QM enhancing quality of professional capacity building in Latin America

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has become a leading source of financing of social and economical development in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. One special activity of the bank is its support to social and economic development in LAC through distance learning. The IDB has become a leader in professional development in LAC, capitalizing on the knowledge and experience of the Bank in the region.  Quality standards and quality control have been a challenging goal given the decentralized structure of production and the lack of a full blown academic framework. For many years, special accreditation was the single path of external oversight concerning quality. In 2015, INDES took an important step in a different direction by becoming a member of QM, training all its personnel, and starting QM reviews with a few courses. In order to sustain this process, the technical group managing the online platform has taken on an alternative route that has matched the QM self-review tool, with other newly designed processes for quality enhancement of its courses. The result is a well organized workflow, involving different staff with specific roles, supported by tightly controlled documentation tasks. This initiative has given rise to critical new directions as it expands its impact in the LAC region.  This presentation discusses the challenges and the success of this initiative, and shares the most critical lessons learned.