other and we continue to help each other, I think we all feel that we are a family. Another important thing that Fe y Alegría left with all of us is that it taught us the importance of helping and supporting others. The sense of community building that we were learning in school motivates us every day to become better citizens today, to want to work for our country, not simply becoming just one more person in the crowd, we have to stand out and fight for our dreams and help build a better world.”

What was your experience with the pastoral area at school?

“I started the year after entering school, I mean, when I was in fifth grade, and I did so as an invited guest. Some classmates motivated me to participate in the pastoral days seeking to know Jesus.

Some time later I joined the MEJ known as Eucharistic Youth Movement. There I learned many things and I met many people that today are still my friends. They taught us things that helped us to be better people. I was there until ninth grade. Then I enrolled in the pre-CLC (Christian Life Community) and I was part of group of young people that catechized in other districts of the city. I had to go to Pachacutec, another province located on the outskirts of Lima in the district of Ventanilla. There I went through all the roles, from student to coordinator. After finishing school I kept being part of CLC communities in my capacity as an alumnus.”

Would you like to say a few words to the people who can support Fe y Alegría?

“I would say I’ve always heard that youth are the future of the nation and that if we want our nation to be better we have to start

with the kids. So institutions like Fe y Alegría need many resources, because “nothing in life is free”; everything has a price and resources that contribute to this institution will be utilized for a lot of children. Not only talking about Peru, I’m talking about of all countries where Fe y Alegría operates, places where perhaps no one ever wanted to add a stone to form a school and Fe y Alegría did, and I think that’s a sign of the social work and inclusive thinking that Fe y Alegría holds. We all know that in our institution the State contributes to the teachers’ salaries, so they are in reality employees of the government, yet they always wear the Fe y Alegría shirt. This is a sign that they feel a part of this big family. So to all the people who can support: institutions, the State, I don’t know what to say, except that you should know that an investment in Fe y Alegría will be remunerated. That’s what matters.”