Who We Are

We are a non-governmental organization that was founded in 1987 by the creators of the Escuela Nueva pedagogical model together with experts with extensive experience working in social and educational issues in Colombia. Our goal is to assure the quality and integrity of the Escuela Nueva model, to continue to update it and adapt it to urban contexts and new target populations, and to promote its expansion, both in Colombia and internationally.

Since 1987 we’ve been working to adapt the Escuela Nueva strategies and materials for urban contexts. We implemented pilots of this adapted program, called Escuela Activa Urbana, in a number of cities in Colombia. We’ve continued to innovate, and in 2001 we developed the Escuela Nueva Activa - Learning Circles program as a way to restore educational services for children and youth who are displaced and not attending school. We also designed the Escuela Nueva Itinerante as a practical solution for communities affected by natural disasters in Colombia. Committed to this goal, we’ve continued to innovate and adapt the model and associated instructional strategies to new sectors and target populations.

Based on our expertise and extensive experience implementing the Escuela Nueva model and its adaptations we offer technical assistance on improving educational quality for the Colombia and international educational community.

Mission

We contribute to the improvement of quality, efficiency and sustainability of rural and urban and formal and non-formal education. We do this based on the Escuela Nueva pedagogical model, a social innovation which provides a systemic, cost-effective, replicable and scalable model to address the issues of quality, efficiency and sustainability. We work with students, teachers, administrators and communities to transform traditional schools and the learning process. We use curricular and classroom techniques, effective, experience-based training for teachers and strategies for school management and community building. We are committed to academic improvement and the development of civic and democratic values among students. We promote development of the social and entrepreneurial skills needed to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century. We work primarily with schools with limited resources in developing countries and we promote public-private partnerships.

Vision

At FEN we believe that poverty, injustice and exclusion can be addressed through education. We see quality education as a tool to protect children, but also as the cornerstone of social and human development. We believe that quality education for all can be achieved. We are committed to the development of an ethos of peace and participation where children, teachers and communities are the primary drivers of change, where children learn to learn and their education is key to improving their lives and that of their families, thus producing a large scale social change.