"What we see here represented today is partnership in action where, by working together, different actors are trying to find constructive and substantive solutions and to be agents of change to achieve our common goals.” Sherry Tross, Executive Secretary for Integral Development.

*The OAS signed the mEducation Charter in April, 2013, establishing the Organization as a member of the Alliance’s Steering Committee.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where mobile devices have reached the bulk of the population - with over 100% penetration rate in most countries – the use of mobile devices in education represents great potential for social inclusion. OAS-SEDI spoke to experts attending the event, who shared their perspective on this potential for our region:

Matthew Kam, English for Employment (AIR):  “Latin America is a growth industry, where one of the challenges that you have is unemployed youth. In most countries, young people need to be able to speak English in order to get jobs. It has been shown in research studies that knowing English helps to increase income by a factor of 10 to 30%. Technology can be used to provide access to English learning opportunities so that these youth can leverage English speaking skills for jobs that will help them succeed.”

Abel Caine, Youth Mobile Initiative (UNESCO): “There are nearly 7 billion mobile phones in the world, of which about 3.5 billion are connected to the internet; the next 1billion connections are going to be in the hands of young people in developing countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is very important that we develop in these young people the skills and the confidence to fully exploit these new technologies.”

Experts also highlighted critical success factors for mEducation initiatives in our region and around the world:

Steve Vosloo, Empowering Women and Girls (UNESCO): “In our experience, teachers are key for successful mobile education initiatives. There is sometimes the perception that mobiles and technology can replace the teacher. That’s definitely not the case. Teachers need to be trained, supported, and the devices need to support their needs, which will ultimately facilitate better learning outcomes. Political and policy support is also important; it could be at a national or at a local level by getting community support from community leaders. Lastly, great content; it is always important to have local content targeted to the local needs.”

Jessica Rothenberg, Cell-ED: “For success in this work you need to start with listening, a careful needs assessment that identifies the problem from the perspective of the marginalized population; from there build the solution that would meet their needs. Second, collaborate with partners who have worked in the field with these populations. Finally, an ability to iterate and improve upon the service as time goes on.”

Lisa Lewis, Education & Special Needs (Digicel Foundation Jamaica): “Teacher training and involvement is critical. You also have to have the administration, the Ministry of Education on your side, and finally, you have to have something that I call ‘securitiveness’. You have to literally take that project from beginning to end - do not depend on anyone else to do it for you.”

Neha Taleja, SMILE (Seeds of Empowerment): “For success in mEducation initiatives, first, there needs to be a contextualization of the technology so that the needs of the community are met. Second, pedagogical solutions should be integrated with technology and finally, working with local partners that have local relationships - enabling teachers, the community, the parents is critical to build an ecosystem where they use technology to create value.”

*The complete program including brief bios and project descriptions available here.