The overarching aim of this project, led by Henry May at Coschool, is to help create a favorable policy environment for the uptake of evidence-based tools and character development based programs in Colombia. The project seeks to achieve this goal via support for the Alliance for Socioemotional Learning and Development (AFSEC) in Colombia. AFSEC is a non-government national partnership for the promotion of character development and socioemotional learning (SEL) in Colombia based on action, learning, and policy/advocacy.

The OECD report “Beyond Academic Learning: Philanthropic Investment in Socioemotional Learning” identifies over 40 privately funded SEL initiatives in Colombia, making the country an emerging hub in SEL program development and innovation. However, the report also identifies an important fragmentation in the SEL and character development landscape, in particular with respect to the use of evaluation instruments.

To this end, this project seeks to provide support to AFSEC to lead and coordinate a series of activities aimed at building consensus and securing political support for key issues related to character education and SEL development in Colombia. Specifically, the project will work with the AFSEC secretariat to create a learning agenda and resources to be shared with its members; organize meetings and events for the AFSEC community; draft a document for feedback on the National Development Plan; write a research paper on analysis of evaluation of SEL and Character education in Colombia with recommendations; and host a national event to share results of OECD’s study and strengthen AFSEC’s position in Colombia.

Long term, AFSEC hopes to ensure that SEL and character education strategies are included in public policies and that learnings and results from character development programs are adopted by the public sector in Colombia.

Image courtesy Coschool.