7º International Week and 14º International Service-Learning Conference: August 15th to 19th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In this edition of our newsletter you will find information regarding the activities carried out during the International Service-Learning Week and Conference organized by CLAYSS. You can find photographs from these events online in our Picasa website: http://picasaweb.google.com/clayssdigital/

Seventy five visitors from Latin America, United States, Spain and South Africa, as well as fifty Argentinian teachers, participated in the activities organized by CLAYSS on the days before the 14º International Service-Learning Conferece.

Latin American Universities Support Program Meeting

The “7º International Service-Learning Week” began on Monday, August 15th, with a meeting for all the Latin American Universities Support Program grant recipients. The Universities participating this year are: the National University of Río Cuarto (Argentina), Monterrey University (Mexico), UNITEC from Colombia and Monteávila University and Catholic Universities Andrés Bella and Táchira from Venezuela. The meeting allowed the participants to exchange their views and experiences as well as begin a fluid dialogue that extended throughout the week.

Site visits program to Service-Learning projects at Higher Education institutions.

This year the program welcomed 40 national and foreign visitors. They were able to visit the Comprehensive Community Action Program in Vulnerable Neighborhoods as well as other projects being developed by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and interact in an interesting workshop with project faculty leaders from the National University of La Plata (UNLP) and the National University of General Sarmiento (UNGS).

IV “Believe to See” Schools’ Meeting

A meeting for Argentinian schools participating in Natura’s “BELIEVE to SEE”, a key component of CLAYSS Schools Support Program, was organized on Wednesday, August 17th. During the meeting, representatives from 10 new institutions who were incorporated to the Program on 2011 presented their service-learning projects. Currently, the “Believe to See” program supports 306 teachers, 3,913 students and 223 social organizations who overtake service-learning projects. 48,000 people benefit from the activities implemented by the schools. To see pictures of the event you can go to the Program’s blog.

Other activities included in the Week

Also on August 17th CLAYSS organized the 12º Iberican-American Service-Learning Network meeting. This year we had a record amount of participants: 50 people at the OEI’s auditorium, and 10 participants via videoconference (See more).
After the Conference which took place from August 18th to 19th, the “International Week” ended on Friday 19th with a Tango Show Dinner at “Milonga de Artigas”, a service-learning project developed by the Vocational Training Center N° 24 from Buenos Aires.

The “XIV International Service-Learning Conference” took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from August 18th to 19th. The event was organized by CLAYSS, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education’s National Program “Educación Solidaria” and the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI).
427 teachers, students and community leaders from Argentina, Ibero-America, United States and South Africa participated in the Conference. It should be pointed out that 93 teachers from all over the country were able to participate due to the scholarships offered by CLAYSS –which was able to finance 47 teachers through its support programs financed by Natura, Bemberg Foundation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers among others-, and the Ministry of Education’s National Program “Educación Solidaria”, which financed another 46 teachers.
The Conference was opened by the Minister of Education of Argentina, and had many renowned speakers. Among them we can name María Inés Vollmer (the Secretary of Education of Argentina), Mara Brawer (the Subsecretary of Equity and Education Quality of Argentina), Nieves Tapia (CLAYSS Director), Andrew Furco (Associate Vice President at University of Minnesota), Mónica Jiménez (former Minister of Education of Chile), Eduardo Rinesi (President of the National University of General Sarmiento), Alcibíades Sime Marques (Academic Vice-President of Señor de Sipan University), Lorena González Rodríguez (Community Service Manager at Central University of Venezuela), Chantal Juannet Valderrama (Service-Learning Coordinator at Chile’s Catholic University), and Oscar García (Extension Secretary at University of Buenos Aires).
You can find the presentations offered during the Confrence at CLAYSS website. Some of the presentations were recorded and will be available soon in our YouTube channel. You can also downloada synopsis of the Conference’s evaluation.

CLAYSS at the International Baccalaureate Conference of the Americas

There were 1300 participants at the International Baccalaureate Organization’s (IB) annual conference of the Americas. This year’s theme was Service in Action. Nieves Tapia was invited as one of the four featured speakers of the conference. Nieves’ presentation focused on some of the service learning practices quality criteria, and the experience of service-learning in Latin America. Her presentation is available online: http://blogs.ibo.org/conferenceamericas/2011/07/23/third-general-session-maria-nieves-tapia/. The conference opened new pathways for collaboration to promote the development of good service-learning practices in the International Baccalaureate schools/programs.

Meetings of the program Believe to See

Natura Eco-talks

The Argentinian provinces of Córdoba and Buenos Aires hosted, on August 12th and 24th respectively, two “Eco-talks” regarding the pedagogy of service-learning aimed to directives and consultants of the cosmetics corporation. In Córdoba, Giuliana Filipponi (CLAYSS Schools Support Program Coordinator) spoke of the evolution of service projects being developed in schools supported by Natura-CLAYSS and offered a status report to an auditorium of 60 participants; during the meeting, the students of the “Lineo Enea Spilimbergo” Institute analyzed the service-learning project being implemented by the school. On the other hand, Martín Ierullo coordinated a meeting in Lomas de Zamora, Province of Buenos Aires, for 30 participants.
The goal of the “Eco-talks” is to divulge the theoretical basis of service-learning pedagogy and provide a status report of the projects being undertaken by schools supported by Natura and CLAYSS “Believe to See Program”. To see some pictures please go to the Program's blog.

Universities for Social Entrepreneurship Latin American Meeting in Uruguay

The “Universities for Social Entrepreneurship Latin American Meeting” took place at the University of the Republic, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on August 22nd and 23rd. The Congress opened with some words by Ana Olivera (Mayor of Montevideo), Diana García (Executive Co-Director of Claritas Foundation), Pedro Atilio Cotillo (President of the Mayor de San Marcos University) and Rodrigo Arocena (President of the University of the Republic, Uruguay), and continued with a conference by Bernardo Kliksberg regarding the challenges of Social Entrepreneurship in Latin America. On the afternoon, in the session devoted to Universities and Social Organizations, Hernán Amar, CLAYSS Profesional Training Coordinator, spoke of the programs and service projects being supported by CLAYSS, and the relation between service-learning and social entrepreneurship. The meeting was finished with a Workshop and the hope of building a Social Entrepreneurship Network in Latin America. You can see some pictures in the Picasa album.

A service-learning school is awarded with the “Community Award”

The Technical School Nº3 “María Sánchez de Thompson”, from Buenos Aires, is one of the winners of the “Community Award” organizsed by La Nación Foundation with Galicia Bank and OSDE Foundation, with the support of LAN, Cimientos, Leer Foundation and Arte Vivo Foundation, who will produce a documentary on the winning project (see the La Nación article here).
The students of the Thompson School created a device to produce biogas for the aborigin community Nazareno, from Salta, who asked their help to implement a new technology which would replace the use of wood and yungas to cook and produce heat. The school has also been working on other service-learning projects for many years, such as their recycling program and their glasses production project for patients with no resources (which are referred by hospitals and local organizations).

Service-Learning in the University of Javeriana of Cali

The University Javeriana de Cali is a Jesuit university with a long tradition of commitment to social welfare. They are beginning to develop some interesting practices that connect the academic curriculum of Service-Learning with the practice in the community.

The Service-Learning seminar was organized by the University’s area of Social Responsibility together with CLAYSS. Approximately 30 teachers, and 4 students participated. The participants were able to see some of the projects that are already in progress, and gain a theoretical framework and methodology for the institutionalization of Service-Learning in the University.

School Support Program: New Faculty Professional Development Course

July 4th, Catalina Thölke trained 24 authorities, teachers and tutors from the School La Salle de González Catán in the Pedagogy of Service-Learning. Gerardo Bridi also held a faculty professional development course for 85 authorities, teachers and students at the School María Auxiliadora in San Luis. Both schools are part of the Believe to See program (Natura Cosmetics). On July 13th, Gerardo also offered a faculty professional development course for 22 authorities and teachers in the school Media N°5 María Ignacia, in Tandil, one of the winners of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Education Award in Argentina.
On August 24th, Osvaldo Pennini conducted a service-learning faculty professional training for 25 authorities and teachers of the Technical School Nº4 “Jorge Sábato” in Florencia Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The school is one of many institutions currently supported by the CLAYSS-Natura “Believe to See” program. The meeting approached many topics including the design and implementation of a service-learning project.

12º Iberican-American Network Meeting

The 12º Iberican-American Service-Learning Network meeting was organized by CLAYSS as part of the activities of the VIII International Service-Learning Week. The meeting took place the the headquarters of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and included 50 representatives from Universities and Social Organizations, all members of the Network, as well as another 10 colleagues from Peru, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico who followed the event through a videconference.
During the meeting the members agreed on multiple matters referring to the identity of the network (including its new logo) and the way it should be run. The members also discussed many projects for the 2011-2013 period. Those members who still haven’t received the meeting’s memo can request it to CLAYSS. To see pictures of the Meeting, please click here.

Chilean network of service-learning

The numerous presence of representatives from Chilean schools and Universities in the 14º Conference propelled the organization of a meeting, on August 18th, in which the Chilean colleagues agreed to meet soon to regenerate the service-learning network of this neighboring country.

RAuthorities renewal of Talloires Network

The new Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mark Gearan (President of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York, and former Director of the Peace Corps) took over the Network as replacement of its first Chariman, the President of Tufts University, Larry Bacow.
Mark Gearan announced in a recent letter to all the members that –according to the agreement made last June in Madrid- the nominations committee has been working on new proposals for the members of the Network, in order to appoint a new Steering Committee which will be announced shortly.
University Social Commitment Report
The Association of Jesuit Universities in Latin America (AUSJAL) presented the results of a process of Self-evaluation and RSU Management which was developed and implemented on the 2008-2010 period. The process was implemented in 14 Universities and was systematized in the Self-Evaluation and RSU Management Process Final Report.

October 5-7: XVII ULACAV Meeting  (Latin American Network of University Housing Networks), Córdoba, Argentina

October 11-12: 6º National & 4º International Education for Social Commitement Meeting, Concepcion, Chile.

October 17-19: Southern Africa Conference on Volunteer Action for Development, Johannesburgo, South Africa.

November 2-4: International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement Annual Conference. Chicago, USA

November 3-13: World Meeting of Youth Volunteering, Lima, Peru.

November 22-25: Ibero-American Conference of University Extension, Santa Fe, Argentina