Description
DLF cooperates with the two independent national teachers’ unions in Bolivia, CONMERB and CTEUB, who represent the teachers in the rural and urban areas respectively. The main reason for this division is that the teacher training for rural and urban teachers are not alike, and the same goes for their pay and working conditions.
A new education act was implemented in 2010 in order to give equal access to relevant quality education for all, and education in the mother tongue for the youngest pupils. The education act has set the stage for equalizing the curricula at the rural and urban schools as well as the teachers’ pay and working conditions. As this has been implemented, the groundwork for a possible merger has been laid.
The project cooperation began in early 2013 and the third phase is expected to be finalized before end of 2025.
Objectives
The objective of the present project phase is to support CONMERB and CTEUB in disseminating the knowledge of the labour rights of teachers as well as to support the organizations in organizing joint social dialogue meetings with the education authorities about the implementation of the new education act.
The project’s short term goal is to strengthen both organisations individually, and to strengthen the cooperation between the two organisations, hoping that the two unions in the long term will merge into one politically strong and financially independent organisations.
Another focus area is training of the representatives of CONMERB and CTEUB at regional and district levels, to enable them to have better insight in trade union work and provide better service to the members.