One Heart, One Beat: Latido Latino 2020

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By Jessica Piene, Enseña por México Alumna; Natalia Herrera, Empieza por Educar Alumna; and Rodolfo Unibazo, Enseña Chile Alumnus
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Lea esta historia en español 

From the Sonora Desert in Mexico to Patagonia, from the coast to the jungle to the Altiplano, from South America to North America to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, more than 600 alumni, teachers, and staff members of Teach For All network partners in the USA, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Spain connected in the fourth edition of Latido Latino, the annual event that brings together Teach For All’s Latin American and Spanish-speaking community, which was held virtually this year.

Despite the enormous challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic at a global level, the organizing committee of Latido Latino, made up of alumni from the Latin American region, redesigned the event, which was meant to be held in Ecuador, into a remote experience of connection, creation, and redefinition of our Latin American identity. The sessions were translated into Spanish and Portuguese to strengthen integration, eliminate our language barriers, and to open the doors to Spanish and Portuguese-speaking teachers across the network.

“Latido Latino brings us together every year to share learning, solve challenges together, and share initiatives that support systemic change in education in the region. It is an event full of diversity and connection." — Steffy Ramos, alumna and staff member of Enseña Ecuador.

For six days, Latido Latino 2020 attendees had the opportunity to build deep connections with others across the network through workshops, discussions, exhibitions, and meetings focused on different questions, such as:

  • Who are we as a movement?
  • What mobilizes us?
  • What inspires us and what are doing to positively impact education in our countries?
  • And finally,  what are we committed to as a movement?

Throughout the event, attendees presented projects and initiatives they’re working on, and we invited representatives of organizations outside the network to share their work and experiences as well. On the final day, we hosted a Diversity for Social Transformation webinar and the closing event, where we invited alumni, students, and special guests to celebrate with us by sharing their artistic talents. All of these activities were designed to inspire collective actions at the Latin American level that will have an impact on local communities and the region.

“We cannot wait for the world to end to value our identity, we can value it now and gather around what that means." — Angélica Montes, alumna of Enseña por México.

 

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Attendance at Latido Latino tripled thanks to the event being virtual. Of the total number of attendees surveyed, 88% agreed that the event allowed them to build deep connections to generate collective actions that impact local communities. And 78% agreed that being part of the experience allowed them to build alliances inside and outside of the network.

The Latin American community within the Teach For All network continues to grow and we are already starting to plan and dream about the next annual meeting. We hope that the current global situation will allow us to meet in person, though we are considering creating an event that has both in-person and online elements, as many more people were able to be part of Latido Latino this year thanks to it being virtual. We hope to see you all at the next event so we can celebrate all that we have built and continue building together—always remembering that we are one heart, one beat, we are Latido Latino.

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