Fundación Alberto Baillères

First National Meeting of Education Communities: Exchanging experiences

First National Meeting of Education Communities at headquarters of GNP Seguros, Mexico City, and Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, Yucatan.

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The Alberto Baillères Foundation convened a National Meeting of Education Communities to promote the exchange of experiences between education communities from the regions where the Social Model is currently operational: Mexico City, Yucatan, and the State of Mexico.

The meeting took place on July 1 and included the participation of education authorities, senior school staff, and educators from the three areas at the headquarters of GNP Seguros, for the State of Mexico and Mexico City education communities, and in the vicinity of the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya in the case of Yucatan schools. Both sites maintained a permanent remote connection.

During the meeting, the operations managers of each area appeared on a panel where they laid out lessons learned, as well as their greatest achievements and challenges, in order to approach the process of strengthening their education communities. Representatives from Iztapalapa explained that they are at the beginning of the reconstruction process for Primaria Gral. Herminio Chavarría (Primary School), which has sparked countless hopes. Representatives from the education communities of Kanasín, on the other hand, related their experience with the pilot project for personal care and developing social-emotional skills. Lastly, members of the Ecatepec panel shared their experience: over the course of three years, they have been accompanied by the Foundation in key projects such as caring for school infrastructure and liaising with partner organizations, as well as processes of reflection and mirror experiences. At each panel, time was allotted for a question-and-answer round.

Later, each education community, together with each area’s operations managers and the Foundation’s socio-community aids, formed working groups where they reflected on the needs, potential, and elements that need to be strengthened in their communities for the upcoming school year. This exercise produced an outline of the central lines of the Accompaniment Plan for the 2022-2023 school year, which will continue to be co-designed with the rest of each education community’s participants. Finally, participants rejoined the forum to hear each working group’s conclusions.

At the closing ceremony, those present were invited to continue working collectively for the development of education in Mexico. Likewise, they were thanked for their willingness to collaborate and dream together. This national meeting will doubtlessly be the first of many initiatives to strengthen ties between regions and achieve the strengthening of sustainable education habitats as places of development and well-being.