Setting the course: The right to education for children in mobility in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador

 

The Latin America and Caribbean region, particularly Central America, has become one of the leading mobility hotspots in the world, with the highest percentage of children and adolescents on the move globally (26% in 2021, according to UNICEF). Migrant children in transit experience interruptions to their studies, and their right to education is often violated.

This project aims to ensure the educational continuity of migrants and displaced children in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. It will assess the relevance, impact and scalability of an academic model, Ruta Educativa, which has already been implemented in several countries in the region. The Ruta Educativa program includes a diagnosis of educational needs; the development of unified protocols that allow educational continuity throughout the migratory transit and across stakeholder interventions, coordinating humanitarian and national actors; the implementation and adaptation of pedagogical resources for educators and children; and the measurement of basic skills. The project will systematize the necessary tested adaptations to further scale the model while considering ethnicity, disability, gender equity and inclusion dimensions. The project will then work with key stakeholders to influence educational policies, practices and interventions, involving ministries, humanitarian organizations and civil society.

This project was selected through an open competitive call from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint initiative with IDRC, to improve children’s access to and retention in education in emergencies and fragile, conflict- and violence-affected contexts in GPE partner countries.