Publication: Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies: Lessons from Costa Rica (Omar Dengo Foundation)
Loading...
Published
2016
ISSN
Date
2017-03-15
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Since its creation over 25 years ago, the Omar Dengo Foundation (ODF) has played a critical role in developments related to use of educational technologies in schools in Costa Rica. The integration of technology in Costa Rican public schools took off in 1987 with the creation by the Ministry of Public Education of the National Program of Educational Informatics, which became the flagship program of the newly created Omar Dengo Foundation. This paper explores the development of ODF as a key partner institution to the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education and how changes in key legislation went hand-in-hand with ODF's growth and impact. It explores key lessons learned for policymakers looking for insights on how an external ICT/education agency can work productively in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Education and other government agencies to serve as main implementation agency for a large scale, national ICT in education initiative.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Jimenez Iglesias, Carla. 2016. Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies: Lessons from Costa Rica (Omar Dengo Foundation). SABER-ICT Technical Paper Series;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26260 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)Beginning in 1996, the Department of Education (DepEd) started to implement the first large scale ICT/education initiative in the Philippines. This effort was later strengthened and expanded to become the DepEd Computerization Program and DepEd Internet Connectivity Program (DCP/DICP). This was a huge undertaking for DepEd, both to oversee and to implement. Fortunately, many groups were willing to help – other government agencies, international and non-government organizations, private sector, local government units and higher education institutions. That said, coordinating the large scale implementation of ICT/education initiatives, as well as related donations and support from partners and key stakeholder groups, made it difficult to share information and expertise, coordinate public-private partnerships, and replicate and scale up successful projects. Many countries have created a distinct agency to coordinate and implement ICT/education. In the early stages of the introduction of ICTs in education in the Philippines, the government largely resisted this idea, although a number of related oversight and implementation models were proposed. Absent such an organization and/or related formal institutional structure education policymakers, stakeholders and practitioner groups explored other options.Publication Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)The Enlaces program has been responsible for the implementation of projects exploring the use of new technologies in education in Chile for over two decades. Born in 1992 as a small pilot project, Enlaces grew and evolved over time to become part of the permanent structure of the country's Ministry of Education. Its implementation strategy can be characterized as one 'from the periphery to the center', both in its territorial deployment and in the manner in which it was gradually institutionalized. The main focus of Enlaces has been to support the computerization of schools and to support teachers to incorporate the technology into their teaching practices. For most of its history, Enlaces has enjoyed committed political and financial support from Chile's national education authorities From its inception, Enlaces has been built on strategic alliances with regional universities, schools, and the private sector, each of which has played a leading role in the development and success of Enlaces. The program's commitment to follow a 'logical path' by supporting traditional structures and actors within the education sector, resulted in a slower implementation of new technologies in schools than in many comparator countries, and over time the program struggled to demonstrate significant impacts on educational outcomes, as traditional educational practices did not change significantly. As its program became institutionalized with the Ministry of Education, Enlaces became more embedded within, and dependent on, official bureaucratic structures and education policies, constraining the ability to innovate and remain flexible which character its early years.Publication Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)Despite many initiatives that were introduced beginning in 1990, Uruguay had had trouble implementing a national policy to introduce ICT in schools, especially in primary education. However, in 2006, a new initiative – 'Plan Ceibal' – was announced to provide laptops for all students and teachers in government- supported primary schools over a three-year period. Plan Ceibal had three pillars: (1) equity, social inclusion and equality in access to technology; (2) technology as a means to achieve these goals; and (3) education, universal law that aims to equal opportunities. The implementation phase of the Plan Ceibal was carried out in four stages, including a pilot phase that began in early 2007, As a result of the initial phases of Plan Ceibal, all of these primary schools (with subsequent stages of the project focusing on all secondary schools, teachers, students and their families) had the opportunity to use and learn with ICTs.Publication Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)Education Network Australia (EdNA) operated for fifteen years (1995-2010), providing a national education and training portal for quality resources, technology standards and educational community spaces. It was initiated in 1995, at a time when the World Wide Web was new and a number of significant international and national reports had been written about harnessing the benefits of digital technologies for education and training. This paper examines the origins and development of EdNA as a national collaboration of education authorities and as an online portal. It begins with an overview of the Australian context. It then goes on to outline the Australian context within which EdNA grew, the processes put in place to achieve its goals and the progress of EdNA as an ICT education initiative. A brief analysis of key internal and external factors and of policy outcomes then follows, before some concluding comments that highlight the dynamic nature and complexity of integrating ICT in education at a system-wide level.Publication Building and Sustaining National ICT/Education Agencies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016)Malaysia, like many countries in the region, has invested heavily in the use of ICT in schools since 1999. Unlike many other countries, Malaysia does not rely on a single specialized agency or a particular division of the Ministry of Education to implement its ICT in education programmes. Instead, the Malaysian government rolled out a nation-wide initiative known as the 'Smart School Initiative', which is based on strategic public-private partnerships involving various stakeholders including ministry, industry, and community. This case study examines how the Malaysian Smart School Initiative (MSSI) was developed and implemented in its initial years. The study demonstrates that the MSSI was the result of a deliberate, holistic approach to incorporate the use of ICT in Malaysian schools. The MSSI involved not only the use of ICT in the teaching and learning process, but also in the management and administrators and technicians in using ICT effectively in their daily practices.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Absolute and Relative Poverty Measurement(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-04)This paper reviews the debate opposing the absolute and relative approaches to monetary poverty measurement. The arguments for combining both approaches into a single “overall” monetary poverty measure are introduced. The most salient proposals of hybrid poverty lines are presented. Then, the reasons why specific poverty indices may be required when a hybrid line is used are discussed. The class of hierarchical poverty indices is described, focusing in particular on the hierarchical headcount ratio.Publication Domestically Flying Geese(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-03-14)This paper examines the evolving patterns of bilateral city-to-city manufacturing investment flows from 2000 to 2015 in China, which are aggregated from detailed firm-level investment transactions based on the administrative business registration database. The coastal regions were a more favorable destination for manufacturing investment prior to 2006 despite their higher wage levels. Since then, the trend has reversed, that is, the inland regions have attracted a growing share of manufacturing investment. The pattern is more pronounced for labor intensive manufacturing industries. The wage gap between coastal and inland cities is the main driver behind the giant flying geese, the relocation of manufacturing firms from coastal to inland areas.Publication Bangladesh Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes(World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2015)The Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes - Accounting and Auditing (ROSC A&A) program is part of a 12-module joint World Bank-IMF initiative to assist member countries to strengthen their financial systems by improving their capacity to comply with internationally recognized standards and codes. The ROSC A&A program focuses on the institutional framework underpinning national accounting and auditing practices, and degree of conformity with international standards and good practices. This 2014 update to the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes – Accounting and Auditing (ROSC A&A) assesses the degree to which the policy recommendations of the 2003 ROSC A&A review have been implemented, identifies issues that have emerged since the last review, and proposes a number of policy recommendations aimed at further improving the quality of corporate financial reporting and auditing which contributes to improving country’s business climate, investors’ confidence and economic growth potential of Bangladesh. The policy recommendations should form the basis for a prioritized, stakeholder-driven Country Action Plan (CAP), aimed to assist in further enhancing financial reporting processes in accordance with international standards and good practices, taking into account Bangladesh’s country specific circumstances.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication How to Escape the Microfinance Lending Squeeze(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-09)Across the world, small-scale lenders - including microfinance institutions (MFIs), community-based financial institutions, and other nonbank financial institutions - have grappled with uncertainty through the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as portfolio quality deteriorated and capital buffers were drawn down. Ethiopia’s microfinance borrowers - particularly micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are currently facing a financing squeeze that undermines their resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and threatens to slow their recovery. Although Ethiopian MFIs entered the crisis in good financial health, they soon began to face deteriorating portfolios and a contraction in liquidity. Drawing on data collected from a panel of major MFIs, this policy brief provides an overview of the microfinance lending squeeze in Ethiopia and outlines ways to overcome it. Sections one and two looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Ethiopian MFIs and on their borrowers, respectively, and show how MFIs responded to liquidity constraints by cutting off financing to MSEs. Sections three and four discuss possible ways out of the crisis, outlining four concrete ways to ease the squeeze and highlighting new interventions in Ethiopia that provide emergency financing to MFIs and the MSEs they serve. The aim of this brief is to shed light on the lending squeeze in Ethiopia, and to share lessons for post-pandemic microfinance lending globally.