The 14th Annual Service-Learning Week was hosted in Buenos Aires

510 people participated in the 14th Annual International Service-Learning Week. Events included the 15th International Service-Learning Conference, the 2nd Service-Learning Research Symposium, meetings of the Iberian-American Service-Learning Network and the Talloires Network, and visits to institutions that have strong service-learning programs. The Week also included a meeting of schools participating in the "Creer para Ver" (believe to see) Program.

The 15th Annual Service-Learning Conference

On August 23rd and 24th the 15th Annual Service-Learning Conference was held with 510 participants from 11 different countries, the majority from Latin America and the Caribbean with a presence also from the United States and Spain. The International Conference, which has become an important meeting for specialists, professors, and students who are involved in service-learning, was organized by CLAYSS (the Latin American Center for Service-Learning) in collaboration with OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States) and with the expressed support of the Ministry of Education from Argentina, the Ministry of Education from Buenos Aires, and the University of Buenos Aires.
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The 2nd Service-Learning Research Symposium

This year, the International Service-Learning Conference was preceded by the 2nd Service-Learning Research Symposium, which 100 specialists in Iberian-American education from 9 counties participated in. The Symposium was organized around three axes of analysis and research: theoretical discussions and contributions to the definitions of service-learning in the Iberian-American context, monitoring and evaluation of institutional programs and practices of service-learning, and case studies and the systemization of programs and practices. The participants value this opportunity to interchange ideas and research and the growing maturity of the field in the region. You can find more information about the Symposium here

CLAYSS’s Presence in the IB Conference of the Americas

In July, CLAYSS met with more than 1200 directors and professors of member schools of IB of the Americas in Mexico for their annual meeting, where service-learning was a prominent topic of interest. Nieves Tapia represented CLAYSS and facilitated an intensive workshop before the Conference to a group of 20 headmasters and teachers from 9 different countries. The group had the opportunity to have lunch and share their ideas and experiences with service-learning with another English-based workshop group headed by Cathryn Berger Kaye, a specialist from North America. During the Conference, Professor Tapia offered a “special session” for close to 120 headmasters and teachers of service-learning. The presentations from the Conference are available here: http://www.ibo.org/es/iba/conference/

Service-Learning Makes the Headlines

On the 18th of July, the Education Supplement of Clarín –an Argentinean newspaper- dedicated its main article to the pedagogy of service-learning, sharing outstanding experiences of schools and universities from different parts of the country. Two schools supported by CLAYSS as part of the "Creer para Ver" were featured within these stories. These schools are currently part of the School Support Program: Technical School #3 “María Sánchez de Thompson" from the city of Buenos Aires and School #4-004 “Mercedes Álvarez de Segura” from San Rafael, Mendoza.

More Repercussions of the Service-Learning Requirement for UBA

On the 7th of July, the newspaper La Nación published various articles about the resolution from the High Advisory Board of the University of Buenos Aires that ordered the implementation of service-learning as a requirement for all students to finish their majors beginning in 2013. You can read the three articles here:
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1488169-universitarios-que-aprenden-mientras-ayudan
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1488285-practicas-de-aprendizaje-solidario
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1489456-tareas-comunitarias-en-la-uba

The Voice of Students at the International Service-Learning Conference

Students who were involved in service-learning projects played an important role in the Conference’s activities. They participated in the “Youth Ledership in Service-Learning Projects” panel (involving students from the National University of Mar del Plata and schools from Lomas de Zamora and Bariloche) as well as the “Civically-Engaged Students Meeting” with 20 students from different educational institutions in the City of Buenos Aires, the province of Buenos Aires, and Chile. The students talked about the work done in the projects they participated or are currently participating on, and about their impact in their learning and the growth of the service-learning pedagogy.  Along with a diagnosis of the social reality that includes social inequality, selfishness and indifference, the “elders” underestimation of their work, and the difficulty of to reach the community, the students expressed the need to participate in these experiences:

“Because we believe in the future and we realize that being involved helps us grow in a personal and social level. At the beginning, I was only there because I had to be, but when I began to participate in the project, I became interested.”
“Seeing the satisfaction of the people that we help is a triumph for us.  It invites us to keep going and shows us that the resources we need to help others are within our reach. When we see that someone needs help, we try to help them the way we would like others to help us when we need it.”
“There are people who need help. We mustn’t look away, we have to help them. I believe putting our knowledge into action to help people that don’t have the means to buy their own eyeglasses is very important. The project gives us something new every day, it is truly important to provide help not only with tools but also with personal and emotional support.”

The Service-Learning Project from “José Hernández” High School Has Been Transformed Into a Law

The students of “José Hernández” high school from Corrientes has managed to have their environmental project “Our Lake Brava is our Life” transformed into a law, and in the beginning of June Lake Brava will be considered a National Reserve of the Province of Corrientes. Thank you to the National Service-Learning Program from the Ministry of Education of the Nation for sharing this good news!
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Trainings in Chile for Schools and Universities

On July 25th and 26th, with the help of the Organization of American States (OAS), CLAYSS developed presentations on service-learning for the educational institutions of Chile. The first training was given to more than 60 directors and professors from the schools “Alemania” and “Paula Jaraquemada”, government employees from Paine municipality, and professors from the University of Chile. 40 professors and authorities from the Economics, Business, and Public Administration departments from the University of Chile attended the second training. Learn more >>

“Creer para Ver”  (believe to see) Schools Program meeting

The meeting of "Creer para ver" (believe to see) schools took place on Wednesday, August 22nd, in Casa Natura (Buenos Aires). Twenty teachers and headmasters from the 10 schools involved in the Program in 2012 attended the meeting along with representatives of the five “leader” schools who are part of the program and have been working on service-learning projects for many years. Learn more >>

Training in the School #5 from Puán, Buenos Aires

As part of the School Support Program 2012, CLAYSS has given various training presentations and technical assistance courses to the institutions participating in the program. Learn more >>

Training for the Potenciar Comunidades Network

On Tuesday, August 21st the 3rd training symposium for networks involved in Potenciar Comunidades: Nextel Foundation Edition was held at their headquarters. This meeting was the first cooperative work between CLAYSS and the Rural Entrepreneurship Foundation Los Grobo.
The goal of the symposium was to reflect upon the participation of the organizations that are part of the networks, based on their educational or institutional identities, as well as to provide a first taste of service-learning.

Potenciar Comunidades and the Nextel Foundation founded an institutional alliance with the objective to strengthen, with a local development and social entrepreneurship focus, the community work of educational institution networks. From the analysis of 50 profiles from organizations involved with the Foundation, they designed a methodology to strengthen the capacities to impact their environments.
This meeting was the first experience of coordinated work between the Rural Entrepreneurship Foundation Los Grobo and CLAYSS. The training put into play the reflection of the involved organizations that are part of the network in light of their educational identity or as social organizations. The networks were added to the list of organizations that the program has been working with since 2005. Potenciar Comunidades has financed 16 projects with educational, social and productive focus in 15 local communities in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe, involving 82 institutions and local organizations who have reached more the 14,254 beneficiaries directly and 23,237 indirectly.

The Iberian-American Service-Learning Network's meeting

Saturday, August 25th was the meeting of the Iberian-American Serivce-Learning Network in the CLAYSS headquarters, with more than 40 representatives of distinct organizations in the network attending. During the symposium, there was a recap of the objectives reached during 2011-2012 and the goals for 2013. There was also a videoconference with NYLC and YSA from the United States to explain the status of service-learning in North America. Learn more >>

We Congratulate Option Venezuela in their 10 year Anniversary 

On July 18 and 19 Option Venezuela celebrated their Anniversary at the Metropolitan University with the “Options for Venezuela: Innovation in Service-Learning in Universities” Conference. The event had more than 150 participants who celebrated this great day of youth entrepreneurship for the country.

Lunch Meeting of the Talloires Network during the International Service-Learning Conference

The Conference was a good opportunity for the meeting of representatives of nine member universities of the Talloires Network, during a lunch organized by CLAYSS that allowed for the exchange of ideas on the recent activities in the Network and other questions of interest for the participants.
This year the traditional lunch meeting of the Talloires Network took place in the Economics Department of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) with the Secretary of Extension, Oscar García. UBA has been a member of the network since 2012 and was the winner of the MacJannet Award 2011 for the best practices in civic engagement at the university level.
During the meeting, Ernesto Benavidez Ornellas, from Technical Institute of Monterrey in Mexico and Chantal Jouannet Valderrama, from the Catholic University of Chile informed the group about the participation of their universities in the world meeting of program leaders in July of the Talloires network in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation

Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Talloires Network

The Rector of the Catholic University of Cordoba, Rafael Velasco represented Latin America at the Steering Committee of this worldwide network of universities in their annual meeting at University of Georgetown in Washington D.C. from July 8th to 10th. The meeting addressed substantial issues, such as the development of the concept “civic engagement” in different parts of the world, as well as organizational issues related to the network. The network agreed to have all universities submit at least one service-learning project annually. Rector Velasco will relay information to the member universities in the network within the upcoming days.

Meeting of Talloires Network Leaders in conjunction with the Kettering Foundation

Three Latin American representatives were among the 16 participants from 12 countries in the July meeting of the Talloires Network with the Kettering Foundation called Innovation in Democratic Engagement: Universities and Their Civic Mission around the World. The meetings and workshops went on for three days in the headquarters of the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The goal was to identify common problems and to provide an occasion to share points in common and differences in relation to social responsibility and civic engagement of universities in different cultural contexts around the world. The representatives from Latin America were Mora Motto, from the Javeriana Pontifical University of Cali; Ernesto Benavidez Ornelas from the Technical Institute of Monterrey, and Magdalena Jara of the Catholic University of Chile. To read the meeting summary go here

IANYS report 

The final report from the The World Directing Commission, conducted on March, is now available. In this meeting, Sebastián Zulueta (from América Solidaria) represented Latin America, replacing Nieves Tapia, who was the representative from 1998 to 2012.  All the materials can be accessed here. The final report can be accessed here.

• October 17-19: 5th International RUEF Symposium (Network of Universities of Fraternity Studies) in Recife, Brazil.  More information can be found here: www.ruef.net.br 
  
  
• November 1-2: Forum of Experimental Education, Republic Poytecnic, Singapore.
  
  
• March 13-15, 2012: 24th Annual Service-Learning Conference: Organized by NYLC (National Youth Leadership Council), Denver, Colorado, United States. It is recommended that all foreign participants request a formal invitation, which can be done through this website: http://servicelearningconference.org/2013/general_information/international_guests.php