ImpActo Maker — Colombia's national AI and maker-culture programme for schools

ImpActo Maker is a national strategy launched in 2025 by Colombia's Ministry of National Education (Ministerio de Educación Nacional) in partnership with Fundación Estrategia País, operated by AtlanttiCO EdTech with backing from Google.org. It combines generative AI, maker culture and creative methodologies to help students and teachers turn local challenges into projects for social change, using the GENIA methodology, which blends Design Thinking with the scientific method. The strategy supports Colombia's national AI policy (CONPES 4144).

In its first reporting year (2025), ImpActo Maker certified 22,612 participants: 14,617 students in grades 10-11 and post-secondary tracks, and 7,995 teachers across all education levels. It reached 436 educational institutions (420 public, 16 private) in 197 PDET/ZOMAC municipalities — Colombia's officially designated conflict-affected and high-poverty territories — across 26 departments. Of the participating institutions, 278 were urban and 154 rural, and the highest-participation departments included Guainía, Vaupés and Boyacá, three of the country's most remote and historically under-resourced regions.

The programme's design explicitly targets equity: by directing certification slots toward PDET/ZOMAC municipalities and pairing Ministry-led convocations (4,730 participants) with local secretariat and institution-led enrolment (17,882 participants), it reaches communities that national AI-in-education efforts often bypass. What is not yet published is any measure of learning gains or skill retention — reporting to date covers participation and certification counts, not pre/post assessment of AI competency, and no independent evaluation has been released.

Read the full analysis: https://www.mineducacion.gov.co/portal/salaprensa/Comunicados/429459:Mas-de-22-mil-estudiantes-y-docentes-se-formaron-en-IA-gracias-a-la-estrategia-ImpActo-Maker-del-Ministerio-de-Educacion