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OUR STORY
THE CHALLENGE
Across Latin America, millions of children lack the education, support, and opportunity they need to thrive. Together, we can provide opportunities that would otherwise be beyond the reach of these children.
OUR RESPONSE
A VISION FOR EVERY CHILD
Every child in Latin America deserves access to exceptional educators offering quality education that has the power to transform lives, build vibrant communities and unlock a better future.
JOIN US IN PROVIDING QUALITY EDUCATION
- Everyone deserves access to quality education.
- Education is a cornerstone of individual actualization, civic health, and economic growth.
- Teachers and principals are the key to learning.
- Raising the quality of education requires changing the mindset and practices of educators.
- Quality education should unlock the potential of young people to prepare them for the jobs of the future.
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Help us transform the education of Latin American youth through world-class training and ongoing support to teachers and principals from public schools. We are creating systemic change in education and equipping young people for improved professional career opportunities.
THE VISION, THE MISSION, & OUR BELIEFS
OUR VISION
Educando’s vision is for every child in Latin America to benefit from exceptional educators who inspire them to learn the skills necessary for dignified work and life. We believe that quality education has the power to transform lives, build vibrant communities, and strengthen societies.
OUR MISSION
Educando exists to transform the education of Latin American youth. We deliver world-class training and ongoing support to teachers and principals from public schools, creating systemic change in education while equipping young people for improved professional career opportunities, leading to a brighter, more prosperous future.
MOTIVATING BELIEFS
- We believe quality education is every person’s human right
- We believe education is a cornerstone of individual actualization, civic health, and economic growth
- We believe teachers and principals are key to learning
- We believe raising educational quality in Latin America requires changing mindsets and practices of teachers and principals
- We believe high performing educators have an extraordinarily valuable and difficult vocation and deserve to be treated with great respect
THE BEGINNING
While visiting a school in Mexico City during a business trip in 2000, Wall Street executive Luanne Zurlo learned about the lack of quality education available for most Latin American children. She then spent two months visiting schools and serving needy children in the region and returned determined to make a difference. She left Goldman Sachs and a successful nine-year career on Wall Street to start Educando (founded as World Education & Development Fund – Worldfund), in December 2002.
Luanne Zurlo spent time covering companies in the region, which she had come to love. “But the job wasn’t making me happy after nine years… I wanted to try to give back to the region.” For the next three years, Zurlo ran Educando from her apartment, living off her savings, working long hours. She started out by raising funds to offer scholarship and construction funding to needy schools, many of them Catholic, in the region.
Her firm convictions about education kept her going. Her grandparents – European immigrants with only a sixth-grade education – earned their GEDs as octogenarians, the same year Luanne graduated from Dartmouth College. Luanne also has degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Columbia Business School. But in between, she taught for a year in an impoverished town in northern Spain, an eye-opening experience.
Education is a human right.
Every child should have access to a great education.
Luanne Zurlo
Soon, her investment and passion paid off. Educando built a committed board of top executives and attracted sponsorship from major corporations and individuals in the U.S. and Latin America. In 2007 one of Educando’s programs, the Inter-American Partnership for Education (IAPE), became a Clinton Global Initiative. In 2011 Educando was honored internationally when Luanne received the Latin Trade Humanitarian of the Year Award.
Luanne might have felt burned-out after an intense nine years on Wall Street, yet she credits the experience with equipping her with the skills needed to manage and run a growing non-profit with an ambitious mission. In addition, she has become a go-to expert in the field of international education and teaches a graduate seminar on Education in Developing Countries at Catholic University. “The work of education reform is extraordinarily challenging,” Luanne said. “But it’s all worth it when you see the teachers responding to the training and the students coming alive in class. I know we are making a difference.”
By carefully selecting pedagogical partners and building alliances with local education authorities, Educando has swiftly become the premier U.S. non-profit dedicated exclusively to improving basic K-12 education in Latin America. All of our programs emphasize the teacher-student bond and focus on critical skills for personal growth and employability.
Educando’s programs have evolved dramatically over the decade. Initially, we invested in exemplary private schools serving the poor that deliver quality academics and integrate the whole family.
In 2007 Educando identified the region’s key need – teacher quality – and moved nimbly to address it. We began to roll-out intensive training programs for teachers and principals in the region’s vast public school systems. Unlike bricks and mortar, these programs can scale quickly and reach thousands of more children – exponentially – per year. A teacher whose career is likely to span 40 years can positively impact thousands of children; the same holds true for a school principal. Furthermore, research clearly indicates that teacher quality is a key driver of school quality.
Our training programs –LISTO y siSTEMa Educando– are designed to inspire teachers to attain the highest standards of the profession. They are multi-year courses delivered 100% online in the region by local Educando-trained trainers. Featuring world-class content, the programs help educators take charge of learning outcomes, engage students, and develop assignments that encourage creative problem-solving. They also support and mentor educators as they embrace their vital role in society.
With your help, we can create a growing network of qualified educators throughout Latin America capable of generating lasting change in their communities.
Educando’s ability to continue offering high-quality training programs in educational leadership, and STEM can only continue and branch out to new Latin American communities with the help of our partners and supporters.
Educando deeply values partnerships with corporate and individual donors. Our partners support the implementation and expansion of our programs: LISTO, STEM Brasil, and siSTEMa Educando in México.
Together we can give children in Latin America the life-changing gift of quality education.
