November 3, 2003 - Washington DC For the World Bank and the development community as a whole, our dream is a world free of poverty. How does this vision translate for the region's experts in entrepreneurial education? According to the six country panels from the Global Dialogue, "Developing a Curriculum for Entrepreneurial Education", engendering entrepreneurial behaviors will bring many types of riches to Latin America and the Caribbean. It will shape youth who grow up to become leaders grounded in ethics, problem solvers who adapt easily to change and who have access to information that will aid their decision making. It is a vision of increased citizen participation, greater human development and a decrease in delinquency within their borders. Perhaps the group sentiment was described most succinctly by Oscar Valdivia, of the Mexican government agency Impulsa, as an environment which produces young leaders "whose mentality is that of employer and not necessarily employee - youth who are employment generators for the country and who have the preparation to begin a business in the real world."

The August 25, 2003 learning event launched the outreach component to the YABT program, Business Labs, which was developed in the late 1980s by CEO Roy Thomasson. The program involves teacher training for instruction in business skills and aptitudes with a practical, hands-on approach. This distance learning portion is key to sharing throughout the region the experience and lessons acquired by the program's initial implementation in Ecuador as well as expanding its reach by offering Business Labs training through GDLN (slated for early 2004).

The GDLN component will involve a series of sessions which hone in on the aspects of a curriculum deemed essential by participating practitioners, as well as offer guidance on approach, encouraging a learning by doing or 'action learning' methodology. Once an initial cadre of regional experts has worked through their existing curriculum in terms of this approach, they will offer their recommendations to a second group through successive learning events.

So what were the aspects singled out as vital for a hands-on entrepreneurial curriculum? To begin with, the session participants, which represented chambers of commerce, academia, youth entrepreneurship organizations, ministry functionaries, foundations and private sector firms, expressed that a skills foundation which is grounded in the real business world is needed. Skills would include theoretical knowledge, such as management and technologies that could support the growth of their businesses. Future entrepreneurs would access the business world through mentoring or internship programs, applying what they've learned by developing their own business plans. Such a curriculum would stress solid ethics, corporate social responsibility and a spirit of innovation. Several of the dialogue's participants mentioned the importance of beginning to encourage this entrepreneurial outlook from childhood on.

With the ultimate goal of providing training of trainers on a curriculum for future business leaders, hearing views from the region's experts on the most important elements to include was an important first step. To follow this experience, YABT in collaboration with WBI, has organized a workshop to provide guidance on the 'learning by doing' approach for participating countries to examine their own curricula in terms of this methodology. During the December 1 and December 8 sessions, experts from Canada, Taiwan and Israel will present case studies illustrating their experience and recommendations for the approach.

For additional information regarding this activity, or to learn about future GDLN activities in related topics, please contact Bari Rabin at the following e-mail address: brabin@worldbank.org