We are ending what has been a very intense 2019 in ProFuturo; it is time to take stock and recall each of the moments that have made this year very special for all of us who are part of the education programme promoted by Telefónica Foundation and “la Caixa”. We close 2019 with a presence in 34 countries and it has also been the year in which we celebrated our third anniversary and, to commemorate it, we embarked on the adventure of creating a photo book that included three inspiring stories which set out to explain how the arrival of ProFuturo can transform the day-to-day life of millions of children like Emilia, Cris and Nicole. This is how Compromiso con la educación emerged, the book that we presented on 20 November in Madrid and with a copy now on display in Espacio Fundación Telefónica until 20 January. It will then be displayed in other Spanish cities. If we had to choose a phrase that defined 2019, it would undoubtedly be the transformative power of e-ducation. We believe in it and will continue to work in 2020 on our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and to bridge the education gap in vulnerable countries. For a 2020 full of transformative stories!
As part of our commitment to the SDG, especially number four, this year we have participated in major international educational events such as Mobile Learning Week in Paris, the mEducation Alliance in Washington, EnlightED and the 74th edition of the United Nations General Assembly. All of them provided us the opportunity to show our commitment to digital education.
Commitment to refugees
In 2019 we also broadened our educational action to cover children affected or displaced by conflicts. In September and in collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Service, we started to implement our educational proposal in the Dzaleka refugee camp, located 30 kilometres away from the capital of Malawi and sheltering some 40,000 people, mostly from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Malawi project is part of a new model of educational intervention that we launched in 2018 in response to the dramatic increase in refugees in the last two decades due to unresolved conflicts around the world. According to UNHCR, 51% of refugees are under 18, and 4 million of these do not go to school.
The model was first implemented with a pilot project in Lebanon, where we have brought quality digital education to more than 1600 Syrian refugee children in the settlements of the Beeka Valley and in the Beirut Bourj Hammoud neighbourhood. During 2020, we plan to bring this model of educational intervention to conflict and crisis situations in Jordan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Colombia.
Another year running for education
For the fourth consecutive year the ProFuturo Race combined sport and commitment on a beautiful day in the centre of Madrid. Around 3,000 people -twice as many as in 2018- signed up for this charity initiative and ran through the streets of the capital to help achieve ProFuturo’s goal of bringing quality digital education to millions of children in vulnerable environments and to bridge the digital gap.
Another development we would like to highlight is the consolidation of the role of the ProFuturo Observatory as our research laboratory, something that we explain clearly and very visually with one of our infographics.
Our most human stories, in the ProFuturo Blog
A vital part of our programme is the ProFuturo Blog, a space where we relate the experiences of our teams in those countries in which we are present. Through their anecdotes and reflections we understand better what it means to be part of ProFuturo and such a rewarding experience.
Malawi, Jordan, Rwanda and Brazil are some of the countries that have featured in our blog in recent months.
2019 has been a year filled with good news for ProFuturo and we want to continue sharing this positive feeling next year. To do so, help us channel all the energy of the transformative power of e-ducation towards the protagonists of ProFuturo, through a calendar that we will fill with your messages and those of hundreds of other people too.
Participate in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #ProFuturo2020.
