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OAS Virtual Educa Initiative Held its Annual Board Meeting

The Board and Advisory Council of Virtual Educa, an initiative promoted by the Organization of American States (OAS), held its annual meeting this week in Washington, DC, which included presentations of its 2014 Activity Report, the strategic projects in the adoption of the 2015 Work Plan, the program of meetings to organize in 2015 and the updating of the exhibition "Innovation in Education: Good practices in Latin America and the Caribbean," to be at presented at the Summit of the Americas in April in Panama.

Virtual Educa is an initiative of multilateral cooperation in education, innovation, competitiveness and human development promoted by the OAS throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The meeting was opened by the Chair of the Board of Virtual Educa and Vice President of the Government of Peru, Marisol Espinosa; the Director of the Department of Human Development and Education of the OAS, Marie Levens; the President of Virtual Educa, Heitor Gurgulino; and the Secretary General of Virtual Educa, José María Antón.

In their speeches, officials stressed the importance of Virtual Educa as a platform for convergence between international organizations and governments, academia, corporations and civil society. In addition, the meeting was attended by representatives of the member countries.

In her speech, Vice President Espinosa highlighted the work done by the OAS and the Government of Peru in the XV Virtual Educa, held in June 2014 in Lima. She also said Virtual Educa is an excellent project to demonstrate the importance of innovation to promote inclusion and development to the actors involved in decision-making in education policy.

For her part, Director Levens said that since its inception, Virtual Educa has been an initiative that promotes cooperation, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas and successful experiences that allow countries to address challenges in educational terms and using information technology (ICT) from a multidisciplinary and integrated perspective.

For his part, Secretary General Anton recalled the origins of Virtual Educa fifteen years ago and mentioned the various projects in development, including the Virtual Educa network of schools classrooms, the Institute of Teacher Education and the Observatory and the Documentation Center of the "Inter-American System for Educational Innovation." Secretary General Anton also highlighted the importance of public-private cooperation in Virtual Educa, as a result of the provisions of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. The Permanent Representative of Peru to the OAS, Juan Jiménez Mayor, the alternate representative of Mexico, Arturo Barrio, and the directors of the Foundations of Virtual Educa in Peru, Mexico and the United States also participated in the meeting.

The XVI International Virtual Educa 2015 will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, from June 22 to 26. The meeting brings together institutional leaders, school administrators, educators and experts from Latin America and the Caribbean involved with the processes of empowerment of the benefits of innovation in the field of education.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-048/15