The document discusses the achievements and challenges of the Instituto de Innovación Regional del Suroriente del Tolima (Innovar) in Colombia, focusing on educational and developmental initiatives in the region. It highlights Innovar's mission to provide opportunities for knowledge acquisition and community capacity building, while addressing issues such as poverty and regional inequity. The document also outlines the organization's educational programs, enrollment statistics, and proposals for expansion and improvement in technological education offerings.

1. INSTITUTO DE INNOVACION
REGIONAL DEL SURORIENTE DEL
TOLIMA - INNOVAR
Achievements and
Challenges
Prepared by Innovar’s Staff
March 2013

2. South America, Colombia, Tolima and
Purificación
IBAGUÉ
PURIFICACIÓ
N
BOGOTÁ
Purificación: 200 Km. from Bogotá and 100 Km. from Ibagué

3. Educational level in the municipalities of the
region
Educational level
achieved by people
from the region
Municipalities
% People
Basic/ grades 1-5
Secondary/grades 6-9
High school/grades 10-11
Technical (2-3 years)
Professional (4-5 years)
Fuente: Autor con base en datos obtenidos de http://190.25.231.242/cgibin/RpWebEngine.exe/PortalAction?&MODE=MAIN&BASE=CG2005AMPLIADO&MAIN=WebServerMain.inl

4. A review
Magdalena river Tropical dry
Puri(Sisben) Tolima
Colombia Population below poverty line 95%
57% 50%
Population below extreme poverty line 54% 20%
16%
 Southeastern Tolima: A region with a rich natural endowment but with a poor
population.
forest
Saldaña river

5. The origin: Presidential Mission for Science,
Education and Development, 1994
“…we propose the foundation,…in each region [within each department] of an
Institute for Regional Innovation, INNOVAR. Those institutes should be charged to
produce or acquire pertinent knowledge for the region…As part of its mission, each
INNOVAR will undertake postsecondary education activities to form highly
competent technitians, technologist and professionals.”

6. ¿What is INNOVAR SURORIENTE DEL TOLIMA?
 The Regional Innovation Institute for southeastern province of Tolima (At
present, 2013: Alpujarra, Dolores, Prado, Suarez, Purificación, Saldaña and
Guamo) located at Purificación.
 A not-for-profit organization financed by the local, state and national
governments and the private sector, and associated with the University of
Ibagué, Unibagué.

7. INNOVAR (2012): A type of “community college”
http://blogs.publico.es/dominiopublico/files/2008/01/ong.jpg
With students from the
municipalities of Purificación,
Prado and Saldaña.
With ICT resources and library
donated by government agencies
and private corporations.
It operates in a 10,000 square-feet
building and 10 acres land site
provided by the local government
in 2008.

8. Our principles:
1. Concentation of resources in “capital cities” has
produced regional inequaliy, poverty of rural areas and the
increasing degradation of the metropolitan suburbia.
Solution to these problems requiere integral rural
development.
2. Sustainable and equitable development requieres a
“bottom up” approach.
3. Rural populations need “new ideas to solve their old
problems”.
4. Local organizations should be part of networks and do
locally only what they can do well.

9. ¿Who are our promoters and allies?

10. Mission
To provide and environment of opportunities to the people
at southeastern Tolima for the acquisition and management
of knowledge to construct their own future through three
pursuits: education of the youth, sustainable economic
development, and community capacity building.

11. INNOVAR: Its three functions
To achieve local and regional
development
Promote community capacity building

12. 1. Provide access to transforming education:
INNOVAR IS HOST TO A CERES
 CERES are alliances promoted by the National Ministry of Education
 INNOVAR is an ally to the CERES at Purificación
 Purificación’s CERES is one of INNOVAR programs operated by Unibagué
Universities and
other SEI
CERES
INNOVAR
local ally
State and
local
administration
s
SENA &
prívate
enterprise
s
Other
INNOVAR
programs

13. Selected problem and response.
330 students finish high
school each year (More
than 1000 in
southeastern Tolima)
Innovar is becoming,
thru its education
function, a worthy,
pertinent and inclusive
life option.

14. Our students

15. Some of the education programs offered at
INNOVAR

16. Challenges&Proposal
 Challenges
 Increase enrollment, mainly in technological programs
 Develop advanced technological education programs
 ¡Reduce dropouts!
 Offer 2+3 transfer programs (See below)
 Duplicate Innovar in other regions (3 are underway)
Proposal
Professional
(university
level)
education
programs
Basic
cycle (2
years)
Face to face instruction with good
teachers and supported by online
developments
Offered by Unibagué in agreement with
other allies
Profession
alcycle (3
years)
Offered by each ally in its own campus
since it requires specialized professors,
laboratories and facilities not available at
any CERES

17. 800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Achievements
¡We are growing!
2008 A 2008 B 2009 A 2009 B 2010 A 2010 B 2011 A 2011 B 2012 A 2012 B
Number of Students
SEMESTER
technical /technological
Professional
Total
Some 30 students have been transferred to Unibagué and are finishing
engineering undergraduate studies. For them, Innovar was their life opportunity

18. 2. Support competitive endeavours.
Selected problem and response.
The in use “top-down”
approach
renders
dependency
Assit small producers to
solve their own problems
thru empowerment,
knowledge and organization

19. An innovative environment
 Coaching through university student’s service
learning
 Dialogues between teching staff and local producers
 Videoconferences of “good practices” in Colombia
and in other countries
 Participation in trade fairs and other local and
regional events
 Links to external markets

20. 2. Achievements: Small producers associations
Asohortipuri: Producers of Vegetables Asomucaf: Asociation of female-headed
household that provide food products
Acuisur: Piscicultural Producer Sembrar Paz: Rural development

21. 3. Promote community capacity building.
Selected problems, no concrete responses.
 Science and technology are not part of people’s culture
(way of living )
 Absence of future vision: “To the person who does not
know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” –
Seneca
 Sense of belonging ¿Which traditions, values and beliefs
do we share?
 Dependency on favors from politicians and government.

22. What we are working on…
 “Educate children to educate their parents”: “Little
Scientifics”, Scratch, Sembrar Paz
 Building a future’s vision. Redefining our (local) future:
Collaboration from Engineers Without Borders and Unibagué’s
Service Learning Program (Paz y Region).
 Empowering women (Not yet implemented).
 Developing sense of belonging: ¡San Juan Festival!

23. 3. Achievements: Building a sense of belonging
San Juan Festival
2008-2011

24. 3. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN TO EDUCATE THEIR
PARENTS: PQC & SCRATCH
Little Scientists: Inquiring education(Uniandes
&Unibagué)
Teachers training by Fundación Gabriel
Piedrahita Uribe in the use of Scratch (A
development of MIT Media Lab).

25. Do we dare…?
 Many people see things as they are and ask Why?… I dream of
things that never were and ask Why not? (Bernard Shaw)
A tourist airship flights overPurificación’s bridge going to San
Agustín (Famous archeological park in southern Colombia)