The volunteers on IRA’s International Development in Latin America Committee coordinate activities in Mexico, Central America, and South America, working with councils and national affiliates across the region. This active group also maintains its own website.
Thriving programs in Latin America include those described below. For additional information about activities in this region, contact our Division of International Development.
If you are a council leader interested in working with a Latin American reading association or literacy group, or an organizer of literacy projects in Latin America, please visit our International Project Partnerships area.
Primary Grades Reading in Developing Countries Project (2007–present)
IRA is leading this new EQUIP project which is focusing on primary grades reading in Spanish-speaking Latin America, Arabic-speaking Middle East, and Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The objective of this activity is to use research conducted by IRA on early grades reading policies in countries in these regions both at the school level and the preservice level to help support the development of a document that will serve as a guidance to aid international and national education development donors and NGO partners in developing pertinent and effective early grades reading programs in these countries.
Partnership Development (ongoing)
Members of IRA’s professional network participate collaboratively on professional development services and advocacy campaigns, partnership with other professional organizations, and cross-national exchange. Several groups have developed national and local journals and newsletters, focused on research and best practice. In Latin America, network members have expertise in areas including professional development of teachers, school-community partnerships, publication of classroom materials, libraries, adult literacy, special needs learners, multiple language literacy, educational technology, college reading, education of street children, and action research. To link with these activities, contact IRA’s International Development Division.
National Affiliate Conferences
Many Latin American IRA affiliates hold regular conferences geared particularly to concerns in their countries. Find conference listings in the Meetings area of this website.
Lectura y Vida
For 25 years, the IRA journal Lectura y Vida has served Latin American educators with information on theory, research, and practice.
Occasional publications
The International Development in Latin America Committee publishes occasional reports and other documents of particular interest to educators in the region. Visit the committee website for further information.
Building Capacity for Reading and Writing Based on the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project, by the International Reading Association, the Soros Foundation — Guatemala, and the Guatemalan Reading Council. Lea este informe en español.
Strengthening Professional International Networks (2001–2003)
A two-year grant from the Ford Foundation supported IRA’s Latin American affiliates in building a professional community that can activate and sustain professional development and education reform.
Venezuela—The School for Alphabetizers
This project created centers for the promotion of reading and writing as spinoffs from existing educational efforts. The centers house books and other educational materials and are staffed by literacy trainers, or “alphabetizers,” under the auspices of the University of the Andes and in coordination with reading specialists from public libraries in Merida.
Bolivia—Canastas de lectura y memoria oral
Families from the barrios of Alto Pagador and Villa Mexico in Cochabmaba had the opportunity to borrow baskets of books and magazines. In addition, oral storytelling traditions were documented and new materials in Spanish and Quechua were developed to preserve the stories.
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