Cooperação internacional descentralizada em educação: o caso da cooperação entre o município de João Pessoa e o consulado-geral dos Estados Unidos em Recife

Abstract

The international action of subnational governments has intensified more and more in the last decades due to a greater ease in approaching and dialoguing with countries and external institutions. The existing asymmetries between the federated units lead their governments to seek a more direct international action, dealing directly with foreign actors, taking local interests to discussion on the international scene in several areas, for example: political, economic, cultural, environmental, and educational. Decentralized Cooperation is one of the forms of action at the international level. Since Decentralized Cooperation has characteristics specific to the cities or regions that develop it, and considering it is relevant to understand the reality of a northeastern municipality, the study on the Decentralized International Cooperation in Education between the Municipality of João Pessoa and the US Consulate General in Recife. The partnership seeks to strengthen the teaching of the English language through the professional development of English teachers in the municipality, among other joint actions. Thus, considering the approximation of the actors, this research aims to understand the format and the results of the established cooperation. A research methodologically based on the use of a literature review on International, Decentralized and Educational Cooperation is proposed, as well as a case study with the realization of empirical expedients through interviews with relevant actors. We emphasize the pioneering spirit of cooperation for the actors, who had been in contact since 2012, but only in 2015 they initiated the first local action. The situation of the partnership until January 2022 is also pointed out, as well as some challenges arising from the lack of specialized structure of the Municipality of João Pessoa in some areas: such as International Relations. In the end, it is evident that the Consulate managed to propagate the English language and North American culture in João Pessoa, in line with US foreign policy. The Municipality of João Pessoa relied on manpower and investments from the USA aimed at the area of English language education.