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FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3785
INFO RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9233
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3714
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7425
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BRASILIA 000310 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR WHA/PD-PETERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL ECON PREL PGOV BR
SUBJECT:  Supporting Educational Improvements in Brazil:  Public 
Affairs Best Practice Programs 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  001.2 OF 007 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGTLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Several international comparative measures 
demonstrate that Brazil's education system lags behind that of most 
of its Latin American neighbors, global competitors such as the BRIC 
countries, and more developed countries, which is causing a shortage 
of skilled labor and could be a drag on Brazil's efforts to reduce 
poverty and inequality.  Brazil's Ministry of Education has 
formulated ambitious plans to improve the quality of public school 
education, but only time will tell how successful these efforts will 
be in the long run.  Both as a way of supporting improvement to 
education in Brazil and to meet our goal of reaching out to younger 
and disadvantaged audiences, Post has developed several "best 
practice" educational programs.  Post is also identifying new ideas 
for programs and is seeking creative ways to implement these ideas 
given budget and human resource constraints. END SUMMARY. 
Why Brazil Needs to Improve Public Education:  It's An Economic 
Necessity 
¶2. (U) A long history of educational neglect in Brazil results today 
in a severe shortage of skilled labor and persons with university 
degrees, particularly in the area of engineering and science, and is 
a factor in preventing Brazil from reaching many development goals. 
The lack of skilled labor is so severe that many large Brazilian 
companies are opening their own training and educational centers to 
train workers in the skills they need to run their companies.  The 
U.S.- Brazilian CEO Forum has designated technical and English 
language training as one of their priorities for cooperative action 
because the need for training is so great.  Although Brazil has made 
incredible progress in recent years in reducing poverty and moving 
an estimated 20 million people into the middle class through steady 
growth and innovative social programs such as "Bolsa Familia", until 
it provides all of its citizens with quality educational 
opportunities, it will be very difficult to make significant 
progress in further reducing poverty and inequality. Of course, the 
current economic crisis could hinder progress as well. 
¶3.  (U) According to OECD educational statistics from 2008, only 8 
per cent of Brazilians aged 25-34 had completed university-level 
education, and only 13 per cent of Brazil's university graduates 
obtained degrees in science and science-related fields such as 
engineering and computing, almost half the OECD average of 24 per 
cent.  In math, reading and science proficiency among 15-year-olds 
as measured by 2006 OECD statistics on 57 countries, Brazil ranked 
only 54th in math, 50th in reading, and 52nd in science, behind 
Latin American neighbors Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico in all three 
areas.   In terms of overall literacy, among BRIC countries, only 
India's literacy rate is lower at 61 per cent, with Brazil's rate 89 
per cent, while China's is 91 per cent and Russia's is 99 per cent. 
Compared to its South American neighbors, only Peru's and Bolivia's 
literacy rates are lower.  An encouraging sign, however, is that 
among young people ages 18-24, illiteracy fell from 3.6 per cent in 
2002 to 2.2 per cent today, which bodes well for the literacy rate 
steadily increasing in the future.  Another bright spot is that 
younger people are staying in school, perhaps because school 
attendance is a requirement for families with children to receive 
"Bolsa Familia" benefits.  In 2007, 97.6 per cent of children ages 
7-14 were enrolled in schools, versus 86.6 per cent in 1992, and for 
children ages 15-17, the rise is even more dramatic - 82.1 per cent 
were enrolled in school in 2007 versus just 59.7 per cent in 1992. 
¶4.  (SBU) A cruel paradox that hinders educational opportunity is 
the fact that the free, public education at the primary and 
secondary levels is of such poor quality that parents who can afford 
to almost always send their children to private schools.  Free, 
high-quality tertiary education is available through Brazil's public 
universities, but the entrance exam scores needed to enter these 
universities almost require private school preparation.  So the rich 
invest heavily in their children's primary and secondary education 
so that their child can enter a free public university, while the 
poor receive poor quality primary and secondary education, leaving 
them little chance of entering a free university and with little 
means to pay for a private university education.  Recently there 
have been some attempts to remedy the situation in various ways, for 
example by establishing quotas based on race for some federal 
university entrances, given that Afro-Brazilians are extremely 
under-represented in federal universities, but these have been 
controversial.  In November of 2008, the Chamber of Deputies, the 
lower chamber of Brazil's Congress, approved a bill that reserves to 
public high school students 50 per cent of the slots offered by 
public universities (25 per cent based on race and 25 per cent based 
on socio-economic background).  This bill is currently under 
discussion in Brazil's Senate and, if approved, the universities 
will have four years to implement it.  The bill is also highly 
controversial with arguments swirling over quality of education vs. 
the quantity of spaces offered to the disadvantaged. 
Brazil's Ambitious Goals For Improving Public Education 
¶5.  (U) Brazilian Education Minister Fernando Haddad has set 
ambitious goals for improving public education in Brazil and 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  002.2 OF 007 
 
 
launched an Educational Development Plan, known as the PDE by its 
Brazilian acronym, which aims to have Brazil's education system on 
par with developed countries by 2021 through 40 different areas of 
action.  It includes an evaluation of children ages six to eight to 
catch reading problems early so they do not hinder future education, 
 as well as literacy programs for older children  and adults.  Other 
measures planned include establishing a national minimum teacher 
salary, getting more computers into classrooms, improving 
electricity access in public schools, improving transportation 
to/from schools,  and better teacher training to address the problem 
of poorly qualified teachers, some of whom are barely literate 
themselves.  The program identifies poorly performing schools and 
provides funding, professional expertise and management tools 
associated with monitoring and evaluation.   In 2007, the Ministry 
of Education established the Brazilian Index for the Development of 
Basic Education, or IDEB, an indicator that measures the quality of 
education through a combination of grade fluctuation and student's 
performance in exams.  The Ministry of Education has developed a 
target plan for bi-annual performance of Brazilian schools based on 
the IDEB through 2022.  Using data from 2005 as the base year, the 
IDEB national average was 3.8 on a scale of 1-10 in 2005 and grew to 
4.2 in 2007, surpassing the target of 3.9 for that year and already 
reaching the goal for 2009.  If it continues improvements at this 
pace, Brazil should reach its goal of 6.0 by 2022, which is the 
current average of 30 developed country members of the OECD. 
¶6.  (SBU) According to Brazilian Educational Consultant Heloisa 
Luck,  accountability is one of the most important features of the 
PDE, which publicizes educational results in the media so that 
"parents and society as a whole are stimulated to play an active 
role in a national movement for the improvement of education in 
Brazilian schools."  Mariana Migliari, International Affairs Advisor 
to Brazil's National Council of State Secretaries of Education 
(CONSED),  pointed out to post that each Brazilian state has to make 
its own implementation plan for the PDE, and that a problem is that 
"some states are better equipped  to analyze what is needed in terms 
of identifying appropriate projects."  Overall, Migliari believes, 
however, that implementation of the PDE is going well and offers 
states "good opportunities to improve education and the federal 
government better control of how educational funds are spent."  Both 
Luck and Migliari agree that some of the biggest challenges to 
pre-university public education are poor teacher training, low 
teacher salaries, and lack of accountability among teachers and 
school principals as evidenced by how difficult it is to fire a 
teacher or principal.  Yet as Luck pointed out, "For the first time, 
we have a program geared to the development of an accountability 
culture in our schools and educational systems. However, it will 
take some time until people who work in education adopt as their own 
such practices." 
¶7.  (SBU) Another aspect of the PDE is a dramatic reform of 
vocational/technical education, which has just been approved by the 
Brazilian government and which consolidates existing federal 
vocational/technical schools and increases spaces at these schools 
from 215,000 to 500,000.  These schools will specialize in 
scientific and technical education with half of the spaces allotted 
for technical education integrated with secondary education, 30 per 
cent of spaces allotted for bachelor's degrees in engineering and 
other technical fields, and 20 per cent of spaces allotted for 
teacher certification in the natural sciences and other technical 
fields which, according to Marcia Moreschi, Senior Advisor for 
vocational/technical education at the Ministry of Education, is 
aimed at addressing Brazil's severe shortage of qualified teachers 
in math and science.  According to Moreschi, providing teacher 
training in this area is one way that these technical schools differ 
from U.S. community colleges and technical schools. Moreschi also 
pointed out to post that these schools aim to cater to both "the 
adult already in the job market, with no qualifications, and the 
youth who needs qualifications to enter the job market," and that 
the reorganization of these schools also aims to better tailor 
educational programs to the current needs of the economy and job 
market. 
Mission Brazil's "Best Practice" Education Programs:  Reaching the 
Young and Disadvantaged 
¶8. (SBU)  Over the last several years, Mission Brazil's Public 
Affairs Section has attempted through its programs to support 
educational reform in Brazil as a way of fulfilling the Department's 
overall public diplomacy goal of improving outreach to younger and 
disadvantaged audiences.  One of post's MSP's goals is "Developing 
Human Capital and Promoting Partnership," and beginning with this 
fiscal year post chose as targets in meeting this goal measures such 
as Brazil meeting its target scores for the IDEB, increasing the 
pool of technically and English-language qualified workers, 
expanding joint and cooperative research activities, and 
implementing programs under the Joint Action Plan for Racial and 
Ethnic Equality (JAPRE), which is discussed in more detail below. 
Post's educational programs also seek to highlight good examples of 
educational improvement efforts and provide opportunities for those 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  003.2 OF 007 
 
 
involved to expand their knowledge, often through exchanges with the 
U.S., and thereby stimulate others to seek excellence and quality in 
education - i.e. the multiplier effect.  Post is also using new 
technology and social media to continue to engage with participants 
in our programs. The following is a list of post-designed programs 
that post believes are "best practices" in achieving these goals. 
This list is limited to those programs that specifically involve 
public secondary and vocational/technical education in Brazil.  A 
future cable will focus on other "best practice" programs in 
university education and other areas. 
¶9.  (SBU) Youth Ambassador Exchange Program:  When former Ambassador 
to Brazil Donna Hrinak saw television images of young people from 
Venezuela burning American flags, she called a meeting with PAS to 
discuss developing a program to better acquaint Brazilian youth with 
the U.S. to prevent such actions from ever occurring in Brazil.  The 
resulting brainstorming gave birth to the Youth Ambassador Program, 
which in 2006 became a recognized WHA best practice model program 
and in 2007 began to be replicated in other Latin American 
countries.  This program is our most popular and best known program 
in Brazil, bar none.  The first Youth Ambassadors traveled to the US 
in 2003 and now 35 students are chosen annually from an applicant 
pool of about 3,000. Students travel to the US for a two-week, 
life-changing exchange program, with one week spent in Washington, 
DC together as a group and the second week the students are split up 
into smaller groups and they spend one week living with an American 
family and attending an American high school in various parts of the 
US, during which time they act as "ambassadors" for Brazil.  The 
participants must attend a Brazilian public high school, be 15-18 
years old, have excellent grades, speak good English, have 
leadership potential and be involved in community service 
activities.  To implement the program, Post works in partnership 
with the National Council of State Secretaries for Education 
(CONSED), Bi-National Centers, the Brazilian Ministry of Education, 
and various U.S. and Brazilian corporate sponsors. The program 
generates significant positive press each year - the send-off for 
the 2009 Youth Ambassadors resulted in over 30 articles in 
newspapers and magazines, two television interviews with Embassy 
officials and Youth Ambassadors and several short television news 
items with images, and a four-minute special on Brazil's number one 
Sunday evening entertainment and variety show.  It is worth noting 
that when the program first began, many Brazilians told Post they 
thought we would have a very difficult time finding public high 
school students who met the requirements of the program.  Instead, 
post has been overwhelmed with qualified applicants to the program, 
demonstrating that there are many outstanding, self-starting 
students in Brazil's public high schools who need to be provided 
more opportunities like the Youth Ambassador Program in order to 
reach their full potential. 
¶10. (U) Youth Ambassador Follow-up Activities:  As with all exchange 
programs, post's contact with Youth Ambassadors does not end with 
the exchange program.  Through the assistance of the network of the 
Fulbright Commission and Education Advising Offices in Brazil, post 
has assisted Youth Ambassadors with ECA Opportunity Grants to assist 
them with applying for university education in the U.S., as well as 
with obtaining scholarships for short-term study and for 
undergraduate degree programs. Youth Ambassador alumni have received 
full or near full scholarships to top-notch U.S. universities, such 
as Stanford, the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago, Smith, 
Mt. Holyoke, and others.  In 2008 alone, the total amount of 
scholarships offered to former Youth Ambassadors to study in the US 
surpassed Dols 1.6 million.   Also, in May of 2007, post signed an 
agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil to assist 
with identifying internship and job opportunities for former Youth 
Ambassadors.  Finally, the Ambassador regularly meets with Youth 
Ambassadors when he travels, and Youth Ambassadors are often invited 
to speak at Embassy-sponsored events and write articles for the 
Embassy's alumni newsletter about their experiences and current 
activities.  The Youth Ambassadors have also formed their own alumni 
association, which they plan to register officially.  Last year they 
organized relief assistance for flooding in southern Brazil and they 
plan to organize programs focusing on youth empowerment and 
employment. 
¶11. (U) English Immersion Program: Due to the overwhelming excess of 
highly qualified applicants for our Youth Ambassador Program, post, 
in partnership with several bi-national centers, created the 
"English Immersion USA" program in 2006.  The week-long program 
offers approximately 100-150 runners-up in the Youth Ambassador 
selection process an immersion experience in the English Language 
and U.S. culture.  The program, conducted each July, includes 
classes on such topics as U.S. history, culture, society, geography, 
government, English Language, etc.  Students also participate in 
U.S. sports activities, such as baseball games, eat U.S. style food, 
and upon conclusion of the program, take part in a "4th of July" 
style picnic, and receive certificates of completion.  Over 235 
students have participated in the program to date and 92 are slated 
to participate in July of 2009. Grants are provided to the BNCs to 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  004.2 OF 007 
 
 
implement the program and provide most of the classes, though Post 
sends at least one officer to each program to also take part and 
teach a class or two. Post also assists the BNCs with recruiting 
locally resident Americans to serve as volunteer teachers and sports 
instructors for the program. Recent immersion program participants 
have said the following about the program: "English Immersion USA is 
a new and fun way of learning English" and "The Embassy provided me 
with a unique opportunity for academic growth, at the same time as 
it allowed me the opportunity to make several new friends from all 
over Brazil." 
¶12. (SBU)  Fulbright Public School Principals Exchange:  As part of 
Brazil's National Award for Excellence in School Management and 
Leadership, post has since 1999 sent winners of the award from each 
of Brazil's 26 states plus the Federal District to the U.S. for a 
two-week exchange program. This awards program has become the most 
important self-evaluation tool used by Brazilian public schools, and 
the exchange program aspect of the prize is a huge motivator. 
Brazil's award is a result of a Voluntary Visitor program and was 
partially modeled after the U.S. "Principal of the Year" program. It 
is an initiative of CONSED, which is also a key partner in the Youth 
Ambassador program.  Several state secretaries of education who had 
participated in Voluntary Visitor programs learned about the U.S. 
Principal of the Year program and decided to create something 
similar for Brazil.  The awarded schools receive some extra 
financial support, educational materials, and a certificate of 
excellence.  They are also highlighted in their communities and in 
the media for their innovation and success and serve as models for 
other schools.  According to Luck, who serves as a consultant to 
CONSED for this program, the public recognition these schools 
receive is one of the most important aspects of their continued 
success - as she put it, once they get the award, they realize they 
cannot go backwards, as their communities and surrounding schools 
are now watching them more closely. Luck explained also that the 
schools must perform a "self-evaluation" process in order to apply 
for the program, which really helps them to assess where they are 
and how to improve, and builds continual assessment into their 
normal program. Luck added that the exchange "changes these 
principals' lives forever," especially as most of them have never 
before left Brazil.  Post began initially by funding this exchange 
through Voluntary Visitor and other post funds, but in 2003 the 
Fulbright Teacher Exchange office took over most of the funding of 
the program, which is also partially funded by Post and CONSED, and, 
in 2004, added a reverse program that has since brought groups of 
award-winning U.S. principals for a similar program in Brazil, 
during which they provide regional seminars on excellence in school 
management and leadership.  The program has also been the subject of 
three publications distributed to 74,000 Brazilian public schools 
and an article in a book published by CONSED on challenges in 
Brazilian public education. 
¶13. (U)  U.S. - Brazil Partnership for the Strengthening of 
Vocational/Technical Education (Voc/Tech): As a result of the 
Government of Brazil's request  for support to strengthen the 
country's workforce development program, the U.S. Embassy's Public 
Affairs Section in Brazil and the U.S. Agency for International 
Development (USAID) received funding from USAID's EGAT FY 07 
Matching Grants Program for a three-year partnership between Brazil 
and the United States to support Brazilian efforts to elevate 
national and state, public and private dialogue on postsecondary 
education and workforce development in Brazil.  The Partnership 
promotes the exchange and collaboration of vocational education 
professionals among educational institutions in both countries.  The 
various activities include: 
 
a) The development of a comprehensive and practical study on U.S. 
and Brazilian vocational and technological education, on the current 
legislation in the field of vocational education, major 
accomplishments, challenges and future plans.  Through this initial 
research and analysis, two emerging themes of common interest were 
identified for the initial phase of the partnership:  (1) Policies 
to strengthen equity, access and opportunities for the 
underprivileged and (2) Linkages/partnerships with the labor market 
and employers. 
 
b) The organization of targeted two-way exchanges of specialists for 
short-term programs abroad based on the results of this comparative 
study and the identification of convergent points in both systems; 
 
c) The establishment of a strong bilateral network of experts in 
vocational and technological education; 
d) Wide dissemination of successful experiences in both Brazil and 
the U.S. through a "Best Practices" publication to foster 
broad-based improvements in the practice and policy of voc-tech 
education; 
 
e) Discussion and selection of key areas for mutual collaboration, 
development of joint projects and identification of potential 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  005.2 OF 007 
 
 
sources of resources for project implementation; 
f) Implementation of bilateral initiatives to strengthen voc-tech 
education. 
 
14) (U) Five U.S. community colleges that have had a long-term 
interest in international education are contributing to the program: 
Alamo Community College District, Houston Community College, Macomb 
Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, and San 
Diego Community College. On the Brazil side, in order to promote 
nationwide impact and dissemination of this Partnership, the 
Ministry of Education selected ten federal institutions (two in each 
of five Brazilian geographic regions) to serve as converging poles 
responsible for sharing/ multiplying the knowledge acquired. The 
participating Brazilian and American institutions have just 
submitted proposals for joint projects that will be reviewed by a 
bi-laterals committee.  Two examples included: biotechnology 
curriculum training for Brazilian instructors in Paraiba by San 
Diego Community College and sharing best practices in the area of 
fresh water issues and hospitality tourism between the participating 
institution in Amazonas and Macomb Community College. 
 ¶15. (U)  Public School English Teacher Training Programs:  Each 
year post funds programs to provide additional training to public 
school English teachers through grants to BNC's and this year also 
through a grant to two alumni as part of our Alumni Small Grants 
competition.  Many public school English teachers barely speak 
English themselves and/or use outdated teaching methods.  As overall 
lack of proper training for public school teachers has been 
identified as one of the major hurdles to improving education, post 
believes that providing additional training to English teachers is 
where we can make a contribution to addressing this problem. 
Although several BNCs have done this type of training for public 
school teachers, one in particular, the Casa Thomas Jefferson (CTJ) 
in Brasilia, has developed an outstanding and cost-effective model 
that some other BNCs are using as well, including the one in 
Salvador. CTJ's program provides 120 hours of classroom instruction, 
including books, for just Dols 400/participating teacher. This year 
CTJ was able to reduce the cost to post by convincing a book 
publisher to sponsor part of the training.  English Language Fellows 
in Brazil also often get involved in the training of public school 
teachers.  For example, one Fellow this year is serving as the 
primary trainer in a project sponsored by the City of Belo 
Horizonte's school system to improve the teaching of English there 
as part of their preparations in anticipation of being a host city 
for the 2014 World Cup. 
¶16. (U) Post Implementation of ECA-Initiated Programs supporting 
Education in Brazil: Post makes use of existing ECA programs to 
support educational improvements as well.  Brazil has the fourth 
largest Fulbright exchange program in the world.  Regularly 
International and Voluntary Visitor programs have an educational 
focus, including an upcoming Voluntary Visitor program that will 
bring nine state secretaries of education (including CONSED's 
President) to Washington, DC and New York City to look at innovative 
programs those school systems have implemented.  Post is 
implementing ACCESS scholarship programs in Salvador, Sco Paulo, 
Porto Alegre and Recife and has plans to expand ACCESS program to 
the other parts of the North and Northeast of Brazil, which are the 
countries' poorest areas.  Brazil was invited last year, for the 
first-time ever, to participate in ECA's International Leaders in 
Education Program (ILEP), a semester-long exchange program for 
secondary-level educators that combines academic study and practical 
experience.  Post worked with CONSED to announce this program to 
public schools throughout Brazil and, out of the 77 participants 
worldwide in this year's ILEP, seven are Brazilian teachers. 
¶17. (U) Use of New Media: Post is continually searching for ways to 
expand the reach of our programs using new technologies and social 
media.  We have provided laptops to grantee organizations to loan to 
exchange participants so they can blog and skype while in the U.S. 
This year's Youth Ambassadors blogged about their experience in the 
US on Globo's internet site, the number two internet portal in 
Brazil. The Youth Ambassadors also regularly use MSN, Yahoo groups 
and Orkut - a social networking site more popular than Facebook in 
Brazil - to keep in touch with each other and friends.  PA has 
established a Mission "New Technologies" Working Group that will 
bring together members from across the mission to brainstorm ideas 
for the best uses of new media to transmit our messages and expand 
our programming, especially to the young and tech-savvy. 
Opportunities for New Educational Programs and Challenges to 
Implementation 
¶18. (SBU) Through the strong partnership post has developed with the 
Ministry of Education, CONSED, BNCs, and other partners, many 
opportunities exist to expand current programs which are supporting 
improvements to public education in Brazil and develop new ones. 
Obstacles to new initiatives include PAS budget and human resource 
constraints, as well as the lack of English language ability on the 
part of most potential exchange or training program participants, 
requiring costly interpretation.  However, Post has identified the 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  006.2 OF 007 
 
 
following areas for potential expansion, pending available funding 
and human resource capabilities: 
- Programs developed as a result of JAPRE:  During the March, 2008 
visit of former Secretary Rice to Brazil, the U.S. and Brazil signed 
the Joint Action Plan to Promote Racial and Ethnic Equality (JAPRE). 
 The Mission is working closely with Brazil's Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (Itamaraty) and Special Secretariat for the Promotion of 
Racial Equality (SEPPIR) to implement the plan.  This bilateral plan 
pledges ongoing collaboration to promote equality of all racial and 
ethnic groups by sharing best practices, resources, and information. 
 Both governments have instituted legislation and policies to 
provide social justice and social inclusion for all members of 
society.  The Embassy is working with Itamaraty, SEPPIR, and 
relevant USG interagency offices, to establish a bi-national 
Steering Group comprised of government, civil society, and private 
sector representatives.  The Steering Group will meet regularly to 
identify ways to promote equal access to quality education/training, 
justice, employment, housing, health care, credit, etc.  The U.S. 
and Brazil will also seek ways to promote relevant cultural 
exchanges in the arts, history, sports, and communication. 
 
Post has prioritized education-related programs as the number one 
goal for programs that fall under the JAPRE.   Post is working with 
Brazilian counterparts and various Department of State offices to 
secure resources for training and exchange programs to create and 
strengthen partnerships between universities, cultural institutions, 
democratic institutions, and civil society organizations.  In 
addition, SEPPIR has noted that there is a Brazilian law that 
requires the teaching of the history of Afro-Brazilian and 
indigenous populations in Brazil in Brazilian public schools, but 
most schools do not do this.  SEPPIR would like to use the JAPRE to 
promote implementation of this law.  Programs that develop as a 
result of the JAPRE  could also have an impact on the quality of 
pre-university public education to the extent that they include 
educators at this level and that they "shine a light" on the 
existing problems.   It is important to note, however, that no 
additional funding nor human resources has been provided to post to 
implement the JAPRE though post is currently working with the 
Department to identify existing sources of funding that can but used 
for development of these programs. 
 
-Continued Development of Youth Ambassador Follow-On Activities: 
Post is making continued development of follow-on activities for 
Youth Ambassador alumni a high priority, especially where their 
voices can be amplified to reach a broader audience.  These 
activities include Youth Ambassador alumni association development, 
assistance with securing internships and through advising centers 
providing ECA Opportunity Grants and assistance in applying to U.S. 
universities.   As the Youth Ambassador program matures, former 
Youth Ambassadors who begin entering the workforce in Brazil can 
perhaps be asked to serve as mentors for new Youth Ambassadors and 
also assist with internships and job training.  These young people 
are tremendous role models and are truly "ambassadors" for 
U.S.-Brazil relations (they are uniformly a uniquely inspirational 
group who talk about the "life changing" experience of the Youth 
Ambassador Program and the doors to the future it opens for 
participants), and we continue to seek ways to connect them to other 
young people. 
-Possible Expansion of School Principal Exchange:  In recent 
meetings Post has had with CONSED, two ideas for expansion of the 
School Principal Exchange have been raised.  One is a prize for the 
state coordinators of the award program which CONSED plans to 
institute that would be an incentive for coordinators to work toward 
both a higher quantity and quality of applicants for the award. 
CONSED has asked Post if an annual exchange for award-winning 
coordinators could be developed and post is currently considering 
the idea, possibly as a pilot at first through the Voluntary Visitor 
program.  Those who coordinate the award in their state work in the 
mid-level of their state secretariat for education and are potential 
future leaders in educational policy-making.   The other idea, 
suggested, in a meeting with Ms. Migliari, is facilitation of a 
"sister schools" program among schools that win the principal award 
in Brazil and with a school that the principal then visits during 
the exchange.  This idea requires much further consideration and 
development before post decides to pursue it, but these ideas 
demonstrate the enthusiasm of partners such as CONSED to develop new 
educational partnerships with Post. 
- Expansion of Voc/Tech program:   Public Affairs has provided 
additional funding to this program in order to expand the two-way 
exchange program and is discussing with the GOB ways they can also 
provide additional financial support to the program. 
- Additional public school English teacher training: These programs 
are a cost-effective way to improve public school English teaching. 
As many BNCs struggle to remain open due to increased competition 
from other English-language teaching institutions, developing 
expertise in teacher training through post, GOB or private sector 
 
BRASILIA 00000310  007.2 OF 007 
 
 
funding could both improve public school instruction and help to 
insure the survival of BNCs and to share their expertise in English 
instruction. 
-Better follow-up with alumni and inclusion in education programs: 
Overall Post recognizes the need to better engage its vast alumni 
network.  One way to do so may be to recruit appropriate alumni to 
participate in our educational programs and provide opportunities 
for them  to develop their own projects which contribute to 
improving the quality of education in Brazil.  Post could, for 
example, expand a recently established small grants program to 
alumni for that purpose. 
¶19. (SBU) Conclusion:  In short, there exists no shortage of ideas 
and possibilities for Post to work with Brazil in improving public 
education, which also meets our goal of reaching out to the young 
and disadvantaged.  The only constraints are budget and human 
resource capabilities, but with creative use of existing resources, 
prioritization, on-going assessment of how most efficiently to 
implement programs, and continued development of public-private 
partnerships, post hopes to continue modest expansions of our 
educational programs within current budget and human resource 
constraints.  With Brazil's ambitious goals for improving education 
well underway and with the solid partnerships Post has developed, 
the time is ripe for continued innovative implementation, and where 
possible, expansion of these programs, to our mutual benefit. 
KUBISKE