Innovamos Network
selects five Brazilian projects

MANUEL ALVES FILHO

CFive Brazilian projects have just been chosen to join the educational innovation bank of the Innovemos Network, an initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). The selected experiences, conducted by non-governmental organizations in the area of ​​elementary education, will be published on the program's internet portal and their methodologies and results will be disseminated among the other members of the network – 14 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The expectation is that, by gaining greater visibility, these actions (see table) will increase the possibilities for expansion and even obtaining financing. The coordination of the work of the Innovemos Network in Brazil is under the responsibility of the Public Policy Studies Center (Nepp) at Unicamp.

Funded by the Spanish government, the Innovemos Network aims to “produce, exchange and disseminate knowledge and relevant information about the processes of change and innovation in education”. According to Juliana Pinto de Moura Cajueiro, a Nepp researcher, around 30 Brazilian experiences were enrolled in the program, taking into account the theme “Diversity and Equity”. Of these, 12 were pre-selected by an Assessment and Systematization Council, made up of education experts and representatives of civil society entities. Subsequently, the same collegiate elected the five most representative projects. They are: Programa Escola que Vale (PA), Projeto Rádio pela Educação e Cidadania (PA), Literacy Solidarity – Training Lay Literacy Teachers (BA), Programa Escola que Vale (PA) and Projeto Estudar pra Valer (SP).

The actions carried out by NGOs range from the continued training of teachers to the creation of a community of readers, through the qualification of lay literacy teachers and the development of activities that associate education with the values ​​of citizenship and health. According to Juliana Cajueiro, in addition to being registered on the Innovemos Portal, these projects will receive a certificate from UNESCO, attesting not only to the innovative nature of the experiences, but also to their effectiveness.

When speaking to Journal of Unicamp last April, the coordinator of the Innovemos Network in Brazil, Gilda Figueiredo Portugal Gouvêa, a professor at Nepp, explained that the project is developed on two fronts: maintaining the internet portal and building a methodology for recording educational innovations. The first, she explained, promotes the identification of innovations from “cutting edge” experiences. In other words, even if they result from a government policy or the action of a private company, the initiatives will be consigned to their main protagonists: teachers, principals and community leaders. They are the ones who deserve the credit from UNESCO.

To select the Brazilian projects, the Innovemos Network sent a document to several civil society institutions, asking them to help indicate experiences that, in their opinion, deserved to be included in UNESCO's bank of educational innovations. One of the requirements was that the projects had been in operation for at least three years. The Network didn't just want to identify good ideas. The aim was to find original programs that had already been tested and were giving good results.

Parallel to the choice of educational innovations, Brazilian experts also promoted a case study, based on an experience carried out in Campinas. The idea was to test the methodology for using the registration form. “In the coming weeks, there will be a seminar bringing together the entire Innovemos Network. On this occasion, we will analyze the instrument’s criteria”, highlighted Juliana Cajueiro. According to her, another step will be the creation of a Brazilian website, which will feature both the projects chosen by UNESCO and the others that participated in the selection process. “Our objective is to provide as much information about these experiences as possible, in order to facilitate their dissemination throughout the country”, she points out. Other information about the UNESCO project can be obtained on the Innovemos Portal (htpp://innovemos.unesco.cl).

THE CHOSEN ONES

Project: Escola que Vale Program What is innovation: Development of integrated and simultaneous actions to train in-service educators and encourage reading, aimed at creating a community of readers and developing the practice of reading literary works. Institutions that develop innovation: Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Professora Maria Belarmina Alves da Silva, Creche Municipal Antonia Pimenta de Moura, both under the coordination of the Center for Education and Documentation for Community Action (Cedac). Collaborating institutions: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, Curionópolis City Hall, Diagonal Urbana, USP Faculty of Medicine Foundation. Collaborating institutions in financing: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and BNDES. Project: Radio for Education and Citizenship Project. What is innovation: Listening to the radio in the classroom, using local and regional themes. Institutions that develop innovation: Rádio Rural de Santarém and Rádio Universidade FM. Collaborating institutions: Municipal education departments and NGOs Collaborating institution in financing: Unicef Project: Solidarity Literacy – Training of Lay Literacy Teachers What is innovation: Training lay literacy teachers. Institutions that develop innovation: Solidarity Literacy in partnership with 219 Brazilian Higher Education institutions and 159 private companies. Collaborating institutions: Higher Education Institutions. Collaborating institutions in financing: Partner companies, municipal, state and federal governments (MEC). Project: Escola que Vale Program What is innovation: Working on health and ethics as transversal themes, in order to help in the formation of students who are more aware and committed to their role as citizens in the society in which they live. Institutions that develop innovation: Escola Municipal Bom Pastor and PEQV. Collaborating institutions: Cedac, Vale do Rio Doce Foundation, Ipixuna City Hall (PA). Collaborating institutions in financing: Vale do Rio Doce Foundation, Para Pigmentos and Ipixuna City Hall. Project: Study for Real Project What is the innovation: Proposal for continued training for teachers in the first four grades of Elementary School to effectively promote the learning of reading and writing by all students. Institutions that develop innovation: Center for Studies and Research in Education, Culture and Community Action (Cenpec) and Volkswagen Foundation. Collaborating institutions: Municipal Department of Education and Culture (SMEC) of São Carlos (SP) Collaborating institutions in financing: Cenpec and SMEC.

Source: Innovemos Network