Our history
Some milestones to highlight:
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FEN desigs the Escuela Nueva Learning Circles Program (CAENA) as a strategy to restore the educational service for out-of-school and displaced children and youth.
This adaptation of the Escuela Nueva Activa model -which is based on its core principles and technical and pedagogical framework- responds to the needs and realities of displaced and extremely vulnerable children, luring and retaining them and facilitating their transition to the formal educational system.
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With the support of the Ministry of National Education of Colombia (MEN) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and with funding from USAID, we launched the implementation of the Escuela Nueva Learning Circles program (CAENA) in the municipality of Soacha (Cundinamarca, Colombia).
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FEN launches its ENA Learning Guides collection for secondary education.
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The III International Congress of Escuelas Nuevas is held in Bogota, bringing together an educational community of more than 1,200 participants from 18 countries.
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FEN celebrates and establishes Cooperation Agreements with Ecopetrol S.A. to improve the quality of education through the implementation of the ENA model in 13 municipalities across five departments of Colombia. These Agreements benefit nearly 9,000 students.
FEN adapts and leads the implementation of Educar en Equidad, a socio-emotional education program for children aged 3 to 5, based on the initiative of the UK-based organization Think Equal. The program was implemented in 181 Community Homes across five departments in Colombia.
In 2022, Educar en Equidad was recognized by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) as one of the 10 best pedagogical experiences transforming early childhood in the country.
The good results of the ENA Learning Circles (CAENA) program in six Colombian cities motivated UNICEF Mexico to implement a similar pilot program in Puebla, Ciudad Juárez, and Tijuana. That is how this first international experience of the CAENA program started in October 2021, serving nearly 90 children from different countries (mainly from Central America and the border regions of Mexico).
With the financial support of the Ministry of National Education (MEN), we opened three lines of work that benefit about 550 primary school teachers from ten departments in Colombia. The first one was a virtual training course in ENA model strategies, the second one was an in-situ training process in ENA tools, and the third one was an in-depth ENA course that combined virtual and in-situ activities and focused on promoting and strengthening territorial communities of knowledge and practice.
To continue providing training opportunities that support teachers in advancing their professional development and strengthening their pedagogical practice, FEN launched the Virtual Professional Development Program on ENA Strategies. This course equips teachers with actionable strategies to enhance student engagement and promote active learning in their classrooms.
In the first cohort (the first semester of 2024), 15 primary school teachers from 11 municipalities enhanced their instructional skills, which positively influenced their classrooms. In the second cohort (first semester of 2025), 16 teachers from both primary and secondary levels, representing 10 municipalities across Colombia, participated and further expanded the reach of active learning in their educational communities.