By Ana Flórez

Darlyn Meza, former Minister of Education in El Salvador, spoke at AED in the fall of 2008.

"Continuity and consistency are the building blocks of sustainable development."
—Antonieta Harwood, AED chief of party in El Salvador

 

 

Twenty years ago, El Salvador was mired in a devastating civil war. It would have been impossible then for guerilla soldiers from the Farabundo Marti Front for the National Liberation Party, or FLMN, and government officials from the ARENA party to envision sitting next to each other in peaceful policy negotiations. While they have coexisted peacefully since then, the 2009 election tested the will of the two parties to adapt to a change in political power.

“For the first time since the war, the FLMN was likely to win the national election,” explained John Gillies, vice president and director of Latin America programs in the AED Global Education Center. “There was a real concern that the direction of the country’s education reform efforts would change with the new administration.”

But in October 2008, representatives of the FLMN and ARENA gathered around a conference table at AED’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of their meeting? To agree on national education priorities that could continue, regardless of which party was in power.

The three–day event brought together representatives from all parts of El Salvador’s political spectrum: ministry officials, businessmen, civil leaders, and education experts. It was the culmination of almost two decades of reconciliation and reconstruction efforts, and a continuation of a nearly 20–year–long partnership among AED, USAID, and the Ministry of Education.

Rebuilding a National Education System
El Salvador’s armed conflict began in 1980. Over the next 12 years, school buildings were damaged, students and teachers fled with their families, and the country’s education budget was slashed to increase funding for the military.

Dropout rates soared as the quality of education plummeted. The Ministry of Education was tasked with regulating, monitoring, and evaluating education matters, but was poorly prepared to do so.

When the ARENA government and the FLMN reached a peace agreement in 1992, AED began working their to improve schools and bring people together around education, an issue both sides agreed from the start was a priority.

Nearly 20 years later, AED is still there, having worked closely with each succeeding Minister of Education to provide technical support in areas such as curriculum reform, teacher training, and community and parent involvement.

“Continuity and consistency are the building blocks of sustainable development,” said Antonieta Harwood, AED’s chief of party in El Salvador. “AED’s long presence in El Salvador, combined with the country’s commitment to reconstruction, has developed a deep reservoir of trust and confidence with El Salvador’s policymakers.”

Commitment Upheld
Building on those existing relationships, AED prepared for the October 2008 negotiations by meeting in El Salvador with all parties that would attend the meeting in Washington.

The summit AED held last fall created a neutral space for open dialogue between two opposing parties. The outcome was a stronger national strategy that could not only improve schools and increase student achievement, but could also survive political fluctuations.

Those efforts were not in vain. On March 15, 2009, opposition leader Mauricio Funes from the FLMN was elected president. Shortly after his election, his education advisor confirmed that the party was committed to the framework agreed upon at the AED meetings.

“After a vicious civil war, El Salvador has managed to rebuild its country through reconciliation,” Gillies said. “It has been a privilege to be a partner in this process and contribute to building national consensus around a critical issue like education.”

For more information, contact Ana Flórez at aflorez@aed.org.

Ana Flórez is home office project director for EQUIP2 in El Salvador.