Annual ADELA meeting

As part of the Montevideo Meeting, the annual meeting was held of the Alliance for the Digitalization of Education in Latin America (ADELA), an initiative managed by Ceibal Foundation aimed at promoting the exchange of experiences and best practices in digital education and the development of evidence-based public policies in Latin America.

On this occasion, the meeting focused on opportunities and challenges of digital education in teacher training, inclusion and closing gender gaps, with the participation of Representatives of international organizations such as Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNESCO, the Inter-American Development Bank, UNICEF LACRO, the Central American Integration System, Cetic.br and representatives of the education portfolios of Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and El Salvador related to digital education.

ADELA is an initiative managed by Ceibal Foundation and originally funded by Canada’s IDRC that has been working for five years to promote the exchange of experiences and best practices in digital education and the development of evidence-based public policies.

“ADELA is a regional collaboration space that is instrumental in the search for solutions to common challenges in digital education and innovation policies. The focus is on coming up with sustainable solutions tailored to the different local contexts, with a special emphasis on vulnerable populations, including the closing of gender gaps,” said María Florencia Ripani, director of Ceibal Foundation at the opening of the annual ADELA meeting. Ripani reiterates that it is fundamental to foster collaboration networks that will facilitate innovation for the creation of resilient education systems, since they are crucial to enhancing the ability of people and organizations to meet complex challenges and bring about changes to scale.

Some of ADELA’s main contributions are the production of publications and the survey and systematization of information and best practices in the region, which makes it possible, for instance, to issue calls for the implementation of applied research projects and provide technical assistance with the help of Ceibal. In addition, it convenes online and bilateral meetings for knowledge transfer and capacity building.

Along these lines, 2023 saw a survey of the challenges and opportunities of teacher training and closing gender gaps in digital education in the region. The overview bears out the significance of networking through ADELA for a more inclusive, equitable and high-quality digital education.