As part of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Juntos Aprendemos (Together We Learn) program, two artists launched Veanvé in Medellín, Colombia, specifically at the Joaquin Vallejo Arbeláez Educational Institution. This initiative aims to teach students photography skills, through which they can channel their thoughts, emotions and creativity into an art form. By doing so, the Veanvé hopes to increase student enrollment and retention in areas affected by migration, which is widespread in Colombia and the basis of the USAID program.

Overview of Colombian Education

In June 2023, the World Bank Group reported a 64% learning deprivation in public schools in Medellín, where Veanvé launched. Medellín also had a learning poverty index of 61 in a 195,126 population. The Learning Poverty Index gauges the percentage of children unable to read proficiently by a certain age, revealing educational challenges and areas for improvement. In 2023, more than 2.5 million Venezuelan migrants fleeing a poverty-stricken country faced multiple obstacles in obtaining education and social services.

These challenges included the absence of necessary legal prerequisites, insufficient understanding of the Colombian education system and inadequate documentation. Since then, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has supported a program called Evaluar para Avanzar that sought to find learning gaps in schools and help teachers identify plans to bridge those gaps. It was successful in reaching more than 150,000 students.

Juntos Aprendemos

Juntos Aprendemos (Together We Learn) program, which began in February 2021 and runs till December 2026, aims to help migrant students ages 3 to 17 get better access to quality education. Since its focus is immigrant children, the program targets migrant areas like Medellin and Bogota.

The initiative partners with organizations such as the Ministry of Education, Secretaries of Education, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (CFWI) and Civil Society Organizations (CSO) to achieve three main goals: improve educational quality, increase access to education and strengthen community engagement.

Additionally, the program is partnering with education authorities to develop policies that foster migrant and returnee children’s access to the Colombian educational system, among other initiatives. Veanvé is one of many initiatives Juntos Aprendemos undertook to help it reach its main goals and increase migrant student enrollment.

What Is Veanve

Camilo “Rulos” Perez and Juan Diego “Skinny” Laura spearheaded Veanvé in public school Joaquin Vallejo Arbeláez Educational Institution. Their target audience was migrant students escaping difficult circumstances in host countries. Colombia reported the dropout rate for migrant students was twice as high compared to other students.

Laura and Perez believed photography would help integrate migrant students and decrease dropout rates. In the workshop, Rulos and Skinny merge lessons on film photography where students share their thoughts, emotions and experiences through collaborative art. Participants are guided in creating basic cameras and kaleidoscopes using everyday items like cardboard boxes, cans and oranges, eliminating the need for expensive equipment students cannot afford.

USAID’s Juntos Aprendemos provided Veanvé with the necessary funding, training and assistance for the workshops. The migrant students in Medellín looked at this program as an opportunity, proven when 20 people enrolled in Veanvé right when it launched in 2022. According to USAID, students were committing hours after school to participate in this initiative and sometimes walked home because of the lack of buses. Also, students looked to Perez and Laura as guides, sometimes opening up to them on issues in their lives.

Other Programs Improving the Colombian Education System

To increase migrant access to education through curricular flexibility, UNICEF launched Aprendamos Todos a Leer, which translates to Let’s All Learn to Read, in 14 settlements housing migrants such as Arauca and La Guajira. This program expanded the “educational capacity of 51 female community leaders” and benefitted more than “800 children and adolescents.”

– Lucciana Choueiry
Photo: Flickr