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It is estimated that over 700 thousand children do not continue secondary education in México every year due to a combination of financial, informational, and logistical restraints. I spent 2014 to 2015 in Chiapas, México working with Fundación Escalera implementing one of the first Social Impact Bonds / Pay for Success models in Latin America,
to address these barriers through the REACH program.
Through rigorous data analysis, monitoring & evaluation, and randomized control trials, the REACH program
Pay for Success scheme was expanded the following year through a USAID grant based on our quantitative results.
A school built by Escalera shortly after opening.
Escalera's founding objective was to address the lack of classroom's in Chiapas, primarily in rural, Indigenous autonomous areas. A combination of political, cultural, and historical factors exacerbate development obstacles in the state, and since the violence and upheaval during the 1990's, a lack of governance remains a reality due to mistrust, remoteness, and frozen low intensity conflict.
While working for Escalera, I was able to spend vast amounts of time on the ground throughout the region, building relationships within the diverse Indigenous communities, as well as government stakeholders at the state and federal level. This was paramount to carrying out the pilot of the REACH program, as well as school construction projects, of which 41 classrooms were completed during my time with Escalera.
Photos & videos by Ian Patton & Dane Christensen.
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