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Prestigious prizes awarded to Colombian, Brazilian, and Pan-African education initiatives
At the Jacobs Foundation, we are committed to the funding, development, and application of best practices for learners at the school level.
The winners of the 2024 Best Practice Prizes were awarded in a ceremony held in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, November 15, 2024. The ceremony brought together the ten finalists along with education partners from around the world. The winners were selected from over 200 applications based on their effective application of scientific evidence, use of a clear results framework, and potential for scaling and implementation around the world. They bring innovative, evidence-based solutions to some of education’s most pressing challenges.
Karen Levesque from Imagine Worldwide, Beatriz Cardoso from Laboratório de Educação, and Vicky Colbert from Fundación Escuela Nueva all accepted their awards at the ceremony. Simon Sommer and Fabio Segura, the co-CEOs of the Jacobs Foundation, delivered opening remarks to a hall filled with researchers, education practitioners, and policy-makers.
“We are here tonight to celebrate three examples that show us that change in education is possible if we believe in the transformative power of evidence. If we
can show that we can help children to develop into successful, flourishing human beings. That’s what the Jacobs Foundation has been doing for the last 30 years. And that’s what we celebrate tonight.” Opening remarks from Simon Sommer and Fabio Segura.
Imagine Worldwide
Imagine Worldwide is a Pan-African NGO working in Sub-Saharan Africa. It empowers children around the globe to build the literacy and numeracy skills needed to achieve their full potential. Imagine Worldwide was recognized for its work in providing illiterate children with small tablets to start learning.
Laboratório de Educação
Working with the Brazilian education system to support the development and implementation of education policies using evidence-based methods, Laboratório de Educação trains teachers and education specialists in public education systems to see sustainable change. They bridge the gap between schools and families by working both inside and outside of schools. Laboratório de Educação’s work is based on collaboration with all education professionals in the system, aiming to bridge the gap between research and knowledge sharing in the field.
Fundación Escuela Nueva
Fundación Escuela Nueva (FEN) is committed to providing all children, regardless of their social background or origin, with the right to education. By empowering both children and teachers, FEN fosters education that enhances individual potential. Established in 1987 by the creators of the Escuela Nueva pedagogical model and the team that developed it, this Colombian NGO has since worked with a network of global partners across multiple sectors. Their mission is to expand the impact of the proven Escuela Nueva Activa model by adapting it to better serve underserved communities.