Fe y Alegría

Fe y Alegría
Established 1955 (1955)
Location
Founder
 Jose Maria Velaz, SJ
Director
 Agustín Alonso SJ
Affiliations Jesuit, Catholic
Budget
US$ 388,962.00 per year[1]
Website FeAlegria

Fe y Alegría is a federation of local organizations which offer educational opportunities to the poorest sectors of society, along with teacher training and educational radio, in 19 countries.[1] From its main office in Bogota, Colombia, Fe y Alegría advances the tradition of Jesuit education under an international board of directors.[2]

History

Fe y Alegría was founded in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1955 by Fr. José María Vélaz, S.J. Jose's first collaborator was a man who gave up his own home for a school, from his belief in education, and that sense of determination at the grass-roots level has characterized the spread of the movement. It spread rapidly in Venezuela, where it encompassed 10,000 students by 1964.[3] By 1966 Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Central America, and Colombia were a part of the network.[4] It remains a movement among the rural poor, a well-known description being: “Fe y Alegría starts where the street ends.”[5] Its schools surpass in ways the performance of government-run schools, in spite of their generally poorer clientele:[5] a World Bank study in 2014 found that students brought into Fe y Alegría schools "tend to perform as well on test scores, if not slightly better than comparable students in other schools."[6]

Fe y Alegria supports schools from the primary through the post-secondary level, including vocational training, among the poorest and most marginalized populations. Its teachers are usually paid by the government.[7] It trains teachers and offers opportunities for adults to complete their education through distance learning. It also promotes the integration of children with disabilities into the educational system and organizes campaigns to increase support for public education.[8] Its programs may include inexpensive lunches, sexual education to avoid early-teen pregnancies, and summer education and recreation programs.[9]

Locations

About one million students[6] are registered in over one thousand campuses with 38,000 workers (plus volunteers) and over fifty radio stations.[10] Country organizations[11] and year of founding are:

  • Argentina 1996
  • Bolivia 1966[12]
  • Brasil 1980
  • Chad 2007
  • Chile 2005
  • Colombia 1971
  • Dominican Republic 1991
  • Ecuador 1964
  • El Salvador 1968
  • Guatemala 1976[13]
  • Haiti 2006
  • Honduras 2000
  • Italy 2001
  • Nicaragua 1974
  • Panama 1965
  • Paraguay 1992
  • Peru 1966[14]
  • Spain 1985
  • Uruguay 2009
  • Venezuela 1955[15]

See also

Fe y Alegría receives assistance from three Spanish organizations having similar goals, and from a fund-raising effort in the United States:

References

Coordinates: 4°37′15.73″N 74°3′52.86″W / 4.6210361°N 74.0646833°W / 4.6210361; -74.0646833

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