In Latin America, the number of poor increased in the 1980s by some 60 million people. It was estimated that one out of five Latin Americans lived in extreme poverty. The globalization of economies that took place in the 1990s does not seem to have brought a rapid solution to the problem since much of the growth observed takes place without substantial creation of employment. There is a general consensus that education and training can do a great deal to break the cycle of marginalization, exclusion, and poverty present in developing nations. Yet many education systems, far from contributing to reducing inequalities and facilitating social integration, continue to exclude large numbers of children and to generate through their systems of selection a deep-seated social differentiation and long-lasting exclusion. This paper about educational strategies for disadvantaged groups discusses the following: why is there a rising interest in poverty alleviation?; education and poverty alleviation; who are the disadvantaged?; the variety of programmes for disadvantaged groups: which one to support first?; motivating children and youth: to vocationalize or not?; the key to successful management: partnership and decentralization; and the challenge of going to scale. (Contains 12 references.) (BT)