Mexico and Central America Knowledge Exchange

Pakistan

In November 2006, GFC organized its first Knowledge Exchange workshop in Latin America, bringing together a total of 22 partners from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic for three days of intense conversation on a wide variety of issues.

Session highlights included:

• Challenges in identifying and reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth
• Lessons learned and best practices in the areas of education, safety, and enterprise
• Rationale and strategies for involving the family and the community in child and youth development
• Systems and practices for better monitoring and evaluation, staff training, and financial sustainability
• Opportunities for networking and advocacy to effect change at the local, regional, and national levels

The workshop closed with an action-oriented session on next steps, which included broad ideas for ongoing communication and collaboration as well as specific requests for the sharing of a particular partner's materials and methodologies.

In the time since the workshop, we have been encouraged to see our partners following through on many of these ideas and generating new ones.