Professional Development and Educational Resources

The Professional Development and Education al Resource Component of the Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices promotes professional development and educational resource activities to support the practice of democratic education in the Americas.

Activities and Products:

•  Hemispheric Course for Teachers: The Inter-American Democratic Charter and the Teaching of Democratic Values and Practices , Pilot in Peru
A pilot project to train 750 teachers rooted in the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, was implemented in Peru in 2006, supported by a grant from the U.S. Mission to the OAS and with partners including the Ministry of Education of Peru, Ministers of Education Argentina, Fe y Alegria of Peru, and the National Distance Education University of Spain (UNED). The project seeks to implement a distance education course, for primary and secondary teachers, to provide them with the basic pedagogic tools for teaching democratic values and practices in their classrooms.
The lessons learned from the course have been compiled in a document that will be presented to the CIE through the Inter-American Program in order to inform policy debates in the hemisphere on teaching democratic citizenship. In addition, a short promotional video with testimonies from participating teachers and students has been produced and will be presented to Member States and potential donors in the future.
- See Progress Report of Peru Pilot
- Video: Course on democratic Classrooms in Peru

•  Education for Democratic Citizenship in the Caribbean: An On-Line Course for Educators
Thanks to a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Department of Education and Culture is currently adapting the Spanish version of the distance course for teachers for the English-speaking Caribbean. This project aims to strengthen teaching practices at the classroom level so that teachers and students become more reflective. The project will accomplish this goal by developing an on-line multimedia system for distance education, to be supported by on-site tutors.
The first stakeholder meeting of the project was held in Christ Church, Barbados on July 12 and 13, 2007. The meeting brought together representatives of 9 Caribbean member states, from Ministries of Education, educational institutions and affiliated organizations, civil society and international organizations, to discuss the proposed content of the distance course and to determine how that content might be shaped to meet the specific needs and concerns of Caribbean countries. The next steps of the project involve identification of territories to be involved in the pilot, crafting of the curriculum for the distance course by a team of experts, and the assessment of technological requirements for the delivery of the distance course.
More information is available at http://www.oas.org/documents/sap/caribbean/seminar

•  Young Scholar Program
In an effort to incorporate youth within the planning and implementation of the Inter-American Program, the OAS has developed the Young Scholar Program. The Young Scholar Program's objective is to provide an opportunity for youth from the Americas, and other regions, to work actively in the Inter-American Program's activities, as part of their college coursework or as an independent initiative. This work may include research, meeting participation, translations, planning and participation in Program events within and outside the United States, among others.
For more information on Program activities, click here