August 8th - 9th, 2007
Manizales, Colombia

To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Federation, the Comite de Cafeteros de Caldas organized a meeeting to present innovative rural education programs and other important issues related to experiences in rural education. It will be held at Manizales, Department of Caldas, Colombia from 8th to 9th August 2007.

The purpose of the activity was to present and discuss the benefits and challenges developing countries face at basic education level, and to discuss results of the lessons learned from these projects.

The overall goal of the conference was to provide the tools and knowledge necessary to enable participating governments and institutions to make informed policy choices for reforming basic education systems to meet the challenges they face.

The World Bank, the IADB, UNESCO and the government of Caldas are supporting the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers (Caldas) with the resources they need to conduct the event in order to promote South-South dialogue based on lessons learned from successful rural education programs world-wide.