Fundacion San Genaro

Mission

Fundación San Genaro is committed to enhancing the quality of life for vulnerable communities in Argentina through comprehensive educational, health, and community development programs. We strive to empower rural communities by providing sustainable access to critical resources and educational opportunities.

Vision

Our vision is to create a future where all members of rural communities in Argentina have the knowledge, resources, and opportunities to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the sustainable development of their communities.

Core Values

• Empowerment: we believe in empowering individuals through education and skill development, enabling them to improve their lives and communities.
• Inclusivity: we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all community members have the opportunity to participate and benefit from our programs regardless of their background or circumstances.
• Sustainability: our approach emphasizes sustainable solutions that respect local cultures and environments and aim to provide long-term benefits.
• Collaboration: we value partnerships and collaborations with local and international organizations to bring diverse expertise and resources to the communities we serve.
• Integrity: we conduct our work with the highest level of integrity and transparency, ensuring that all resources are used efficiently to maximize community impact.
• Innovation: we continuously seek innovative solutions to address the complex challenges faced by rural communities, using technology and creativity to enhance our program effectiveness.
• Commitment to communities: we are deeply committed to the communities we serve, actively engaging with them to ensure our initiatives support their growth and development.
• Joyful team spirit: we foster a work environment filled with joy and enthusiasm, believing that a positive team spirit is infectious and essential for making a meaningful impact in our communities.

As the Team Lead at Fundacion San Genaro, Patricio Marquinez plays a pivotal role in steering our projects towards successful outcomes, ensuring that our initiatives align with our mission to improve educational opportunities and community development in rural areas. His primary responsibilities include overseeing the strategic planning and execution of projects, managing our team, and ensuring that all activities are aligned with our organizational goals.

Key Responsibilities:
- Project management: responsible for the development and implementation of project plans that address the specific needs of our target communities. This involves setting project goals, timelines, and budgets, as well as monitoring progress to ensure that we meet our objectives efficiently and effectively.
- Team management: leads a diverse team of professionals, ensuring that each team member is equipped to contribute their best work.
- Stakeholder engagement: engages with various stakeholders, including  donors and partner organizations, to build and maintain relationships that support our project goals.
- Reporting and compliance: ensures that all project documentation is in compliance with organizational and donor requirements. He regularly reports on project status to our external stakeholders, providing transparent updates on achievements and challenges.

Our Team Lead and supporting team members are able to effectively support the LEAP Project while managing other priorities within our organization due to our strategic planning and the commitment of our staff. The Team Lead can specifically allocate 3-4 hours weekly to oversee the LEAP Project. This commitment reflects our organizational priority to integrate advanced ICT solutions into rural education.

To further ensure effectiveness, our Team Lead is supported by a committed staff, each bringing specialized skills. The Project Manager oversees daily operations, ensuring project milestones align with defined goals and will dedicate specific hours weekly to LEAP Project coordination. Additionally, two team members are responsible for carrying out the project activities, one of whom is a Technology Teacher who dedicates time to address the technical aspects and to ensure the educational objectives are met, focusing on the integration of ICT into the curriculum and teacher training.

Our organizational structure is designed for flexibility, allowing team members to pivot between projects as needed. Regular team meetings and updates ensure all staff are aware of project requirements and progress, allowing for seamless integration of efforts. Prior to the start of the LEAP Project, all involved staff members will participate in a specific briefing to align understanding and expectations.

Enhancing education in rural Argentina through digital tools, internet connectivity, and tailored training for schools

The "ICT for Rural Education" project aims to address the severe educational and technological disparities that exist in rural Argentina, specifically targeting the rural communities in the province of Santiago del Estero. This problem involves infrastructural deficiencies and a lack of educational opportunities that leverage modern technology, which is vital in today’s increasingly digital world.

More than 70% of rural students in Santiago del Estero lack internet access, severely limiting their ability to engage with digital educational resources and engage actively in the modern digital era. This gap limits students' educational opportunities that are crucial for their personal growth and future educational prospects. The absence of necessary technological infrastructure in schools—such as computers, reliable internet, and digital learning tools—compromises the quality of education. Rural schools are often unable to incorporate contemporary teaching methodologies that rely on digital technology, further widening the educational gap between rural and urban areas.

Teachers frequently lack the training required to effectively use and teach with digital technologies. This gap in skills translates into underutilization of any available technologies and perpetuates a cycle of educational disadvantage. To address these challenges, the "ICT for Rural Education" project is designed to enhance technological access, including the installation of internet in schools to ensure connectivity, and to improve the technological infrastructure within rural schools by providing essential equipment such as netbooks and computers.

The project also aims to develop ICT competency through comprehensive training workshops for teachers and digital literacy workshops for students, aimed at fostering a robust digital culture within the educational community. By integrating ICT into daily educational practices, the project seeks to elevate the quality of education and make learning more accessible and engaging, thus supporting the socio-educational inclusion of all students.

Our solution, "ICT for Rural Education," aims to enhance educational quality and increase socio-educational inclusion by equipping rural schools in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, with the necessary technology and training. We begin by upgrading the technological infrastructure within these schools, donating and installing essential equipment such as netbooks, desktop computers, printers, and projectors. This step ensures that both students and teachers have access to the digital tools required for contemporary education.

A crucial component of our solution involves establishing reliable internet connections at these schools. Many rural areas in Santiago del Estero (more than 70%) suffer from poor or non connectivity at all, which severely limits access to educational resources. To address this, we partnershiped with Jangala, a non-profit organization that provides devices designed to enable internet connectivity in remote areas.

Alongside the hardware installation, we conduct comprehensive ICT training workshops tailored for teachers and digital literacy workshops designed for students. The training for teachers focuses on developing their skills to integrate technology effectively into their teaching practices and to maintain this technology efficiently. For students, the workshops aim to build foundational digital skills and enhance their understanding of how to use technology as a tool for learning, thus preparing them for future academic and career opportunities in an increasingly digital world.

We complement these direct interventions with ongoing support and routine evaluations. This continuous engagement helps us assess the impact of the technology and training provided, ensuring that the needs of the students and teachers are met and that the project adapts to evolving educational requirements.

• Literature reviews: we use reports from reputable organizations such as UNICEF in Argentina, which analyze the current state of rural education in the country and access to ICT in primary and secondary schools. 
• Desktop research: we have reviewed broader reports developed by Argentinos por la Educación, which analyze the school performance of students across provinces, with Santiago del Estero often ranking as one of the lowest. This research also covers access to connectivity for primary school students, highlighting significant gaps that our project aims to address.
• Feasibility studies: our project, which started before the pandemic in 2020, quickly expanded as teachers and school directors became more eager and interested to use ICT in the classroom, driven by the increased need for digital tools during the pandemic. We conducted visits to schools, surveyed to assess the initial state of each school regarding their access to technological devices and internet connectivity. Currently, we conduct a diagnostic evaluation to understand the specific needs and conditions of each school before beginning our interventions, followed by an impact analysis after the project's completion.
• User interviews: throughout the project execution, we make regular visits to the schools to monitor progress and conduct interviews with directors and teachers to gather feedback. This ongoing dialogue helps us to adapt and refine our strategies in real-time to better meet the needs of the schools.

The data collected from the "TIC 2022 Diagnostic for Rural Schools" has provided valuable insights into the current state of technology access and utilization in rural schools in Santiago del Estero, which significantly informed our strategies moving forward with the "ICT for Rural Education" project.

Key findings from the diagnostic:

•    Electricity access: most schools have access to electricity (82% without problems), with 64% using solar panels and 36% connected to the electrical grid. However, 18% of schools still face issues with their electricity supply, impacting their ability to use ICT resources consistently.
• ICT Equipment: there is a varying degree of access to digital devices across schools: 1) Netbooks: significant disparities exist in the number of netbooks per school, with some having as few as three and others up to 20. Overall, only 25% of schools reported having adequate numbers of functioning netbooks; 2)Desktop computers: desktop availability is higher, with 87% reported as functional, but distribution remains uneven; 3) Projectors and printers: most schools have access to projectors (75% have them, all functional), but printer availability is less consistent, with only 60% of schools equipped with functioning units.

2. Training needs:

• There is an expressed high urgency for training in ICT for both students and teachers, with nearly all schools rating the urgency at the highest level (10 out of 10). This underscores a critical need for focused training programs to enhance skills and utilization.

3. Usage and importance:

• The level of ICT usage in schools varies, but the importance of ICT in education is universally recognized among the surveyed directors, indicating a strong foundation for further integration of technology in teaching and learning processes.
• Teacher knowledge in ICT is notably low, with 66% of schools reporting only one teacher with some level of ICT competence.

While we have gathered substantial qualitative data and some quantitative metrics indicating improvements in ICT access and usage in schools, our current evidence primarily points to outputs rather than outcomes. We have seen increases in the number of schools equipped with digital tools and more teachers using these tools in their classrooms. However, data linking these changes directly to improved student learning outcomes and long-term educational advancement is still lacking. This gap highlights the need for a more structured approach to data collection and analysis that can clearly demonstrate the causality between our interventions and educational improvements.

Engaging in a LEAP Project is timely for several reasons:

1. Scaling and replication: as we plan to expand our program to cover more rural areas of Santiago del Estero and Argentina, it becomes essential to have a solid evidence base that not only supports the effectiveness of our approach but also guides the scaling process to ensure consistency and adaptability to new contexts.
2. Funding and sustainability: demonstrating the effectiveness of our interventions through rigorous evidence is key to securing ongoing funding from donors who are increasingly demanding more robust forms of accountability and visible impact.
3. Optimization of resources: a clearer understanding of what works and what doesn’t allows us to allocate resources more efficiently and make informed decisions that maximize the impact of every dollar spent.

The current global focus on digital education, especially since the pandemic, has underscored the essential role of digital literacy in education and has been accompanied by an increase in funding for such initiatives. Strengthening our evidence base through a LEAP Project will enable us to meet these challenges head-on.

1. How does the integration of ICT tools into rural school curriculums affect students' engagement and academic performance in comparison to schools without such integration?

• This question aims to quantify the direct impact of our technology interventions on student outcomes, providing evidence of effectiveness and areas for improvement.

2. What are the key factors influencing the successful adoption and sustained use of ICT by teachers in rural settings?

• This question seeks to identify the barriers and facilitators to technology adoption among teachers, which is critical for designing support and training programs that enhance long-term usage and effectiveness.

We define the following items as desired outputs from the LEAP Fellows:

1. Comprehensive evaluation framework:
Development of a detailed evaluation framework that includes both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies tailored to assess the impact of ICT integration in rural schools. This framework will guide our team in systematically collecting and analyzing data that can demonstrate causality and correlate various factors of ICT integration with educational outcomes. It will allow us to make data-driven decisions and provide evidence-based recommendations for scaling the program.

2. Implementation study design:
 A design for a series of implementation studies that detail the process evaluations of ICT deployment in schools. This includes user interviews, case studies, and regular feedback cycles that assess the usability and functionality of the technology, as well as the training programs for teachers.
These studies are intended to identify the operational strengths and weaknesses of our current program setup, providing insights into how the integration process can be improved, what barriers exist for teachers and students, and how these can be overcome.

3. ICT adoption strategy:
 A strategic document outlining best practices and innovative approaches for increasing the adoption rate of ICT tools among teachers in rural schools. The objective is to enhance the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of the ICT program by ensuring that teachers not only have the skills but also the continuous support and motivation to integrate technology into their teaching practices.

4. Monitoring and evaluation tool:
An M&E tool that includes data collection instruments, such as surveys, observation checklists, and interview guides, specifically designed for ongoing assessment of the program's impact on educational outcomes.
This toolkit will enable regular monitoring of the program’s effectiveness and facilitate timely adjustments.

We will adopt the comprehensive evaluation framework developed by the LEAP Fellows to establish a robust mechanism for assessing the effectiveness of our ICT interventions. This framework will be integrated into our ongoing monitoring and evaluation processes. Training sessions will be conducted for our project team to familiarize them with the new evaluation tools and techniques, ensuring that data collection and analysis are performed consistently across all project sites.

The designs for implementation studies provided by the LEAP Fellows will be used to conduct detailed process evaluations. These evaluations will track the deployment of ICT resources, the training of teachers, and the usage of technology in classrooms. Feedback collected through these studies will be reviewed quarterly by the project management team to identify areas for improvement and to make necessary adjustments to the project implementation strategy. 

The ICT adoption strategy will be used to enhance teacher's engagement. We will integrate these strategies into teacher training programs. Regular workshops and follow-up sessions will be organized to maintain teacher enthusiasm and competence in using ICT tools. 

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tool will be adopted across all project schools to facilitate continuous assessment and feedback loops. We will train local project coordinators on how to use the tool effectively. This training will include how to collect, manage, and analyze data, as well as how to report findings.

By putting these outputs into action, we aim to improve the operational aspects of the "ICT for Rural Education" project and to build a stronger evidence base that can support scaling and replication efforts. 

The desired long-term outcomes of the 12-week LEAP Project sprint for our organization and the "ICT for Rural Education" initiative focus on enhancing impact, scalability, and sustainability. By the end of the sprint, we aim to have implemented rigorous research methodologies and innovative strategies that will significantly improve both our organizational capacity and the educational outcomes in rural Argentina.

We expect to establish a robust framework for continuous monitoring and evaluation, enriched by the tools and methods developed during the LEAP Project. Additionally, the evidence generated through the advanced research methodologies implemented will bolster our ability to attract new funding sources.

Moreover, by demonstrating measurable success and efficiency in implementing ICT solutions in rural schools, our organization will enhance its visibility. This will not only attract potential partners and collaborators but also help us expand our impact to other regions, replicating successful strategies in new settings.