Back to School Special 3: Investing in South America’s Future

In this, the final instalment of our three-part series on education, we take you to our Central and South America region, where our strategy is to engage with local communities to identify needs and set specific goals that respond to those needs. In partnership with local organizations, our aim is to support local capacity-building and to contribute to the social and economic development of the region.

Education for Economic Development in Santa Cruz, Argentina

As the Cerro Negro project nears commercial production, Goldcorp is partnering with the town of Perito Moreno to plan for the future, when construction activities at the site conclude and on-going operations commence. We’re working together to address things like the growing population in the area and the need for a work-ready, skilled work-force. Education and training are key pillars of Goldcorp´s CSR strategy, to ensure we’re providing socio-economic improvement, attracting key personnel, and ultimately contribute to positive impacts that will last beyond the life of the mine.

In 2014, Goldcorp provided approximately 50 sports and academic scholarships at the university level  toward programs ranging from mining engineering and earth sciences to specialized pharmaceutical studies to urban planning. As the mine moves forward, we expect to also support education for younger students attending primary and secondary schools. 

El Morro’s Huasco Literary Competition

Together with the Governor of Chile’s Huasco Province, Alexandra Núñez, and the Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Pilar Soto, Goldcorp El Morro sponsored a “Short Stories of Huasco Province” literary contest, open to residents of all ages from one of the Huasco communities of Alto del Carmen, Huasco, Freirina or Vallenar. The goal of the contest is to promote creative writing among the inhabitants of regional towns. The initiative was the vision of local writers Juan García Ro and Patricia Rivera, who spent years working to increase literacy within the region.

"We are grateful for this opportunity to contribute towards supporting local culture and education through reading and writing initiatives. We hope it will be a successful competition and wish all the participants good luck," said Petri Salopera, Goldcorp El Morro’s Corporate Responsibility Manager.

Pilar Soto, the Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Education commented, “It is very important to encourage the love of reading and writing from a young age. This competition will bring the region together.”

The competition closed October 3, 2014 and the winner will be announced by the end of the month.

Providing Access to Local Public Schools in Guatemala

The Marlin Mine has been providing support for primary and secondary education for many years. Last October 2013, we shared information about Goldcorp’s public school initiatives in Guatemala, providing support for primary and secondary education and we’re continuing to support these efforts.

In 2014, Goldcorp continued to fund the salaries of 34 teachers and provided another 150 scholarships to help students continue their studies. Historically, few students in the region progress beyond primary school. Our scholarships encourage students to continue to secondary school and beyond. They also benefit the students’ family life by providing local access to education so they can continue living at home while they pursue their studies.