Educating for Casanare's future
Yopal students in math olympics
Education has been at the core of building local capability in Casanare, with the understanding that it is a key factor to inclusion, better governance and sustainable development.
During the labour-intensive years of Cusiana and Cupiagua, locals were at a disadvantage because they largely had farmer background and therefore lacked the basic competencies required to work for the massive project. This explains why workers from other parts of Colombia (especially oil provinces) were favoured by contractors, landing well-paid openings for unskilled, skilled and professional posts.
To counter this, BP teamed up with the National Apprenticeship Service, SENA, and put together an education programme that focused on vocational (metalwork, welding, woodwork) and oil-industry training for over 1,600 Casanareans. With newly acquired capabilities, many did go on to join the thousands of workers in charge of building the facilities, flow lines and drill sites.
The company also selected young Casanareans with varying degrees of previous oil experience and put them on an intensive learning programme that saw them deployed to other oil operations and learning centres. The grand majority were then hired back as junior and senior operators in the growing processing facilities and well sites.
While this was happening inside the fence and in regional classrooms, BP was also busy supporting specialised education for community leaders and local officials in subjects as important as public administration, leadership, project design and implementation. The rationale behind this drive was to improve management capabilities and ease the teething problems of young institutions that were dealing with sudden migration and wealth, among other things.
During the labour-intensive years of Cusiana and Cupiagua, locals were at a disadvantage because they largely had farmer background and therefore lacked the basic competencies required to work for the massive project. This explains why workers from other parts of Colombia (especially oil provinces) were favoured by contractors, landing well-paid openings for unskilled, skilled and professional posts.
To counter this, BP teamed up with the National Apprenticeship Service, SENA, and put together an education programme that focused on vocational (metalwork, welding, woodwork) and oil-industry training for over 1,600 Casanareans. With newly acquired capabilities, many did go on to join the thousands of workers in charge of building the facilities, flow lines and drill sites.
The company also selected young Casanareans with varying degrees of previous oil experience and put them on an intensive learning programme that saw them deployed to other oil operations and learning centres. The grand majority were then hired back as junior and senior operators in the growing processing facilities and well sites.
While this was happening inside the fence and in regional classrooms, BP was also busy supporting specialised education for community leaders and local officials in subjects as important as public administration, leadership, project design and implementation. The rationale behind this drive was to improve management capabilities and ease the teething problems of young institutions that were dealing with sudden migration and wealth, among other things.
In 1997 and after gazing the future, BP and partners set up the Casanare Education Fund that granted scholarships to low and middle income, academically-endowed teenagers from five public schools in Yopal, Aguazul and Tauramena. By providing both yearly tuition and monthly allowances, over 50 high school graduates saw their hopes of going on to higher education become a reality. With an investment that has surpassed $500,000 dollars many of those students left for Colombia's principle cities to attend top schools where agronomy, engineering, and medicine were preferred choices. A good number returned to Casanare as professionals, while the rest will be concluding undergraduate studies in some months. By making universities accessible to bright youths, and current plans for a new, revamped scholarship scheme, BP has bet hard on the creation of regional human capital.
While the previously mentioned programme (and others in advanced business and environmental management studies) mainly benefited urban dwellers, another separate endeavour saw 150 rural students and direct BP neighbours off to agro-business administration. In a partnership with the Colombian Coffee Growers Association, Casanare delegations were sent every six months from 2001 to 2003 to sprawling facilities deep inside the coffee heartland of Caldas Department. There, enhanced productivity, income generation and an entrepreneurial view toward farming kept the students busy, many of whom are today developing projects on their own tracts of land.
While the previously mentioned programme (and others in advanced business and environmental management studies) mainly benefited urban dwellers, another separate endeavour saw 150 rural students and direct BP neighbours off to agro-business administration. In a partnership with the Colombian Coffee Growers Association, Casanare delegations were sent every six months from 2001 to 2003 to sprawling facilities deep inside the coffee heartland of Caldas Department. There, enhanced productivity, income generation and an entrepreneurial view toward farming kept the students busy, many of whom are today developing projects on their own tracts of land.
BP's efforts in education have also been deployed toward improving its quality in Casanare. Research commissioned in 2001 confirmed a long-held suspicion: that increased public expenditure had managed to improve coverage but not quality. These findings were confirmed in the 2004 Education Progress Report by indicating that although more children were attending school, the quality of the education being imparted continued to be below par.
In consequence, BP funded the Models for School Equity program through a specialized NGO in specific public schools of Yopal, Aguazul and Tauramena. The initiative focused on improving internal administrative capability, pedagogical competence in math and language, and parental involvement in school life, three dimensions that exert gravitational pull on the quality indicator.
In consequence, BP funded the Models for School Equity program through a specialized NGO in specific public schools of Yopal, Aguazul and Tauramena. The initiative focused on improving internal administrative capability, pedagogical competence in math and language, and parental involvement in school life, three dimensions that exert gravitational pull on the quality indicator.
Although Models did not achieve the expected impact, it did link in to another initiative of regional scope stemming from BP's condition as co-founder of Businessmen for Education. This nation-wide institution, which brings together big names from finance, banking and industry, is devoted to facilitating knowledge sharing between the public school system and private sector best practices, in favour of education improvement.
Acting upon BP's regional leadership, Businessmen for Education set up a local chapter in Casanare in 2005 to pursue the same objectives at the local level. With an inclusive representation of civil society, the chapter has already agreed actions with relevant authorities who have welcomed private sector involvement in helping to better education throughout their jurisdiction.
Rounding off the human development drive, BP's neighbour communities, particularly those living near the forested river banks of Aguazul's high ground, have been involved in intense environmental education meant to protect those sensitive, water-producing areas. Targeting depredatory practices like slash & burn and over-grazing, intensive workshops covering river basin protection and reforestation techniques have been held since 2003. Over 1,500 men, women and children from 29 hamlets have tuned into those contents. But more importantly, they left the community meeting room with more than 8,000 trees that have been planted in key sites, along with the firm conviction that the water supply for tomorrow's generations starts today.
Looking back, every single dollar invested by BP and partners on education in Casanare has helped pave the way toward a better future.
Acting upon BP's regional leadership, Businessmen for Education set up a local chapter in Casanare in 2005 to pursue the same objectives at the local level. With an inclusive representation of civil society, the chapter has already agreed actions with relevant authorities who have welcomed private sector involvement in helping to better education throughout their jurisdiction.
Rounding off the human development drive, BP's neighbour communities, particularly those living near the forested river banks of Aguazul's high ground, have been involved in intense environmental education meant to protect those sensitive, water-producing areas. Targeting depredatory practices like slash & burn and over-grazing, intensive workshops covering river basin protection and reforestation techniques have been held since 2003. Over 1,500 men, women and children from 29 hamlets have tuned into those contents. But more importantly, they left the community meeting room with more than 8,000 trees that have been planted in key sites, along with the firm conviction that the water supply for tomorrow's generations starts today.
Looking back, every single dollar invested by BP and partners on education in Casanare has helped pave the way toward a better future.
