Quarterly Report 23: April 1 - June 30, 2021

The Program operates in Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, the Program worked with partner institutions to choose technical degree program subjects for revision in collaboration with employers. These subjects include Pediatric Nursing, Event Management, Basic and Advanced Cooking, and Purchasing and Inventory Management. Employers in the fields of nursing and software development have confirmed their participation in the revision process. The Program also conducted multiple trainings on strategies and tools for competency-based learning with a total of 72 staff and faculty members from ITSC and ITLA. In Guatemala, the Program launched an asynchronous 85-hour social emotional learning (SEL) course for pre-service and in-service teachers. As of June 2021, a total of 354 participants were enrolled, including 222 teacher trainers and staff from pedagogy departments from EFPEM, USAC-CUNOROC, and other universities in the country. By the close of the quarter, 94 participants had completed the introductory module. In Honduras, the Program finalized a practical guide on private sector engagement and alliance consolidation to be published next quarter. The Program continued to develop a guide on recruitment, outreach, admissions, and student support services for disadvantaged students. In Jamaica, the Program fully converted 10 courses in Agro-processing, Business Management, and Health and Wellness Tourism to an online format and is currently in the process of converting 13 more courses to ensure increased access to distance education and a blended format for courses. The Program also made progress in labor bridging activities. In Jamaica, 36% of graduates who completed the survey have a new or better employment, and 71% of those employed are completely satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their job conditions. In Honduras, 19% of graduates who completed surveys have new or better employment, and 36% of students reported that their employment status has been affected by COVID-19. The Program provided technical assistance to a university in Guatemala to conduct an in-depth tracer study of graduates from the Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, and Quiché campuses, which showed that 65% of technical students who responded to the study were employed. In the Dominican Republic, the Program held virtual meetings with ITLA and two meetings with ITSC to conduct an initial stocktaking of where these institutions are in their engagement with private sector. Both institutions are interested in organizing a permanent scholarship fund and in strengthening their capacity to facilitate and monitor alliances with businesses. The Program will develop a private sector engagement strategy for each institution based on these discussions and will incorporate trainings for staff assigned to alliances with private sector. In Guatemala, the Program's efforts to support students to complete self-guided e-modules on labor bridging and employability skills resulted in 41 additional students completing the course. The Program provided CV and job application coaching to 29 students and intensive entrepreneurship coaching to 15 students as they start their own businesses. In Jamaica, the Program held a small face-to-face World of Work session for nine final year students at the Knockalva Polytechnic College, which helped prepare students to transition into the workforce. The Program also made progress in graduations, student support, and scholarships. In the Dominican Republic, the Program conducted a needs assessment of partner institutions' information and technology (IT) systems to design an outreach, recruitment, and student support services strategy for each institution. Advance also worked with partner institutions to select scholarship holders – 10 from ITSC and six from ITLA – out of 165 applications. As part of the scholarship package, students received a laptop computer so that they can take virtual courses and complete assignments. In Guatemala, with academic and socioemotional and data coverage support from Advance, 37 scholarship holders from the Fruit Production degree program at USAC-CUNOROC's Huehuetenango and Jacaltenango campuses and 26 scholarship holders from the Hotel Management and Gastronomy degree program at URL completed the administrative processes for graduation this quarter and will participate in their graduation ceremony next quarter. Meanwhile, seven scholarship holders from the Physical and Occupational Therapy degree program concluded their professional practicums and others advanced with their final practical exams to complete all requirements.