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Governance and Transparency

Governance and transparency

SUMMA’s governance structure is made up of two entities: the Board of Directors and the Educational Policy Advisory Council. Under its guidelines is SUMMA’s Executive Directorate, based in Santiago, Chile.

The Board of Directors is made up of distinguished experts, former ministers of education and academics from ten countries in the region. The Advisory Council for Educational Policies (CAPE) is made up of Ministers, Vice Ministers and/or senior representatives of the Ministries of Education and National Institutes of Educational Evaluation of SUMMA member countries. The CAPE is the body in charge of ensuring the representativeness, impact, relevance, and political legitimacy of SUMMA’s work agenda.

SUMMA Board

Cristián Cox - President (Chile)

Teacher at the Faculty of Education and Director of the Centre for Comparative Education Policies, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago.

Emiliana Vegas - Director

Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Nivia Castrellón - Director (Panama)

Vice President of the United Foundation for Education and Co-President of the Central American Commission for the educational reform of PREAL

Enrique Chaux - Director (Colombia)

Teacher, Psychology Department, Universidad de los Andes.

Santiago Cueto - Director (Peru)

Executive Director and Principal Investigator of GRADE

Monserrat Creamer Guillén - Director (Ecuador)

Postgraduate professor of education at the Universidad Espíritu Santo and Former Minister of Education of Ecuador

Javier González - Director and Secretary (Chile)

SUMMA director and affiliate professor at Cambridge University.

Sylvia Schmelkes - Director (México)

Academic Vice Chancellor at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Claudia Costin- Director (Brazil)

Founder of the Innovation and Excellence in Education Policies Study Group

Rafael Carrasco

SUMMA Deputy Director

Education Policy Advisory Council

It is made up of ministers, vice-ministers, and senior representatives of ten ministries of education in the region.

Transparent financing

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Regional Public Goods Initiative, financed a significant part of the budget for the first four years of SUMMA’S work.

Complementarily, since 2018, SUMMA has financed its operation through strategic alliances with ministries, NGOs, donor governments, international agencies, among others, for the implementation of national and regional projects. By doing this, SUMMA has managed to consolidate a transparent financing model that allows it to guarantee its financial sustainability and autonomy, to adequately fulfil its mission.

Institutional Policies and Transparency

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FECU SOCIAL 2020
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CONVENIO SUMMA-CPEIP
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Strategic partners

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Claudia Costin

Founder of the Innovation and Excellence in Education Policies Study Group

About Claudia Costin

Claudia Costin, of Brazilian nationality, was Senior Director of Education at the World Bank between July 2014 and June 2016. She currently works for the Innovation and Excellence in Education Policies Study Group.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group in July 2014, Claudia, was the Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro. During her administration, learning outcomes increased by 22% in the city. She also launched an early childhood program, through intersectoral work with the Health and Social Protection secretariats.

Claudia was vice-president of the Victor Civita Foundation, which aims to raise the quality of public education. Because of her conviction that education has a transformative power, she contributed to the creation of the civil society movement “Todos pela Educação”, and was part of its technical committee. Convinced that teacher motivation is fundamental to achieve real learning, Claudia communicates with thousands of teachers through social media. Her previous experience includes positions as Secretary of Culture for the state of São Paulo and Minister of State Administration and Reform, at the national level. She also served as executive secretary of the Hélio Beltrão Institute and as executive director of Promon Intelligens. Previously, she was sector director of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, and advised several African governments on issues related to public policy and state modernization. She has held academic positions at the Catholic University of São Paulo, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, the Insper Institute of Education and Research, and the National School of Public Administration of Quebec. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the São Paulo School of Business Administration of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation.

Sylvia Schmelkes

Director (México)

About Sylvia Schmelkes

Academic Vice Rector at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City. She is a sociologist and educational researcher with a master’s degree in Educational Research and Development from the Universidad Iberoamericana. She is known for her work in intercultural education and for her book “Towards better quality of our schools”.

She has conducted exploratory studies on good practices in support programmes for indigenous people in higher education. She has published more than 150 works, including books and articles, on the topics of the quality of education, adult education, values formation, and intercultural education.

She worked as a professor-researcher at the Department of Educational Research at the National Polytechnic Institute. She has been a consultant for UNESCO, UNICEF, and the OECD. She served as director of the Research Institute for the Development of Education (INIDE) at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Schmelkes’ work has been published in five languages by institutions such as the Ministry of Education, UNESCO, and the Organization of American States.

In May 2013, she was appointed president of the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INEE), undertaking such position for four years. She founded and was General Coordinator of Intercultural and Bilingual Education at the Ministry of Public Education (2001-2007). She served as president of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (2002-2004). She received the Joan Amos Comenius Medal, awarded by the Czech Republic and UNESCO, in 2008.

Monserrat Creamer

Director (Ecuador)

About Monserrat Creamer

Monserrat Creamer Guillén, was Minister of Education from June 2019 to May 2021, a period during which she represented the country in regional and global forums organized by Unesco, Unicef, Microsoft, Harvard Graduate School of Education, IIPE, World Bank, IDB, Brookings Institution, OECD, Reduca, among others; in order to ensure continuity of learning during the pandemic and share educational transformations.

She holds a PhD in Education from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a master’s degree in Teaching and Educommunication from Alabama University (USA) and the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana respectively, a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from PUCE (Ecuador) and a Diploma in Formation of Learning Communities, from the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (Chile) – Universidad de Barcelona (Spain).

Monserrat has a long professional career in the field of education and teaching. She was Education Director at Grupo FARO, where she implemented the Learning Communities programme, endorsed by CREA -Research centre at the Universidad de Barcelona (2017-2019). She was Academic Excellence Director at the Universidad de las Américas-UDLA and advisor to CES for the redesign of university degrees according to the 2011 Academic Regulations (2014-2016); Education Coordinator at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2002-2010) and university teacher in undergraduate and graduate programmes in Education and Communication.

She has authored texts and has been a Reading Writing Critical Thinking (RWCT) accredited trainer on Developing Critical Thinking in the classroom and other education articles. She has experience in educational project management and public policy analysis. She was Undersecretary of Educational Professional Development, and Educational Foundations and advisor to the Ministry of Education for the project to create the UNAE-National University of Education (2010-2013).

She also has experience in coordinating academic areas and teaching language, literature, philosophy, and social studies at the Colegio Menor (1996-2002).

In the field of communication, she studied at the Universidad Católica Andres Bello. UCAB- Vzla and worked as Coordinator of the Press Unit of the National Art Gallery-GAN in Caracas-Vzla (1978-79). Later in Ecuador she worked as a news reporter with Diego Oquendo and Polo Barriga. She developed national TV coverage of the Monseñor Leonidas Proaño Literacy Campaign (1981-89).

Santiago Cueto

Director (Perú)

About Santiago Cueto

Santiago Cueto has a degree in Educational Psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and a PhD in Educational Psychology from Indiana University, USA.

He has been a visiting researcher at the University of California at Davis and at the University of Oxford. He is currently Executive Director and Main Researcher for GRADE, where he is the Peruvian representative of the international study Niños del Milenio. In addition, he is a senior lecturer in the Psychology Department at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. He was a member of the Peruvian National Education Council, of the Mexican Technical Council of the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INEE), President of the Peruvian Society for Educational Research (SIEP) and Member of the UNESCO Advisory Board of the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report).

He has been a consultant to international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Enrique Chaux

Director (Colombia)

About Enrique Chaux

Full-time teacher- Psychology Teacher, Universidad de los Andes. PhD in Education from Harvard University, master’s in risk and prevention from Harvard and master’s in Neural Systems from Boston University. He is also a physicist and industrial Engineer from the Universidad de los Andes.

He was the coordinator of the team that built the Citizenship Competency Standards for Colombia. He has led several investigations related to aggression, bullying, cyberbullying, conflicts, school violence, citizenship competencies, education for coexistence and education for peace. He led the design and evaluation of the Aulas en Paz programme for the prevention of school aggression and promotion of coexistence. He has advised on the design of public policies on school coexistence, citizenship skills and peace education.

Nivia Castrellón

Director (Panama)

About Nivia Castrellón

United for Education Foundation Vice President since 2012 and Co-Chair of the Central American Commission for Educational Reform of PREAL, since 2002. Former member of the Board of Directors at the Panamenean Cultural Institute. She was president for sixteen years of the National Union of Private Educational centres. In addition, she served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Panamenean Government from 2003-2004.

She was Ambassador-at-Large of the Presidential Council for the achievement of the permanent seat of the FTAA from 2001-2004 and President of the National Council of Private Enterprise from 1998-1999.

Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Central American Institute of Business Administration and Master of Law (LLM) from Harvard University. She holds a law and political science degree from the Universidad de Panama, with a subsequent specialization in international trade from the same university.

Emiliana Vegas

Professor of Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

About Emiliana Vegas

Emiliana Vegas es profesora de prácticas en la Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research and practice focus on improving educational opportunities in developing countries. D. in Education from the HGSE, Master in Public Policy from Duke University and Bachelor in Communication from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas (Venezuela).

Prior to returning to HGSE, Vegas was co-director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings. Prior to Brookings, she was Chief of the Education Division of the Inter-American Development Bank, where she oversaw the Bank’s lending operations and technical assistance projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Prior to joining the IDB, he worked for more than ten years at the World Bank, where he led research and operations focused on education systems in several low- and middle-income countries. She has written extensively on issues affecting education systems in Latin America and the Caribbean and other developing regions. His articles and books cover topics such as policies for leveraging technology to accelerate learning and skills development, increasing teacher effectiveness, school finance policies, and early childhood development policies.

Francesca Bonomelli Carrasco

Senior Researcher at SUMMA

About Francesca Bonomelli Carrasco

Francesca Bonomelli Carrasco is a Senior Researcher at SUMMA, with a background in project management, public policies, and applied research. She is interested in equity and justice which is reflected in her work and research on education, employment, inequality, migration, and gender issues.

Her previous work experience includes coordinating an educational transformation project in Paraguay, her work as a consultant for UNESCO and the ILO, and her key roles in the Ministry of Education of Chile. Currently, at SUMMA, she focuses on supporting the development of educational policies and connecting research, practice, and educational policy.

She got a master’s degree in international development studies from the University of Amsterdam, she obtained a master’s degree in labor economics for Development from the University of Turin, and her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chile. All of which provide her with skills, technical tools, and diverse perspectives to contribute to the important work that SUMMA is pushing forward.

Paula Salas

Evaluation Project Coordinator

About Paula Salas

Paula Salas is Coordinator of Evaluation Projects at SUMMA. Her main experience is in educational research and development of assessment instruments. She worked as an analyst at the Measurement Center of the Catholic University (MIDE UC) and for four years at the Department of Psychology of the University of Chile in various research projects, aimed at the development of psychoeducational assessment instruments to support high school students. High School Humanist Scientist and Professional Technician in the process of transition to higher education.

She is a psychologist from the University of Chile and has a master’s degree in Social Research Methods from University College London (UCL).

Cristián Cox

President (Chile)

About Cristián Cox

Sociologist from the Universidad Católica de Chile, and Ph.D. from the University of London (1984). Teacher at the Faculty of Education and director of the Centre for Comparative Education Policies, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago.

During the 1990s, he directed the MECE programmes for the Chilean Ministry of Education, and from 1998 to 2006, he constituted and directed the Curriculum and Evaluation Unit of the Ministry of Education in that country, responsible for the curriculum reform that decade, and the system for measuring the quality of education (SIMCE). He established and directed the Centre for Policy and Practice Studies (CEPPE) of the Universidad Católica (2008-2011) and was Dean of the Faculty of Education at this university (2012-2015).

He has been visiting professor at the Universities of Stanford (USA) and Leiden (Netherlands), consultant for UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank. Between 2010 and 2018 he directed the Technical Secretariat of the UNESCO-OREALC Teaching Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean and currently participates in the Project Advisory Committee, for the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022, for the IEA.

Rafael Carrasco

SUMMA Deputy Director

About Rafael Carrasco

Rafael Carrasco is deputy director of SUMMA. With extensive experience in education policy, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Agency for the Quality of Education for the Chilean Government. He worked for eight years in the Chilean Ministry of Education in various positions, as head of Development of the Education Quality Measurement System, and then as head of the Technical Team of the Minister and Undersecretary overseeing the design and development of educational policies, mainly the Preferential School Subsidy Law, which benefits the most vulnerable students in the country.

He has been a professor at Stanford University and Universidad Alberto Hurtado. He was part of the 2014 National Commission for the reform of the National Accountability System. He was also co-founder of the NGO San Pablo, which provides free preschool education to low-income girls and boys.

He holds a master’s degree in Economics from the Universidad de Chile, a Master’s degree in Comparative International Education and a PhD in Education from Stanford University.

Javier González D.

SUMMA Director

About Javier González D.

He is an economist (PhD. and MPhil from the University of Cambridge) specialized in development, inequality, social mobility, education and innovation. For 25 years, he has focused on the comparative study, design and development of public policies and institutional changes, from academia, government and various international organizations.

He is Director and Co-founder of SUMMA, the Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (created by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2016), from where he advises and works collaboratively with the authorities of the ministries of education of 25 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting research and educational policies that foster greater social justice.

He is also a President of the Governing Board of the National Agency for Education Quality Assessment in Chile. State institution responsible for assessing learning outcomes at the national level and orienting school improvement strategies. 

At the international level, he is part of the advisory group of the OECD’s Schools+ network and the What Works Hub for Global Education (University of Oxford). He has been a senior advisor to various organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), UNESCO, the World Bank, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and ASEAN. In turn, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Fundación Chile, and advisory boards of UNESCO (GEM), CORFO, the Chilean National Innovation Council for Competitiveness, the Brookings Institution and the OECD.

In academia, between 2014 and 2022 he was affiliated with the University of Cambridge, as a professor of political economy and development. He has also taught at SciencePo (Paris-France), Brown University (USA), Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), ECLAC-UN, and the University of Chile, where he is also a researcher at the Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion (COES). His research has been published by different publishers, such as University Oxford Press, Routledge, Policy Press, UNESCO Press, OECD Press and Catalonia. For his contribution to outstanding academic research, he received the 2023 David Marsden Prize (best paper of the year), awarded by the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE).

In government, he has held positions of responsibility in Chile in the governments of Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet, mainly as: Education and Innovation Policies Advisor in the cabinet of the Ministry of Finance; Executive Secretary of the Committee of Ministers for the Formation of Advanced Human Capital and Chile Scholarships; Director of Studies and Strategic Planning of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT); and Researcher at the Ministry of Education. From these roles, he contributed to the design of laws, programs and reforms in the educational, tax and innovation fields.

Overall, he has worked improving education policies across Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines), as well as Europe (United Kingdom) and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates).