ConnectED
ConnectED is a nonprofit organization working to improve access, quality, and relevance of education for youth in Central America. Through the Fellows Program, ConnectED harnesses the energy and commitment of local education leaders by nurturing, building, and mobilizing their skills and strengths to design projects that address educational barriers for youth in their communities.
Organizational contacts & locations
Mission, vision & values
ConnectED’s mission is to improve access, quality, and relevance of education for youth in Central America.
A world where a young person in Central America has access to a quality education that allows them to contribute to their community and succeed in a global economy.
Products, services, and programs
ConnectED engages education leaders who are in an optimal position to effect change by leading education programs in their community and acting as mentors to youth. We call our local education leaders Fellows. As ConnectED Fellows, they have access to resources and support that enable them to make education relevant to the priorities of local families and youth in their community. Fellows receive training in skills such as leadership, digital literacy, project management, monitoring and evaluation, systems thinking, problem-solving, consensus building, conflict resolution, budgeting, and communication. These skills serve the immediate needs of the education sector and greatly benefit the Fellows as well as their communities beyond education. ConnectED Fellows work with key stakeholders (teachers, school administrators, parents, and students) to identify priority concerns in their community, mobilize partners, and design and implement interventions that improve access, quality, and/or relevance of education.
We are passionate about locally-driven solutions, and at the heart of our work are the ConnectED Fellows. The Fellows model was created in partnership with local communities to shift decision-making power to the local community, ensuring inclusive, more resilient local leadership, community buy-in and ownership, thus building local capacity, skills, and knowledge so communities can meet their needs and plan local relevant development beyond education Fellows become change agents who use human-centered design to create a project that addresses an educational barrier in their schools. We provide our Fellows with access to resources and capital, capacity development, mentoring, and networking opportunities to improve access, quality, and relevance of education for youth.
The Fellowship Model follows a phased program approach:
- Phase 1: Connect - Identify Local Fellows: We work with local partners to identify and select rural education leaders to serve as Fellows.
- Phase 2: Build Capacity – Develop Local Leadership: We provide our Fellows with training in leadership and project management and engage our partners and education mentors to further support our Fellows’ technical capacity needs.
- Phase 3: Listen – Assess Community Needs: Through community assessments, Fellows engage relevant stakeholders to identify and prioritize critical education challenges in their community.
- Phase 4: Plan – Generate Project Designs: We collaborate closely with Fellows in developing project work plans, setting goals, and designing responsive and relevant education projects.
- Phase 5: Implement – Pilot Small-Scale Initiatives: Together with Fellows, local partners, and community stakeholders, we pilot and adaptively manage local small-scale education initiatives.
- Phase 6: Evaluate – Evaluate and Scale Successful Initiatives: We monitor and evaluate the outcomes of Fellows’ projects to gain insights, share them with our network, and apply what we learn to scale successful initiatives to new locations.
- Phase 7: Elevate – Fellows Network: We continue to support our Fellows to make connections for leadership development and project implementation in education and beyond, and facilitate connections for Fellow Alumni to mentor new Fellows.
The ConnectED Theory of Change is:
IF dynamic education leaders are empowered to effect change through capacity development, resource provision, and support of locally-driven interventions
THEN they can improve access, quality, and relevance of formal and non-formal education in their community
WHICH WILL RESULT IN improved learning outcomes and prospects for youth in select communities
AND ULTIMATELY WILL provide education leaders with the opportunity to build skills and gain relevant experience to improve their own livelihood.
Organizational detail
Many youth in Central America face barriers to learning such as outdated curricula, poor physical infrastructure, inadequate teacher preparation and support, and lack of access to new technologies which contributes to unemployment, mass migration, violence, and poverty. While addressing these challenges requires significant national-level education reform, this process could take years to implement.
Impact, adaptations & objectives
Since 2013, ConnectED and affiliated local partners have positively impacted 40+ schools, benefiting 7,000+ students from 140 communities. Examples of transformational projects include:
- New preschool and classroom construction.
- A professional development training program for teachers in digital literacy, use of open education resources, and classroom management.
- School feeding programs that provide students with access to daily nutritious meals and health education.
- Creation of safe spaces and recreational programs to develop targeted 21st-century skills for children and youth.
- Libraries that provide students with culturally relevant literacy resources in their local Mayan language.
- Technology learning centers that use computer literacy, audiovisuals, and open education resources. · Vocational programs that incorporate gardening, baking, and arts into the curriculum.
- Reading Workshop equipped with technology to improve reading and writing skills.
We measure our impact by collecting information against a set of indicators that refer to the access, quality, and relevance of local education.
We apply these measures consistently across our program while listening to the views of partners and Fellows about local adaptations that might be needed. Our work in monitoring, evaluation, and learning seeks to draw out the key insights and lessons valuable not only to ConnectED, but also to our partners and supporters, Fellows, and the communities themselves.
Size and/or structure/ Location
Founded in 2013 in Nicaragua, ConnectedED expanded to Guatemala in 2020. Our Fellows program has experienced consistent growth, with the largest cohort to date consisting of 15 Fellows in 2023. Collaboration with our partners is at the heart of our structure, enabling us to fulfill our work and make a lasting impact. Supported by a dedicated team of four, we receive invaluable assistance from community volunteers, local organizations, specialist advisors in the US, and our board members.
Growth
Our vision for 2024 is to improve education outcomes for youth in Guatemala by building the capacity of 15-20 local education leaders.
Quality
Our Fellows model builds on local leadership and community strengths in Guatemala to tackle fundamental challenges in rural education.
Impact
Local education leaders have the resources and support needed to provide youth with a high-quality, relevant education as a result of a network of Fellows who are supported by the ConnectED Fellows Model.
Growth
Our vision for 2025 is to improve education outcomes for 20,000 youth in the region by building the capacity of a minimum of 70 local education leaders.
Quality
At its heart, our strategy represents a Fellows model that builds on local leadership and community strengths in Central America to tackle fundamental challenges in rural education. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, it focuses strongly on improving access to and the quality and relevance of education in rural areas.
Impact
Local education leaders have the resources and support needed to provide youth with a high-quality, relevant education as a result of a network of Fellows throughout the region who are supported by the ConnectED Fellows Model.