Visión Educación

The dialogue project Visión Educación had its origins in the concern from high-level authorities from the Education Ministry in Guatemala and a group of Guatemalan citizens. This group was formed by persons coming from diverse sectors of society, worried about the current situation and the future of education in the country, as well as willing to contribute to initiate a deep change in the national education system’s structure.

The process started in August 2004, in a context of confrontation, lack of trust and hope. All this was understandable since society was disappointed with the lack of action regarding the implementation of the Education Reforms contained in the Peace Accords during the last 7 years. Visión Educación was essentially a multi-stakeholder strategic dialogue conceived as a project that would join together a diverse group of persons in order to converge building a current imaginary, possible scenarios for education in Guatemala, and a shared vision to be the frame of reference for decision-making and actions related to education. With this in mind, this group worked for 10 months in four workshops, three learning journeys, and multiple activities in thematic groups following-up the agreements reached in each event. The process ended with a public ceremony on July 21, 2005, where the Minister of Education publicly presented the results of Visión Educación, and committed to prepare and implement a national education policy based on the work done by this project.

The results of Visión Educación are diverse, and its main virtue is that they were forged from the inputs of all dialogue participants, through consensus and taking into account the different views of each sector involved. These results cover from the competences within the national education system –who does what--, to the formulation of a vision as a referent for the progress of education in the country. As offered, the design of the Guidelines for the Education Policy 2005-2008 were presented by the Minister one month after Visión Educación ended, on August 29, 2005.