INSTITUTO DE INNOVACION REGIONAL DEL SURORIENTE DEL

TOLIMA - INNOVAR

Prepared by Innovar’s Staff

Achievements and Challenges

March 2013

South America, Colombia, Tolima and Purificación

IBAGUÉ

PURIFICACIÓ

N

BOGOTÁ

Purificación: 200 Km. from Bogotá and 100 Km. from Ibagué

Educational level in the municipalities of theregion

Fuente: Autor con base en datos obtenidos de http://190.25.231.242/cgibin/RpWebEngine.exe/PortalAction?&MODE=MAIN&BASE=CG2005AMPLIADO&MAIN=WebServerMain.inl

Educational level

achieved by people

from the region

Municipalities

% P

eop

le

Basic/ grades 1-5 Secondary/grades 6-9High school/grades 10-11Technical (2-3 years)Professional (4-5 years)

A review

Southeastern Tolima: A region with a rich natural endowment but with a poorpopulation.

Puri(Sisben) Tolima

Colombia Population below poverty line 95%

57% 50%

Population below extreme poverty line 54% 20%

16%

Magdalena river Tropical dry

forestSaldaña river

The origin: Presidential Mission for Science, Education and Development, 1994

“…we propose the foundation,…in each region [within each department] of anInstitute for Regional Innovation, INNOVAR. Those institutes should be charged toproduce or acquire pertinent knowledge for the region…As part of its mission, eachINNOVAR will undertake postsecondary education activities to form highlycompetent technitians, technologist and professionals.”

¿What is INNOVAR SURORIENTE DEL TOLIMA?

The Regional Innovation Institute for southeastern province of Tolima (At present, 2013: Alpujarra, Dolores, Prado, Suarez, Purificación, Saldaña and Guamo) located at Purificación.

A not-for-profit organization financed by the local, state and nationalgovernments and the private sector, and associated with the University of Ibagué, Unibagué.

INNOVAR (2012): A type of “community college”

http://blogs.publico.es/dominiopublico/files/2008/01/ong.jpg

With students from themunicipalities of Purificación,Prado and Saldaña.

With ICT resources and librarydonated by government agenciesand private corporations.

It operates in a 10,000 square-feetbuilding and 10 acres land site

provided by the local governmentin 2008.

Our principles:

1. Concentation of resources in “capital cities” has produced regional inequaliy, poverty of rural areas and theincreasing degradation of the metropolitan suburbia. Solution to these problems requiere integral rural development.

2. Sustainable and equitable development requieres a “bottom up” approach.

3. Rural populations need “new ideas to solve their oldproblems”.

4. Local organizations should be part of networks and do locally only what they can do well.

¿Who are our promoters and allies?

Mission

To provide and environment of opportunities to the people at southeastern Tolima for the acquisition and management of knowledge to construct their own future through three pursuits: education of the youth, sustainable economic development, and community capacity building.

INNOVAR: Its three functions

Promote community capacity building

To achieve local and regional development

1. Provide access to transforming education: INNOVAR IS HOST TO A CERES

CERES are alliances promoted by the National Ministry of Education INNOVAR is an ally to the CERES at Purificación Purificación’s CERES is one of INNOVAR programs operated by Unibagué

CERES

Universities and other SEI

INNOVAR local ally

State and local

administrations

SENA & prívate

enterprises

Other

INNOVAR

programs

Selected problem and response.

330 students finish highschool each year (More

than 1000 in southeastern Tolima)

Innovar is becoming, thru its educationfunction, a worthy,

pertinent and inclusive life option.

Our students

Some of the education programs offered at INNOVAR

Challenges&Proposal Challenges

Increase enrollment, mainly in technological programs Develop advanced technological education programs ¡Reduce dropouts! Offer 2+3 transfer programs (See below) Duplicate Innovar in other regions (3 are underway)

Proposal

Professional (university

level) educationprograms

Basic cycle (2 years)

Face to face instruction with good teachers and supported by online

developments

Offered by Unibagué in agreement with other allies

Professionalcycle (3

years)

Offered by each ally in its own campus since it requires specialized professors,

laboratories and facilities not available at any CERES

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

2008 A 2008 B 2009 A 2009 B 2010 A 2010 B 2011 A 2011 B 2012 A 2012 B

Nu

mb

er

of

Stu

de

nts

SEMESTER

technical /technological

Professional

Total

Achievements

¡We are growing!

Some 30 students have been transferred to Unibagué and are finishingengineering undergraduate studies. For them, Innovar was their life opportunity

2. Support competitive endeavours.Selected problem and response.

The in use “top-down” approach

rendersdependency

Assit small producers tosolve their own problems

thru empowerment, knowledge and organization

An innovative environment

Coaching through university student’s servicelearning

Dialogues between teching staff and local producers

Videoconferences of “good practices” in Colombia and in other countries

Participation in trade fairs and other local and regional events

Links to external markets

2. Achievements: Small producers associations

Asohortipuri: Producers of Vegetables Asomucaf: Asociation of female-headed

household that provide food products

Acuisur: Piscicultural Producer Sembrar Paz: Rural development

3. Promote community capacity building.Selected problems, no concrete responses.

Science and technology are not part of people’s culture (way of living )

Absence of future vision: “To the person who does notknow where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” –Seneca

Sense of belonging ¿Which traditions, values and beliefsdo we share?

Dependency on favors from politicians and government.

What we are working on…

“Educate children to educate their parents”: “Little Scientifics”, Scratch, Sembrar Paz

Building a future’s vision. Redefining our (local) future: Collaboration from Engineers Without Borders and Unibagué’sService Learning Program (Paz y Region).

Empowering women (Not yet implemented).

Developing sense of belonging: ¡San Juan Festival!

3. Achievements: Building a sense of belongingSan Juan Festival

2008-2011

3. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN TO EDUCATE THEIR PARENTS: PQC & SCRATCH

Little Scientists: Inquiring education(Uniandes&Unibagué)

Teachers training by Fundación GabrielPiedrahita Uribe in the use of Scratch (Adevelopment of MIT Media Lab).

Do we dare…?

Many people see things as they are and ask Why?… I dream ofthings that never were and ask Why not? (Bernard Shaw)

A tourist airship flights overPurificación’s bridge going to San

Agustín (Famous archeological park in southern Colombia)