Medellín
Colombia
Medellín is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Antioquia. It is the second-most populous city in the country. The municipality is territorially organized in 6 geographical areas, which are made up of 16 Communes (275 official urban neighborhoods) and 5 Townships.
With a population of 2,550,000 inhabitants, Medellín has a territorial extension of 375 km2, where 73% of the territory corresponds to the rural area (275 km2) and the remaining 27% to the urban area (100 km2).
Between 2010 and 2018 the incidence of monetary poverty in Medellín went from 22% to 12%. And the incidence of extreme monetary poverty between 2010 and 2018 went from 5% to 3%. Last year, the number of extreme poor population in the municipality decreased by 21%, compared to the immediately previous year. Extreme poverty in Medellín was lower than that observed in the Nation, which was 7.4% for the year 2017.
Between 2010 and 2018, the Gini coefficient, which measures the degree of inequality in income distribution, went from 0.55 in 2010 to 0.508 in 2018.
After having been, at the end of the last century, one of the most dangerous cities in the world due to drug trafficking, Medellín has managed to transform itself drastically and become an active, creative and proactive city.
Medellín welcomed the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals -SDG- since 2016. The city has a local prioritization on the subject, with goals and result indicators by 2030, an exercise that since 2016 has been supported by a program called “Medellín, How Are We Going” that measures and analyzes the main advances and challenges for achieving the SDGs.
Especially with SDG 4, Medellín has been a city committed to mobilizing its educational project through social mobilization for education and improving the educational quality of its institutions.
Formal and Non-formal Learning Infra-structure
Colombian formal education system is made up of early childhood education, preschool education, basic education (five grades of primary and four grades of secondary), high school education (two grades that can be academical or technical and awards bachelor's degree), and higher education that includes undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. In its non-formal scheme, it incorporates what is known as Education for Employment, Human Development (technical education) and Continuing Education.
To guarantee a culture of lifelong learning, Medellin has an offer from private and public institutions. There are also public institutions that support education such as the Teacher Innovation Center –Mova–, the Higher Education Agency of Medellín –Sapiencia–, Vivero del Software, and the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Through their work, research groups and networks of teachers are constantly leading innovation processes, transferring knowledge, and educational experiences. Within their models, they provide scholarships for teachers and students as well.
Sapiencia has impacted around 14,000 people through scholarships. It also has a digital education model –@Medellin– for higher education through ICT, which integrates the work of three public universities and has around 7,500 students now. Digital education is also provided for senior adults. A new campus is under construction in the western area of the city, which will provide higher education for 8,000 students.
Additionally, there is a network of artistic and cultural practices with an offer for infant, child, adolescent, and youth groups. This network is formed by the network of Escuelas de Formación Artística that includes music, dance, performing, media and visual arts and another network –Red Catul– that integrates 16 cultural sites, which are spread throughout the city and have the capacity to impact around 400,000 people each year through various actions (including workshops and formative actions via different languages of art).
3/ Its Learning City Developments (a historic account of how the learning city has developed and how. Who are the key stakeholders, how is it organised and who is delivering the initiative) (300 words)
Medellín is no longer on the list of the most violent cities in the world and is now recognized for its innovation and transformation, made possible by the commitment of local authorities and different stakeholders on education and culture.
By fulfilling the commitment to guarantee access, inclusion and learning for a dignified and peaceful Medellín, the city is implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and local policies and programs in a joint and co-responsible work where the different partnership models assign roles to the actors in order to ensure a Lifelong Learning Culture.
Buen Comienzo program, with the Early Childhood Consultative Committee, is made up of 18 local universities, one international university, and led by the Ministry of Education. Its function is to support and cooperate in the generation of knowledge and positioning of Medellín's Early Childhood Public Policy. The University-Company-State Committee (CUEE) facilitates the union of wills and knowledge between entrepreneurs, university managers, unions and the local and regional government, for the formulation of joint work agendas in Research, Development, and Innovation (R+D+i). This committee includes 11 higher education institutions of influence in the region, 21 companies, 7 technological development centers, and the Mayor's Office of Medellín, among other institutions, with the objective of reducing the gaps between the productive and academic sectors. “Cooperación Educativa”, a similar model of strategic alliances for the improvement of educational quality, includes partnerships among a university and a private school to accompany the Institutional Educational Project of official educational institutions that presented low levels of quality. To date, 11 partnerships of this type have been successfully developed. “Permanencia Educativa” is a strategy to ensure universal coverage and inclusion of children and adolescents out of school. “Entornos Escolares Protectores” benefits students with programs of school coexistence, leadership, democracy and peace.
Key Activities in the Learning Cities
Fourth International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC), Medellin, October 2019.
This event was dedicated to the theme of ‘Inclusion – A Principle for Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Cities’. At the conference, the President of Colombia joined around 650 participants, including 50 mayors, as well as government representatives and experts from all UNESCO world regions, to learn how learning cities are investing in education that benefits everyone, including often marginalized groups such as youth-at-risk, migrants, older people, digitally excluded populations and persons with disabilities.
https://www.learningcities2019.org/
Learning City Award in 2019
Medellín obtained this recognition as one of ten cities around the world for its good practices and positive impact in education. This award was a recognition of exemplary progress made by cities in promoting inclusive education and lifelong learning in local communities.
Participation in thematic clusters:
Within the UNESCO Global Network Learning Cities were organized in different thematic clusters for the development and reinforcement of policy strategies on lifelong learning in some areas. Medellín is participating in the following clusters: The first one is about Education for Sustainable Development and the second one is regarding Educational planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In April 2020, Medellin completed some initial activities of these clusters for 2020 by submitting the two surveys with a general evaluation of the educational ecosystem in the city.
Participation of Medellín in the webinar: “Migrants and refugees: Measures taken in the pandemic time”. Our city presented its response in relation to the population of migrants and COVID-19.
https://uil.unesco.org/event/gnlc-webinars-unesco-learning-cities-response-covid-19
UNESCO Creative Cities network award in 2015
Created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. Medellín received this distinction in 2015 for its commitment with creativity and cultural industries.
https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home
Key Priority Areas for Future Development
Buen Comienzo Program
To guarantee access to quality integral care service, favoring the development of children in the city of Medellín from their early childhood.
Curricular Transformation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
To design, implement and evaluate a new educational model for Medellín with its corresponding pedagogical, curricular and management principles that will ensure quality education and therefore the formation of dignified and free citizens.
Education for everyone
To guarantee universal coverage of the right to quality early childhood, basic and secondary technical education in conditions of access, permanence, inclusion, equity, equality, diversity and learning environments for a peaceful Medellín.
Teacher: Future Leaders
Implement programs aimed at welfare, research training, qualification of teachers and teaching managers to shape academic communities within good life.
Infrastructure and learning environments
Build, adapt and maintain the educational infrastructure as an aesthetic network of learning environments, with analog and digital equipment that promotes creativity, research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and also facilitates inclusion under the parameters of an eco-city.
Research, creation and appropriation of knowledge
To promote science, arts, techniques and technologies through the creation of an inter-institutional system supported by long-term public-private partnerships to consolidate Medellín as the capital of Colombia's Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Sub-networks of LCN of most interest
As mentioned above, Medellín is part of two sub-networks or thematic clusters in the learning network which have the following emphasis:
- Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):
ESD for 2030 places emphasis on education’s contribution to the achievement of the SDGs. It aims to reorient education and learning to contribute to sustainable development and to strengthen education and learning in all activities that promote sustainable development.
- Educational planning, monitoring and evaluation:
Implications for policy and planning in terms of system-wide and inter-sectoral coordination; equitable and efficient public financing of education; and learning assessment systems to monitor effective and relevant learning for all.
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