ABSTRACT
This chapter ecplores contrasting perspectives that have emerged as education has moved to the top of the national agenda in developing countries and in the international dialogue and policy initiatives sponsored by donor countries and multilateral agencies providing financial assistance for development. Using the case of Latin American women and girls, the chapter examines global imperative of education reform in light of local predicaments generated by national education and development policy. From a global perspective, as donor countries and multilateral agencies focus on development in Latin America, education is seen primarily as a way of reducing poverty. For the donor countries that constitute the main force in defining the economic global priorities, the renewed interest in educating the poor and in cultivating sustainable development can be explained by an overriding concern with political stability in developing world. Education and migration from rural to urban areas brought economic and social benefits, even though the dislocation brought a complete change of identity.
