Exclusive Interview with Mrs. Magdalena Brier, the General Manager of ProFuturo Foundation

This week we have met with Mrs. Magdalena Brier, the General Manager of ProFuturo Foundation, a social education program that was set up in 2016 by the cooperation of two very important Spanish foundations, Fundación Telefónica and Fundación La Caixa.

The purpose of this project is to make it reachable, quality education in the most vulnerable places in the world, mainly in Africa and South America, by providing technology in using pedagogical innovation through technology. Therefore, our purpose is to improve education and reduce the education gap, also by reducing the digital gap.

Now you are here in Rwanda. What is the purpose of your visit?

We are visiting Rwanda because it is a key country for Profuturo, with over 150 schools implementing our Digital Education Program in collaboration with World Vision, the Salesians of Don Bosco, and UNHCR in refugee camps. Our goal is to learn about the local perspective on the project, identify challenges, seek ways to enhance it, explore opportunities for further collaboration, and ensure sustainability in the long term.

You have been visiting some schools here in Rwanda and now you are here at Giko Primary School. What is your insight?

My insight is that pupils are really very much concerned about the opportunity they have in using ProFuturo Digital education, that they like to use it and they are very motivated. The rate of absenteeism in the schools has decreased thanks to using the technology. The teachers are motivated, the parents are motivated, and I think that everyone is working in order to improve the way they produce technology, because they know that the world is becoming digital and that it is really an opportunity for the children to work using digital devices.

You have been talking about the sustainability of the program. Do you think it will be possible? Since some schools are still facing challenges, like lack of infrastructure, how will it be possible for the sustainability that we are talking about?

To make a project of this kind be sustainable, we need the involvement of the authorities, of the Ministries of Education, because our collaboration is just a pilot. It can be a bigger pilot, but it is only a pilot. Therefore, the needs in a country are huge. Therefore, we need the government to be involved with us and to implement digital education in the schools by the government. In addition, we are there to help them, to provide them the platform, the training and all our knowledge to make it possible.

What is going to be next as far as the future of Profuturo is concerned?

What we hope is to gather all the impact we are obtaining from our local operations to show the world that digital education and the program is really transforming education. Therefore, we are now at the phase of gathering all this impact that the project has at the local level.