FHI 360 works to improve the quality and relevance of lower secondary education in Guatemala through its Secondary Education Quality Improvement Program. With funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, we partner with the Government of Guatemala’s National Competitiveness Program (PRONACOM) and the Ministry of Education to ensure that youth in five regions across the country complete secondary education and are well prepared for the labor market.
According to FHI 360’s analysis of Guatemala’s 2015 Demographic and Health Survey, more than 2 million Guatemalan youth ages 15 to 29 are out of school and have failed to complete lower secondary school. Approximately 54,000 youth dropped out of lower secondary school that same year. To address these challenges, FHI 360 and the Government of Guatemala are using FHI 360’s systems approach to promote collaboration, communication and coordination throughout the country’s education system, focusing on national and departmental levels. The program’s interventions have three main components:
- To improve teaching quality by strengthening teacher training programs, providing training in innovative active-learning methodologies that emphasize student-centered learning and supporting the professionalization of pedagogical and school management advisors within the Ministry of Education
- To develop education networks composed of students, teachers, principals and families to increase community support for education and improve students’ transition between education levels
- To provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Education to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its information systems; build its capacity to use evidence-based decision-making to plan and budget for the equitable provision of secondary education; and support the institutionalization of its reforms at national, departmental and municipal levels
FHI 360 has more than three decades of experience in supporting the Government of Guatemala across multiple sectors, as well as extensive expertise in supporting basic education reforms and strengthening postsecondary education systems across Latin America and the Caribbean.
