A student in Honduras studies at home using a textbook provided by OYE.
In 2020, millions of students across Latin America lost the ability to regularly attend school. During 2021, in-person learning resumed in some countries, at least partially. In others, students continued to rely on a combination of online and offline mechanisms to continue their education. Experts fear that many may drop out permanently due to educational disruption and other pandemic pressures.
Across the region, civil society organizations have played a key role in keeping students connected to learning despite challenging, uncertain circumstances. Many of these organizations have prioritized the inclusion of children and young people that face risk of disconnection, or whose communities did not receive quality education even before the pandemic. In 2020, in response to widespread school closures, Tinker created a special initiative to support such organizations and the students they serve.
The foundation is pleased to announce a third round of grants totaling $1.6 million to 12 organizations. In total, we have awarded over $3.6 million under this initiative. The most recent grant recipients are listed in the table below. Six of them (indicated by an asterisk) have received funding from Tinker in prior rounds and will use the new support to build on their important efforts. The remaining organizations have proposed projects that respond to the specific challenges facing schools, teachers, and students in the current context. Together, they offer promising models, experiences to learn from, and reasons for hope.
Plans for 2022
Educational systems, communities, and civil society organizations are beginning to shift from emergency responses to longer-term educational recovery. Tinker will use the first half of 2022 to assess our pandemic-related funding and refine a strategy for the coming years. We will also work to support and learn from our current partners. We anticipate opening a new cycle of education funding to all applicants in July 2022. Please follow our website and social media for updates.
Funding Recipients
| Grantee Organization | Country of Work | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Asociación Minga Perú* | Perú | Reduce educational inequity during and after the pandemic by supporting locally relevant educational interventions. |
| Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social* | Mexico | Support teachers, educational authorities, and civil society organizations to address gaps in learning due to pandemic school closures. |
| Child Aid | Guatemala | Expand Child Aid’s work to increase the literacy levels and critical thinking skills of rural primary school students, in the face of new challenges wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Corporación Educativa y Cultural Motete* | Colombia | Maintain and expand a proven literacy education program for primary school students in Bahía Solano and Quibdó. |
| Fundación Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento | Argentina | Work with Ministries of Education in two provinces to design, develop, and implement tools to detect risk of dropout and support students’ academic trajectories. |
| Fundación Cimientos | Argentina | Work with school leaders and teachers to strengthen schools’ capacity to support secondary students whose schooling was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Fundación Educacional Crecer con Todos* | Chile | Extend Crecer con Todos’ proven literacy program to teachers and students in two regions of Chile most affected by pandemic-related school closures. |
| Fundación Gabo | Regional | Support Latin American journalists to inform the public on pressing education issues in the wake of the pandemic. |
| Fundación SUMMA | Regional | Establish robust evidence on leveling to inform policy decision-making and facilitate the transfer of promising programs and practices to and within Latin America. |
| Laboratório de Educação | Brazil | Implement the Aprender a Estudar Textos program in approximately 40 schools as part of a quasi-experimental study to assess its impact and broader scalability. |
| Organization for Youth Empowerment* | Honduras | Enable students to continue their education through targeted community- and school-based support. |
| Population Council, Inc.* | Guatemala | Continue tutoring and mentoring programs for indigenous girls while supporting broader efforts to safely reopen schools and reenroll students |
