Heart for Change is a high-impact social non-profit organization that carries out language instruction programs, teacher training, and multicultural exchange.
Our mission at Heart for Change is to unleash the potential of students and teachers from around the world through the power of languages.
Heart for Change strengthens the professional skills of language teachers through an immersive fellowship in Latin America and connects them with students from around the world to provide better education opportunities for everyone. We have an approach based on the methodology of teacher training in pedagogical skills and professional abilities for the service of our students.
We have the best native teachers who understand the culture and use the top pedagogical techniques to teach and rapidly improve the students' language level. Our methodology is virtual and we use technology as the basis for teaching.
Since 2010, we have been working on high-impact social programs for language teaching and multicultural exchanges. To date, we have brought more than 3,100 teachers to work in public educational institutions in Colombia, from all continents, as well as we have sent Colombian Spanish teachers to work in different parts of the world. Our high-quality language teaching and multicultural exchange programs succeed in closing the equity gap between countries.
Heart for Change transforms individuals, organizations, and communities through language teaching and cultural awareness.
Our social impact model is based on four pillars:
Training and Growth of Instructors: We work with talented individuals who are passionate about teaching and human growth. Through our training and personal growth process, we create development opportunities for those who wish to teach in their countries or spend a year abroad discovering a new country and language.
World-Class Language Training: We provide world-class language instruction to children and adults, developing the skills and confidence to speak a foreign language, learn a new culture, and connect with a global society. By doing this, we help students build tools to interact in a globalized society and become world citizens, with greater awareness of cultural differences and a higher level of empathy.
Democratization of Access: Quality foreign language training is out of reach for the majority of the population in Latin America. Through affordable models, we eliminate barriers and help students focus on the task of learning a new language.
Economic Development: By providing quality linguistic and intercultural training to low-income students, minorities, and middle-income individuals, we facilitate access to the local and global labor market, creating opportunities for many and reducing inequality. To do this, we partner with non-profit organizations, businesses committed to social impact and diversity, and local governments. We participate in different programs to help students find jobs in sectors where foreign languages are required, such as technology, tourism, and health.
CO-FUNDADORA & CEO
Andrea is a co-founder of PrimeraHFC, which since 2002 has worked on education and bilingualism programs and since 2010 has mobilized more than 3,000 English teachers to Colombia. Andrea is an architect from the Universidad de los Andes, with an emphasis on Asian studies, Italian language and culture, and Japanese language and culture. Andrea is a fellow of Atlas Service Corps and worked at Think Impact in Washington DC, and coordinated the Global Development Ambassadors program in South Africa. In 2019, Andrea opened DOT Innovation and Coworking Center and in 2020 co-founded Prosperity Makers, a company dedicated to education for work. Andrea has worked as a representative in Colombia and consultant for Partners of the Americas, ITDP, and Ventures. She was selected by Gerente magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders in Colombian society.
Chief Operations Officer
Political scientist from the National University of Colombia with a Master's degree in Development Management and Practice from the University of the Andes. She has extensive experience of more than 10 years in project management for development from both the public and private sectors. She has also worked on projects of educational innovation and application of technologies for child participation. She has worked in the design, direction, and evaluation of projects with emphasis on monitoring processes, data analysis, and report writing for different interest groups. She has experience in strategic planning, budget preparation and follow-up, and human talent management. She has also carried out various projects in the design and facilitation of collective work sessions in various modalities (focus groups, participatory leadership, collective intelligence, strategic planning workshops, promotion of network work, and social innovation).
Program Director
Paolo Barone is an economist from the University of Rome, specializing in development economics with a master's degree obtained from the universities of Clermont-Auvergne in France, Pavia in Italy, and Palacky Olomouc in the Czech Republic. After a brief experience as a consultant at Deloitte Belgium, Paolo joined PrimeraHFC with his first volunteer experience in 2015, later serving as Regional Coordinator for the department of Antioquia and finally as Program Director in charge of around 700 volunteers, 374 educational institutions in more than 60 cities in the country. Today, Paolo is Director of Programs and supervisor of different projects in Colombia.
Chief Learning Officer
Saul Gonzalez studied philology and languages at the Universidad Libre and holds a master's degree in virtual education and social networking. He has extensive experience creating content for language learning and teaching and has worked on educational projects in both the public and private sectors. His passion is creating content to teach English for specific purposes. He enjoys reading, playing chess, rock climbing, and mountain biking.
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