- FEMSA Foundation, in a partnership with United Way, provides parents, educators, and caregivers with socio-emotional tools to protect children’s potential during the pandemic.
Colombia, Brazil, Chile, June 22, 2021.– The current health crisis poses challenges for all sectors. In this regard, the education sector is facing its greatest challenge: parents, teachers, and caregivers are trying to reduce the negative impact of isolation on children’s learning and development at home daily.
With #PotencialParaTransformar, the local offices of United Way and FEMSA Foundation implement a strategic response based on training and accompanying parents, teachers, and caregivers, developing their social-emotional and communication skills, as well as the use of technological tools.
The implications of school closings range from the financial to the emotional. In Colombia, 96% of the municipalities cannot implement virtual classes due to lack of internet access, and 70% of the students come from low-income families. In Brazil, the pandemic’s consequences have increased unemployment by 13.5%, affecting access to hygiene and food supplements and impacting learning processes in homes. In Chile, all metropolitan public network schools remain closed, and 80% of children attending these institutions come from households in the three poorest quintiles in the country.
Skills that will accompany people for the rest of their lives are developed from pregnancy until age 5. During early childhood, more than one million new neural connections occur in a child’s brain.
‘Now more than ever, it is a priority to promote quality interactions between children and the adults that surround them, creating the experiences that their brain needs and that will form the basis of their development. This invites us to actively involve fathers, mothers, educators and caregivers in the training process and that is how, together with United Way’s help, the #PotencialParaTransformar initiative appears in three Latin American countries,’ says Eva Fernández, Social Investment in Early Childhood Manager of FEMSA Foundation.
‘In this strategy, we support, accompany, and help the educational communities of 67 institutions in Colombia, Brazil, and Chile. We generate content and support for more than 33,000 families in all three countries. In Colombia, we created the Socio-emotional Learning Route program; in Chile, Educational Communities: Devices for emotional management in crises and health prevention; and in Brazil, Crescer Aprendendo (Growing Up Learning), which involves digital content and support for access to hygiene and food supplies,’ says Eduardo Queiroz, Regional Vice President of United Way Latin America and Caribbean.
Educators and caregivers are students who learn every day, too. Through this project, they improve their skills and relationships with children, contribute to children’s well-being and development, and positively transform society.
About FEMSA
FEMSA is a company that generates economic and social value through companies and institutions and seeks to be the best employer and neighbor of the communities where it is present. It participates in retail trade through FEMSA Comercio, which comprises the Proximity Division and of which OXXO, a small-format store chain, is part; a Health Division that includes pharmacies and related activities; and a Fuels Division that operates the OXXO Gas service station chain. Coca-Cola FEMSA participates in the beverage industry, the world’s largest bottler of Coca-Cola products by sales volume; and in the beer sector, as the second largest shareholder in HEINEKEN, one of the world’s leading beer companies with a presence in more than 70 countries. FEMSA also participates in the logistics and distribution industry through FEMSA Strategic Businesses, which additionally provides refrigeration solutions at point-of-sale and plastic solutions to its companies and external clients. Through its Business Units it employs more than 320,000 collaborators in 13 countries. FEMSA is a member of the MILA Pacific Alliance Sustainability Index of the Dow Jones, of the FTSE4Good Emerging Index and of the Sustainable IPC of the Mexican Stock Exchange, among other indices that evaluate its sustainability performance.
About FEMSA Foundation
At FEMSA Foundation, our mission is to positively impact people and communities through social investment in sustainability. We make a better future for everyone by working in three strategic areas: we promote efficient resource management for sustainable development, we promote the integral development of early childhood, and we promote Latin American art and culture. For more information, visit us at www.fundacionfemsa.org or follow us on Facebook (/ FundacionFEMSA) and Twitter (@FundacionFEMSA).
About United Way LAC
United Way Worldwide is a 125-year-old international leader in philanthropy, with a presence in more than 40 countries and territories worldwide. As the world’s largest private nonprofit organization, United Way is driving change and improving education, reducing poverty, and building stronger, healthier communities. 2.9 million volunteers support us, 8.1 million donors, and $ 4.8 billion raised each year worldwide to drive sustainable solutions. United Way for Latin America and Caribbean operates in 15 offices with more than 40 years of experience, working in early development, health, nutrition, and reducing inequalities.
Instagram: @UnitedWAYLAC
Facebook: @unitedwaylac
LinkedIn: United Way Latam and Caribbean
Twitter: #UnitedWayLAC
This initiative in social networks: #PotencialParaTransformar