Executive Summary

The Hague, November 2020

Team
Georgina Gómez (Leader)
Blas Regnault
Andrés Uzín
Andrea Saleme
Gabriela Díaz
Alex Ríos

This study aims at better understanding frugality as value and as practice in current socio-economic life. It enquires into the ways in which the value of frugality is
translated into daily practices, institutionalized into formal and informal rules and disseminated within organizations, communities, and individuals in multiple locations.
This project is led by Dr. Georgina Gomez, Assistant Professor at the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities and Senior Lecturer in Institutions
and Local Development at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) who secured a Euro 450,000 research grant to gain an understanding of frugality as value and as practice
in current socio-economic life.
Georgina Gomez - ISS - CFIA - Associate Professor at ISS and CFIA Research partner
Project Description
The research project covers six Latin American countries and is carried out by ISS alumni in each location. The research studies a Jesuit group of missionary educationalists
in Latin America that aim at providing high quality education in marginal, remote and low-income locations. The Group of Educators of Religious Origin that promotes
Critical Pedagogical Approaches (GEROCPA) defines itself as operating 'beyond where the asphalt ends' according to the values of frugality in its double meaning of
achieving the best educational quality with limited resources.
Frugality as a value. Discourses on frugality refer to a long- and well-established value promoted by all the main religions. Frugality attracts attention again in the current
situation of polycentric development and environmental crisis. CFIA connects the concept of frugality to new technological designs that seeks best performance with
scarce resources.
Frugality has generally been embraced as a positive value, although it has not undergone much scrutiny. Is frugality the principle that explains a quick fix and resignation
to constrained resources, or is it a virtue that spurs creativity and commitment amidst adversity?

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1. Introduction
For several decades school institutions of Fe y Alegría have been considered as successful
experiences of education in peri-urban and rural areas of Latin America. Fe y Alegría's work is
undoubtedly substantial and significant: looking at formal school education only, Fe y Alegría
operates in eighteen countries in Latin America and Africa and serves just over half a million
students in a thousand schools approximately. Despite these numbers, empirical evidence which
accounts for the magnitude of the impact of this group of educators was relatively scarce, focused,
and limited to academic performance.
With the need to be able to generate evidence that accounts for their accomplishments and the
effects of their work, Fe y Alegría decided to carry out a group of studies with different levels of
analysis: the students and their families, the communities around the school and the influence on
the national education system. The study has an additional objective to generate data that support
the improvement of the work from the experience in the field. The scope of the evaluation reflects
the principles of popular education as a critical pedagogy, which seeks for social changes inside
and outside the classroom, with communities and public policies, and which seeks to train citizens
with a critical conscience to improve their condition and those of their environments. This scale
of objectives is set out on the Fe y Alegría’s website, “aware of this recognition that the educational
model has and of the need to provide the international community with effective strategies for the
fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 for education before 2030”.

1.1 Documents by level of analysis

The first document was labeled a micro-study because it begins the analysis at the individual level,
in this case, children and youth who are educated or have been educated in Fe y Alegría institutions
in five Latin American countries and who underwent this training together with their homes.

Two study methods are applied. The first uses a comparative method between Fe y Alegría students
and those of the closest public schools. To this end, a geographically and statistically representative
sample of the students that attend Fe y Alegría schools in five Latin American countries was
constructed and compared with the students at the closest public fiscal schools, which were labeled
control group schools because of their similar characteristics in terms of size, educational levels
attended, etc. The second study collected information on the individual situation of the youth who
graduated from the Fe y Alegría schools based on representative sample size. However, this sample
was not structured with statistical or geographical criteria because there were no updated lists of
contacts. Through the application of surveys (primary data) and analysis of national statistical data
(secondary data), the study explores the student's socioeconomic characteristics and their
perception of Fe y Alegría’s contributions in the construction of their life projects, critical
conscience, leadership, and social commitment.

The study was executed in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
Although Venezuela was initially on the list of countries that were to be part of the study, it was
decided to exclude it from the micro study due to the complex humanitarian emergency that began
in 2016. Table 1 shows the distribution of the sample for this study.

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 Table 1. Distribution of the sample for the micro study - students Fe y Alegría

Students
Establishments
COUNTRY Urban Rural
Total
Prim. Sec. Total Prim. Sec. Total Urban Rural Total
BOLIVIA 219 222 441 48 58 106 547 52 13 65
COLOMBIA 90 90 180 13 2 15 195 11 1 24
GUATEMALA 12 10 21 19 16 35 56 3 5 8
PERU 133 120 253 28 9 37 289 30 5 35
DOMINICAN
45 61 106 9 5 15 120 13 2 15
REPUBLIC
TOTAL 498 503 1,001 117 90 207 1,208 109 26 135

The second document was labeled a meso-study because it begins the analysis with the local
communities and explores the territorial integration of Fe y Alegría institutions and the effects of
their presence in the local communities. Specifically, it investigates the interrelation of schools with
the school community and how participation in the schools’ governance is built; how Fe y Alegría
contributes to the development of the local community; and the different ways in which Fe y
Alegría’s educational practice is relevant to the context and supports its transformation. This study
was conducted in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela;
and for each country, a comparison of four case studies was implemented (24 case studies in total).
For the selection of cases in each country, the following were chosen: i) two schools that
represented an adequate model to follow and that, not being exempt from adversities, these have
been overcome and showed successful examples of educational management; and ii) two schools
that have not had a successful track record and that difficulties of various kinds made them cases
from which to learn. In particular, these case studies were intended to be theoretically
representative of the Fe y Alegría universe in each country and the choice of cases was discussed
with the national organisations.

The third document was labeled a macro-study because it explores the positioning of Fe y Alegría
as a popular education movement in national education systems. In particular, it explores the
aspects of the Fe y Alegría’s model that have been incorporated into the national, regional or local
Public Policy of each country. It discusses Fe y Alegría's positioning level to convene and influence
issues of rights to education, and the specific experiences of the Fe y Alegría’s pedagogical model
have been replicated by other educational institutions. This study was conducted in Bolivia,
Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. The report analyzes the
results obtained in all the countries, based on a total of 127 semi-structured interviews with key
actors from the education sector, civil society, the research community, those responsible for
public policies, and key actors inside Fe y Alegría schools. The study is supported by the meta-
analysis of the survey results and a complementary bibliographic review.

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2. The political choice of the work
There is clear evidence that Fe y Alegría serves the poor. Nevertheless, the thoroughness of this
research requires a nuanced response. The schools of Fe y Alegría are located in the poorest
localities of the countries, judging by the socioeconomic data, but there are no statistically
significant differences to claim that Fe y Alegría serves the poorest inhabitants of these localities.
Nonetheless, there is a social and economic heterogeneity among the students that offer
exceptional opportunities for coexistence, a fact that in societies with high inequality such as the
five countries studied in Latin America is not very common. This increases the spaces of peaceful
coexistence of different socio-economic groups. Fe y Alegría schools promote an identity of
common values despite socioeconomic inequality, which is possibly the crucial achievement of the
movement. This inclusion of heterogeneous populations at schools has direct and positive effects
on social integration processes that respect and keep differences.
Three additional trends have been corroborated. First, the main difference between Fe y Alegría
schools and the nearest public administration schools lies in the quality of education, according to
the perceptions of students and their families. Secondly, there is an important historical trend: at
the time of the arrival of Fe y Alegría schools there was no asphalt1 and no connections to
fundamental public services, but as time went by, many of those places got asphalt and public
services. Third, in many locations, a school of Fe y Alegría coexists with one or more public
administration schools and even private schools. The processes of community consolidation and
growth of public-school coverage make it more complicated to achieve the mission of serving the
most vulnerable populations compared to the conditions that the movement had in its origins.
The perception of better educational outcomes is statistically corroborated, but with small
differences. On average, the approval rates of Fe y Alegría are slightly above those of the nearest
public administration schools (control group) or the national averages. Drop-out and school
repetition rates are on average below control group schools. Hence, Fe y Alegría strengthens the
educational system by offering a high-quality option outside the public administration loop.
In terms of social risks, various factors were identified that affect students’ school performance in
general, such as child labour, violence, insecurity, and teenage pregnancy. Students from both types
of schools face similar risks, namely the loss of loved ones, criminality or insecurity, study
problems, and health issues. A significant difference is that students from Fe y Alegría schools feel
safe in their institution, despite recognizing the existence of gangs in their neighborhoods.
Concerning teenage pregnancy, Fe y Alegría’s female students seem more concerned than those of
the control group schools. This may reflect a higher level of sensitivity or lower confidence to face
risk.
Moreover, Fe y Alegría provides more tools for citizenship projects and social transformation than
the schools of the control group, which allow students to analyze and search for solutions to social
problems, generate spaces for social participation, and promote greater leadership capacities. The
differences between Fe y Alegría and the control group student responses were evident in all
situations that were presented to them in the questionnaire and Fe y Alegría’s students showed
greater empowerment than those of public administration schools.
A survey among an uncontrolled random sample of the Fe y Alegría’s graduates yielded important
results on the contributions of Fe y Alegría schools to achieve better living conditions than those

1 Common expression in Spanish language to describe a situation where modern infrastructure have not arrived at a
territory.

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of their parents. Passing through the Fe y Alegría schools increases the expectation of upward
social mobility, strengthens professional plans, and structures life projects with civic responsibility.

3. Transformation and Reproduction of Community Environments

Within the political option of the movement, social promotion is crucial to produce
transformations in the communities where their work takes place. Thus, the pedagogical dialogue
is not only with school children but also with their families and with the community where these
households live. The school is an instrument of critical education that organizes community actions
by recognizing itself as a player in these local processes, understanding the socioeconomic and
cultural specificities of their communities, and knowing the history that preceded its arrival.
The second document Research on Communities found that the management of critical education
mobilizes resources from households, communities, government authorities, and other hierarchical
levels of Fe y Alegría. Much of this management is carried out in situations of high social
complexity due to the presence of violent groups that struggle to dominate the territory where the
school is located.
The localities where Fe y Alegría schools are situated have progressed and benefited from their
presence in most cases. To a certain extent, it has been possible to conduct a dialogue with local
actors to demand changes. The schools are organizations that can improve the neighborhood and
their positive influence is even recognized by households without children in those schools. In
some cases, Fe y Alegría’s schools have had a positive influence on improving existing
infrastructures in the neighborhoods. The community and neighbors have achieved the paving or
asphalt of access roads. Some schools have organized themselves to demand access to public
services, health care, and basic necessities.
In most cases, Fe y Alegría has helped strengthen the social fabric and trust among community
members. This has been achieved by offering its facilities for activities of various kinds. Local
actors have described schools as safe places, even conceived as "shelters" by many interviewees.
The strengthening of the social fabric is achieved through link creation among families and
between them with the community, interacting in the search for quality of coexistence. Indeed,
there are also exceptions and animosity in certain territories. The educational action of Fe y Alegría
has a notorious effect on the reconstruction of damaged or non-existent social tissues, allowing, in
the long term, healthier, stronger societies with a clearer social cohesion.
In some countries, a school lifecycle has been observed and phases have been identified. Schools
generally transcend time and very few cases close or shut down. It noted that schools, despite the
hurdles they may have in terms of financial, technical, contextual, or other factors, remain and their
authorities strive to keep them open and at the service of the population. At an early stage, they
settle in territories where many children who had previously been unable to go to school can do
so and find a space for their comprehensive training. The project of a school begins the search for
the physical spaces for the location of the schools, the staff who will work on them, and the
respective authorizations in the responsible entities. It is evident that during the initial stage Fe y
Alegría has been able to respond to the needs of the contexts to which it arrives, and it is also the
time when the seed is sown for social transformation. Sometime after the arrival of the school to
the town, perceptions about Fe y Alegría among the local communities begin to settle. In those
cases where schools progress in their community integration, inter-organizational articulation is
also successful, for example, with regional headquarters of ministries of education or with local
authorities, and some partnerships are established with other government institutions and

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international cooperation entities with a presence in the territory. After the consolidation phase,
Fe y Alegría is already another community entity. Greater administrative stability can be observed,
pavement has arrived at the locality, and families related to Fe y Alegría are no longer the poorest
in society but there is greater diversity. At the same time, schools’ reputation has increased the
demand for Fe y Alegría. It is the stage at which the temptation to do the same every day is greatest,
but it is not a stage free of challenges. The dynamics of how to do work internally are more
entrenched, which can be linked to the perception of greater administrative stability of Fe y Alegría.
During the consolidation stage criticisms and suggestions arise about the "new frontiers" that Fe y
Alegría must find. Does that mean neglecting what has been achieved? At this stage, the dilemmas
are complex. The path is no longer as clear as in the initial stages, when Fe y Alegría knew the
routines of entering the most difficult communities and establishing schools, energizing
communities while involving everyone. It is a stage where each decision involves positive and
negative aspects and, perhaps, it is not the stage that best responds to Fe y Alegría’s transformative
discourse.

4. National educational positioning and advocacy

A broad spectrum of experts on educational issues stressed that Fe y Alegría counts on a
professional legitimacy that enables it to influence the national public policies of the countries
where Fe y Alegría operates. This incidence is neither homogeneous nor geographical nor
temporarily and is not maintained between countries or within them. In its different forms the
impact of Fe y Alegría on educational policies is performed in five concrete actions:
• As members in discussions in public forums and roundtables.
• In the open call meeting from local, regional, and/or national government entities to
discuss organic, sectoral laws and/or regulations associated with educational practices.
• From participation in civil associations or in federations or confederations
• Based on the consultations that may be carried out by governments
• From modeling by "show-case" effect.
It was found that Fe y Alegría provides ideological, pedagogical, and managerial content to the
educational policy of the region. In addition, the Federation places great relevance in advocating
for the right to education and co-managing with the State. Besides, their positioning for the defense
of educational rights of the first, second, and third generation are well perceived.
The replicability of the educational methodology makes Fe y Alegría an attractive organization for
those responsible for education policy because of four fundamental reasons:
• For the frugality of educational entrepreneurship in precarious contexts
• For the ways of cooperation of the social and community management of the public
mission of education.
• For the forms taken by the self-management model, associated with functional autonomy,
less dependent on the centrality of the bureaucracy of education.
• For its conception of the quality of education, mainly focused on learning processes rather
than on teaching.
Throughout the region the historical development of the movement has consolidated financial
agreements with state entities, constituting reasonably organic forms of cooperation. This study
detects a recurring reference to agreements with governments and to the tensions these generate
between the state and the organization, and which are expressed in a continuum between low and

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high government regulation. There is a second continuum that goes from the spontaneity of Fe y
Alegría as an innovative social organization to the pure institutionalization or bureaucratization of
educational practice. These two dimensions define Fe y Alegría’s trajectories at a national level. As
an organization it has experienced moments when it wants and needs to stick to its flexibility and
innovative spirit, to its desire to educate, on the one hand, and others when it had to give priority
to its stability as an organization with established and transparent procedures that responds with a
certain degree of institutionalization to a more or less implicit interest on the part of the state to
control Fe y Alegría’s educational action. The absences of State action are the main triggers that
ignite the organization’s impulse and dynamism.
Not all Fe y Alegría’s national federations in Latin America are at the same point in the tensions
described earlier because each national education system has advanced to various extents in the
governments’ educational agendas. Thus, the relationship with the State has resulted, on the one
hand, in an inescapable dependence of Fe y Alegría’s educational policy on the governments’
national educational policy. On the other hand, it has resulted in the regulation and
institutionalization of internal processes, tending to reduce the appetite for innovation of the
organization and to cool the spontaneity of its members. The array of trajectories gives a complete
and complex view of Fe y Alegría’s general position in the region and the challenges for the
Federation.

5. Recommendations
New frontiers where “the pavement does not reach”: Fe y Alegría has sufficient legitimacy and
recognition to place on the regional agenda elements associated with both new and old forms of
educational exclusion that produce and reproduce social inequality. In this sense, it seems necessary
to persist on the importance of extending secondary education coverage in rural areas and/or to
vulnerable areas, while promoting reforms at this education level to facilitate access to
employment. In addition, attention needs to be paid to aspects related to forms of exclusion by
gender and ethnicity, and the interactions between both dimensions of exclusion.
Efficiency orientation: Formal agreements initiated in the 1980s and 1990s between Fe y Alegría
with the Latin American Ministries of Education create conditions to improve administrative and
accounting capacities on the efficiency of educational expenditure. They also reinforce the
orientation of the federation towards flexibility, the importance of establishing interventions in
new places where the pavement has not arrived yet or perhaps has disappeared already (Venezuela).
In a scenario where there is a drop in tax revenue for education, Fe y Alegría has professional
conditions to accept donations that require the evaluation of results associated with investment
efficiency with tangible results. In this sense, a challenge for Fe y Alegría’s schools in the region is
to contribute to a culture of performance evaluation, without abandoning the postulates of its
Improvement System. It is even suggested to start pilot tests with schools in the application of
standardized evaluations such as PISA. This would place Fe y Alegría one step ahead of the region's
governments, turning it into an organization that is also a source of normative auditory that could
improve its orientation to efficiency.
Research, Development and Pedagogical Innovation of the region: Fe y Alegría’s institutional
development and accumulated knowledge positions it as an extraordinary regional educational
laboratory. Still, it is important to further strengthen the dissemination of pedagogical innovations
and to share them more explicitly with other schools, public and private educational organizations
outside the federation.

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In sum, Fe y Alegría’s educational policy should be guided by the following principles:
- Strengthening the efficient ways of managing each school's expenditure based on achieved
proven results. In this way, schools' management can exhibit significant improvements in the level
of learning among students and in the quality of teachers. This strengthening would substantiate
the efficient use of resources to reach potential donations.
-Strengthening research and development to foster motivation and flexibility within Fe y
Alegría. This would clarify the new frontiers where the pavement does not reach, and thus address
the educational needs of those excluded.
-Improving the dissemination of innovations so these would be replicated.

Recommendations to respond to COVID-19

Urgent action is needed to reverse the impact and trends in education that the COVID-19
pandemic is creating. Under these conditions, Fe y Alegría’s challenge is to build on its strengths
to turn this threat into an opportunity to demonstrate that it can reverse the effects of the pandemic
on their schools and communities. To do this, the following actions are suggested:
• Strengthen existing innovative learning methods and the ability to generate
educational environments, combining classroom activities with necessary biological
security measures and with learning activities remotely in homes.
• Adapt and strengthen teacher training with learning methods that ensure autonomy
and highly motivating guidance towards students.
• Strengthen remote learning methods from educational platforms such as the Fe y
Alegría Radio Institute (IRFA).
• Rely on Fe y Alegría’s experience with the involvement of households for more
active incorporation of the adults and siblings into learning processes. This, by quickly
and effectively equipping them with simple methods that contribute to learning activities
by goals that can be accomplished from home and through platforms.
• Conduct short studies that help measure and describe the medium- and long-term
consequences of the pandemic on education, to adjust the tools needed to reverse these
trends.
• Redesign more efficient and concrete content taking into account the new study
conditions.
• Establish routines and time planning to keep students’ life organized around the
schedule of schools’ activities.

The Impact Study shows that in the six countries studied, Fe y Alegría can make a difference in
this educational crisis in their schools and for their students, communities, and educational systems.
COVID-19 is an emergency that imposes new routines and requires innovative actions both in
form and in substance associated with distance education. A different situation is observed in
Venezuela where there was a Complex Humanitarian Crisis prior to the COVID-19 crisis. This
places Fe y Alegría in a key position for the development of emergency strategies.

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 6. Conclusions
Fe y Alegría’s innovative capacity drives the movement to go two steps further than the national
education systems studied. Although formal obligations to regional or national governments often
cool down the innovativeness of the federation, Fe y Alegría’s human capital is driven by a concern
that stimulates the imagination of those engaged in fueling the organization. In this sense, the
federation presents a significant qualitative difference from conventional school systems, that Fe y
Alegría does not leave to chance the coexistence amidst difference and makes a priority of including
the social and economic heterogeneity of its students in its educational methods. This aspect
reinforces Fe y Alegría’s proven record to integrate population groups in situations of poverty and
social exclusion.
Thus, to achieve its objective, Fe y Alegría’s educational policy underscores the interrelationship
with families and the school community to integrate them into the school management. This has
a direct effect on the construction of social capital and the development of the local community,
reflecting a tendency towards dialogue that reinforces the relevance of the federation’s educational
activities to the context and contributes to its transformation.
Finally, the political option for popular education and social promotion gives Fe y Alegría a
professional legitimacy that opens doors for it to influence national public policies in the region.
This influence is materialized in providing ideological, pedagogical, and managerial content to the
region's education policies. Besides, the federation holds an important recognition in promoting
the right to education and hence in co-managing with the State their role in the defense of human
rights of first, second, and third generation (equal access and equality regardless of sociocultural
and economic origin; the third generation are those rights associated with the policies of gender
equity and of ethnic minorities).
Equally recognized is its role in the defense of rights to universal access to education in cases where
it has been seriously threatened. The replicability of the federation's practices makes Fe y Alegría
an attractive organization for policy makers in the education area.

Methodological Summary
Research Project Manager: Institute for Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the
Netherlands
Applicant: International Federation Fe y Alegría

Research questions and hypotheses:

-Does Fe y Alegría work with the poorest and most vulnerable students to generate
opportunities for access, permanence, and completion? Does the organization contribute
to the construction of decent life projects for graduates and students? Does Fe y Alegría
shape citizens with critical awareness and social commitment?
-How is the school's interrelationship with families and the school community achieved
and how do they integrate into school governance? How does Fe y Alegría contribute to
the development of the local community and how does the movement become visible in
transforming the context? In what ways is the educational practice of Fe y Alegría relevant
to the context and contributes to its transformation?

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 -What aspects (intentional or not) of Fe y Alegría’s model have been incorporated or
implemented in national, regional, or local public policy? What is Fe y Alegría’s level of
positioning to convene and influence issues of rights to education? What experience of the
management model and/or pedagogical proposal of Fe y Alegría has been replicated by
other educational institutions?

Data Collection Methods:

- Households’ level study: 2.428 surveys of students from 300 schools in five countries.
1.214 surveys of students of different levels in 150 schools of Fe y Alegría and
1.214 students from 150 control group schools
95% statistical significance to the results, with an error margin of 3%.
- Communities study: 24 selected case studies with theoretical representativeness in Fe y
Alegría´s schools and their local contexts, following an ethnographic adaptation of the 360-
degree study method to be used in communities.
- National level study: 127 semi-structured interviews with key experts in the education
sector in six countries: Civil Society, Researchers, Public Policy Makers, Key Actors of Fe
y Alegría. Comparative analysis of the results and identification of thematic axes

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