By Jamie McIntyre

The local non-profit Bacaanda Foundation was started modestly in 2008 by the Jarnryd family in Huatulco. “Bacaanda” is a Zapotec word meaning “dream” and this charity has turned dreams into reality for thousands of children, families and communities.

With registered charity status in USA, Canada and Mexico (where it is also known as El Sueño Zapoteco), the foundation now has the support of a generous and growing donor community. As a registered charity it can now issue a tax receipt in the currencies of all three countries, which allows donors to offset their cash or in-kind donation.

Bacaanda’s goal is to invest in education as the primary tool to pave the way for a better future for children in rural communities. Since 2013 it has invested more than 2.1 million USD to support delivery of quality education in rural communities across the Santa Maria Huatulco and Pochutla regions of Oaxaca. More than 85% of the funds raised have been invested directly into programs, with the remainder covering the costs of its small office in Tangolunda.

The early focus was its “Adopt a School Program”. With the generosity of its “adopters,” consisting of hundreds of donors and volunteers, and the support of CONAFE (Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo, the National Council for Promoting Education), the foundation has completed the new construction or refurbishment of schools and teachers’ quarters in over forty communities. In addition, two teacher training facilities were built in Santa Maria Huatulco and Pochutla, where young teachers receive their initial training and ongoing support.
While there remains a significant need for better schools and infrastructure in these regions, the Foundation recently made a strategic decision to target student achievement as its key measure of success. As a result, it has begun to transition away from a focus on construction and infrastructure projects to one on technology-enabled classroom learning.

With its experience working in isolated rural communities, where attracting and retaining good teachers is very difficult, the Foundation came to understand that technology-based learning is a critical component in achieving better student learning outcomes. Also, since few schools in rural Oaxaca go beyond 8th grade, it was important to find a way to accelerate learning for children enrolled in primary grades. This led to the creation of the Foundation’s “Intelligent Rural Schools Program (IRS).

This program currently includes 643 students in 52 schools – 36 schools connected to the internet and 16 offline schools that use iPads with preloaded interactive educational software. Internet connections are delivered via Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system.

Accelerating student learning in low-income countries

The question of how to meet the educational needs of children in low-income countries has been studied extensively. Perhaps the most interesting perspectives are those of return on investment (ROI) and cost-benefit analysis, which consider societal benefit as a key metric in deciding how to deliver effective education in these countries. A team of economists and policy analysts looked at “Improving Learning in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries” (Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 14: 2023).

The authors of the report conclude that it is no longer a significant challenge to get children into primary schools in low-income countries with some countries now reporting virtually 100% enrollment. The problem is that despite increases in spending by as much as 80% to achieve this remarkable enrollment over the past two decades, there has been very little impact on student learning outcomes.

They conclude that the focus going forward must be on student learning and improving the efficiency of the education system and that by deploying just two (of 150 considered), low-cost and focused educational interventions, the system can reap dramatic returns in terms of student achievement as ratio of the costs incurred.

For example, the authors describe how one intervention, described as “teaching students at the right level, with the use of technology” can deliver up to $65.00 USD of social and economic benefit for every $1.00 USD spent.

This approach is at the core of Bacaanda Foundations’ “Intelligent Rural Schools” program. To confirm its efficacy, and with the support of Conafe, the Foundation is now able to compare grade-specific student learning outcomes in the IRS group to those of students who do not have access to the same technologies. Early results of these tests show significantly enhanced learning outcomes for the IRS students.

Cerro Clanes Magdalena – Bacaanda’s newest project

This story is playing out right now in the community of Cerro Clanes Magdalena, a very remote community (a 4-hour, very challenging drive from Huatulco) in the Pochutla region, where Zapotec is the predominant language spoken.

This is the largest Bacaanda Foundation project to date. Six classrooms and a teachers’ residence are being refurbished for 74 children and 5 CONAFE teachers assigned to the community. The classrooms will all be internet-connected by Starlink, and have iPad tablets loaded with learning software. The Foundation has already deployed its training staff to the community to train and coach the teachers on how to use the technology; monitoring and coaching the teachers will be an ongoing component of the program. The Foundation will be working with families and a school committee to ensure the project fits the community’s needs.

In late January, a small group of Foundation staff and donors visited Cerro Clanes to inaugurate the project. The group visited one of the newly refurbished classrooms, where 5th- and 6th-grade students were having their very first experience in a smart classroom. Each student had an internet-connected iPad; a Bacaanda technology trainer was leading their first on-line class, in which the lesson was being fed through the trainer’s iPad connected to a smart TV mounted in the front of the classroom. Parents and community members were crowded in the doorway and around the windows, clearly intrigued by what was happening in the classroom.

Bacaanda Foundation – looking forward

The Foundation’s Board of Directors has carefully considered its strategic direction going forward, which is to leverage the use of technology to improve teaching and student learning and to help build positive social dynamics in the communities that it serves. But the challenge remains daunting. Just in the two CONAFE districts of Santa María and Pochutla, where the Foundation has directed its efforts, there are 320 schools, with a total enrollment of 2,680 students.

Within its current resources, The Foundation has committed to focusing on a limited number of schools and communities, starting with roughly 60 schools in 30 communities – with the goal of achieving greater student learning impact in each community before growing beyond these numbers.

Bacaanda’s success going forward will be driven by the generosity and time of its supporters. The Foundation is looking for volunteers to assist its programs and fundraising efforts. In particular, Bacaanda is looking for volunteers with grant-writing experience in the US and Canada.

Contact us if you are interested in helping the Bacaanda Foundation as a donor, volunteer, or other kind of support. http://www.bacaandafoundation.org
Huatulco office (958-581-0536) bacaandafoundation@hotmail.com

Jamie McIntyre
President
Bacaanda Foundation Canada