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For two weeks, a team of teachers and artists from UNESCO and the Ministry of Education visited 24 schools in the East (Guantánamo and Granma), the West (Artemisa) and the country's capital (Havana) developing cultural and training activities focused on socio-emotional learning to support communities affected by the recent socio-natural disasters.

In each institution, nearby schools and municipal and provincial directorates of education also participated, who learned techniques to generate safe, welcoming and caring spaces in school environments (), had access to the latest UNESCO materials on the subject, received kits of educational, recreational and sports materials and enjoyed presentations by Cuban musicians who accompanied the route.

In the words of Henry Renna, Education Specialist at the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana: "This route showed the transformative potential of education and culture in emergency situations and the leadership of the education sector in the early recovery of affected communities. Social-emotional learning is a vehicle to generate an environment that favors peer care, educational continuity, and self-confidence for positive change."

Precisely, socio-emotional learning for UNESCO is a process of acquiring skills to recognize and manage emotions, develop care and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions and effectively manage difficult situations. It is a holistic learning process based on the ethics of care that links the cognitive, behavioural and affective aspects of learning to support learners' well-being, academic achievement and active global citizenship for positive social change ().

In recent years, socio-emotional learning has gained enormous value by demonstrating its positive impact in promoting welcoming and conducive spaces for post-disaster learning, a safe, friendly and playful return to the schooling process, non-violent attitudes in conflict resolution and solidarity as well as increasing a sense of belonging to the community ().

In the words of the director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana, Anne Lemaistre: "We hope to multiply the contribution and increase the scope of the actions with the support of allies and we invite everyone to join this socio-emotional route, of learning, of care, of hope."

In the coming weeks, results of the impact of the route will be presented, as well as the next steps.