Jimenez is one of thousands of people who have benefited from the Vasconcelos Program, recipient of the foundation's 2008 Access to Learning Award. Created and managed by the secretary of education of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, the program provides computer access and training to underserved communities throughout the state.
Reaching Remote Villages
Situated on the gulf coast of central Mexico, Veracruz is home to 7.3 million people. The majority of its communities are small, rural, and poor.
The Vasconcelos Program works to empower individuals and communities in Veracruz by helping people build technology skills that can improve their lives. As a result, thousands have been able to increase their incomes, attain education, and strengthen their communities. The program serves both adults and children, with a special focus on public school students, who comprise one-third of the state's population.
Vasconcelos uses 24 all-terrain buses to bring computer access and learning opportunities to the state's underserved areas. These state-of-the-art mobile classrooms are equipped with laptop computers, self-directing satellite dishes with Internet connectivity, networked servers, video projectors, interactive white boards, and back-up generators.
Each bus is staffed by a brigade of seven enthusiastic and highly trained people who teach technology skills, facilitate community-building activities, and maintain local technology resources.
Brigade members, many of whom speak a local indigenous language, spend two weeks in the community teaching a variety of computer and Internet courses and updating local technology access points. Outside the classroom, they guide educational and cultural activities designed to open their students' minds and engage them in learning.
Improving Education, Increasing Productivity
During a 2006 visit to the town of Coxquihui, in northern Veracruz, Vasconcelos invited students from the local elementary school to participate in a computer class. The technology excited the children, who were eager to share the experience with their peers.
Building on the children's enthusiasm, Vasconcelos helped the school's digital center secure a gift of three computers from the state. School principal Evaristo Gaona Zaleta said the computers have helped boost student learning by making lessons more meaningful and engaging.
"Vasconcelos not only shows children and adults how to interact with computers, it also creates projects to help them manage their own productivity," Gaona said. Its work has benefited craftspeople, who have learned to market their work online, as well as small farmers, who have learned how to access loans for fertilizers, seeds, and tools. The program has been a boon to business owners as well.
Flavia Esmira Vázquez Rivera, an artist, entrepreneur, and mother of three living in Coxquihui, enrolled her sons in Vasconcelos' courses when the program came to town. But Vázquez herself was inspired to learn how online resources could help her build her small jewelry-making business. She used the Internet to improve her marketing efforts and, as a result, increased her contribution to her family’s income by 25 percent.
In 2007 and 2008, Vasconcelos worked with the national coffee growers union to provide training to 6,500 coffee producers in central Veracruz. Program staff taught the producers how to access their accounts online, review their statements, and find out how much they had been credited for their harvests.
The coffee growers also learned to research the cost of coffee beans on the global market, which helped them renegotiate their prices and increase their incomes.
Building on Existing Resources
Vasconcelos selects locations for missions based on a careful assessment of community needs and existing computer resources, and then it develops a unique education and training plan for each town. Many villages in Veracruz already have limited, free access to computers in government-funded community technology centers.
Unfortunately, these community technology centers are often underused and poorly maintained. Most operate in public schools in underserved communities where people have little or no computer experience or the skills needed to find and benefit from online information.
Vasconcelos works to revitalize these centers by installing up-to-date software and providing ongoing technical support. Brigade members assess these local centers as part of their scouting and planning work, and they often help communities increase the technology resources offered there.
After the brigade leaves, people trained by Vasconcelos are able to use their local technology centers for ongoing computer and Internet access. Villagers can use an online tool—the Vasconcelos Virtual Forum—to get technical support, access software and tutorials, and stay connected to the program.
The Human Factor
To date, Vasconcelos has provided education and support to more than 120,000 people. The program has also trained staff from 75 community technology centers, which are now thriving.
To meet increasing demand, Vasconcelos plans to serve more than 200,000 people with nearly 50 buses by 2010. These high-tech vehicles are essential to reaching the remote communities Vasconcelos serves, but it’s the human factor—not the technology—that helps ensure lasting impact.
According to Mario Fernandez de la Garza, Vasconcelos' general coordinator, the program's philosophy of engaging villagers in their own learning and its collaborative approach to teaching are central to the program's success. "Knowledge isn't imposed—it is shared both ways, with each community we visit," he said. "Locals have a lot to teach us, and the professionals at Vasconcelos are always open to learn from them."