Scaling Teacher Support: Piloting ”Profe Gabi,” an AI-powered Mentoring Chatbot for Novice Teachers in Chile

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Human-intensive programs like teacher mentoring face a fundamental scaling problem: evidence shows their impact declines as they expand, and the personalized support that makes them effective becomes prohibitively expensive at scale. This paper explores whether AI-powered tools can help resolve this tension. We document the development and pilot implementation of ”Profe Gabi,” a generative AI chatbot designed to provide novice teachers in Chile with on-demand mentoring support through WhatsApp.

What do the data tells us about hearing loss and deafness in school-age children?

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

The document series “Life Skills”, titled “The Hidden Numbers,” provides clear, data-driven snapshots of the prevalence of different disabilities and disorders among school-age children in Latin America and the Caribbean. It uses estimated prevalence rates from the Global Burden of Disease and contrasts them with administrative data from educational systems. The documents are designed for policymakers, ministerial teams, and education professionals seeking practical information to strengthen inclusion, early detection, and support for students.

The Promise and Limits of Digital Nudges: Personalized School Recommendations in Recife’s Centralized Admission Platform

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Despite improvements in access to information, digital platforms, and centralized school admission systems, many parents continue to choose seemingly lower-quality schools, often prioritizing proximity over academic performance. We examine the role of information provision in this context through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) within the centralized admission platform of Recife, Brazil testing whether personalized school recommendations influence parental choice.

The Right to Belong: Migrant Regularization in Latin America and the Caribbean

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Over the past decade, Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced a sharp rise in intraregional migration, accompanied by widespread situations of migrants residing without regular status. In response, governments across the region have implemented an unprecedented number of regularization initiatives70 programs comprising 88 phases between 2010 and 2025to expand regular stay, improve access to rights, and reduce administrative and social vulnerability.

Toward More Effective Employment Policies: Opportunities of Results-Based Financing

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

In Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a growing investment in programs that connect job seekers with employment opportunities through services such as training and job intermediation. These programs can, in some cases, substantially improve beneficiaries career paths, but in others, they deliver results below expectations.

What Do the Data Tell Us about Vision Loss and Blindness in School-age Children?

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

The series of Skills for Life (S4L) briefs "Hidden in Plain Sight" provides clear, data-driven snapshots of the prevalence of different disabilities and disorders among school-age children in Latin America and the Caribbean, using the Global Burden of Disease estimated prevalence rates contrasting these with administrative data from the education systems. The briefs are designed for policymakers, ministry teams, and education practitioners seeking actionable insights to strengthen inclusion, early detection, and support students.

Balancing Economic Development with the Protection of Indigenous Territories in Latin America

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

The legal protection of Indigenous territories in Latin America has been crucial to safeguard collective rights and prevent land loss. However, current regulatory frameworksoften prohibiting any form of transferalso limit economic development opportunities within these territories. This policy brief examines how to balance territorial protection with Indigenous economic autonomy, drawing on Chiles model, which allows land transfers among members of the same Indigenous group while restricting sales to non-Indigenous buyers.

Economic, Cultural and Taste-based Constraints to the Scaling of Climate-resilient Biofortified Maize among Diverse Smallholder Populations in Guatemala

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

To address the combined challenges of hidden hunger and climate vulnerability, crop breeding efforts over the last decades have focused on releasing crop varieties with resilient traits and higher nutrient content. Ensuring that those newly released varieties reach the types of farmers most likely to benefit from these enhanced seed traits ultimately will determine the return to those breeding efforts.

Innovations with Artificial Intelligence: An Exploratory Mapping in the Response to Violence Against Women

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the way governments design and implement public policies, creating new opportunities to enhance prevention and response to violence against women across Latin America and the Caribbean. This policy brief provides an exploratory mapping of current AI applications in public-sector initiatives, identifying emerging uses, evidence gaps, and ethical challenges.