Forty-one years ago, Fundación Paraguaya set out to build an ambitious vision: to prove that multidimensional poverty can be eliminated. Four decades later, that vision has taken shape as a powerful puzzle in which every piece plays an essential role—and when they come together, lives are transformed.
The organization stands on four pillars that, integrated, form a unique strategy: Microfinance, Entrepreneurial Education, Self-Sustaining Agricultural Schools, and the Poverty Stoplight. Each program is a key piece, connected through the Poverty Stoplight—a tool that enables families to diagnose their situation, plan ahead, and track their progress toward a better future.
Microfinance: The Piece That Fuels Capital and Confidence
Over the past 41 years, the Foundation has disbursed 512,900 loans and currently serves more than 100,000 active clients, 92% of whom are women. This reflects a strong commitment to female and rural entrepreneurship as a driving force for overcoming poverty.
Loans range from women’s committees (76% of the portfolio) and microenterprises (19%) to products designed for youth, people with disabilities, housing, technology, students, microfranchises, and small-scale farmers. In addition, more than 44,000 non-financial services have been delivered, strengthening skills and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Every loan is a piece that fits into a family’s life project.
Entrepreneurial Education: The Piece That Shapes Changemakers
With 31 years of experience, the Entrepreneurial Education program was created to support the children of women entrepreneurs in their development. Today, it includes more than ten active initiatives that strengthen skills, autonomy, and sustainable opportunities.
In the past year alone, more than 32,000 participants took part in these programs. Initiatives such as AWE, Junior Achievement, Estemos Abiertos, Student Enterprises, Financial Education, FEP, Soccer and Entrepreneurship, Soccer Without Poverty, Jihui, the Poverty Stoplight Olympics, and the World Robot Olympiad are all part of this piece that prepares tomorrow’s leaders.
Self-Sustaining Agricultural Schools: The Piece That Produces and Innovates
Twenty-three years ago, the Foundation launched an innovative educational model: “Learning by doing, selling, and earning.” Without government subsidies, the Self-Sustaining Agricultural Schools transform rural youth into self-reliant agricultural entrepreneurs.
Today, the model operates in 59 institutions across 28 countries, with more than 1,700 graduates. In Paraguay, three flagship schools stand out:
- Cerrito Agricultural School: 115% operational self-sufficiency, Gs. 4.7 billion in revenue, and Gs. 131 million in student business plan loans.
- Belén Agricultural School: 100% self-sufficiency, Gs. 2.497 billion in revenue, and strong supply to national markets.
- Mbaracayú Educational Center: 465 female graduates, dozens of scholarship recipients pursuing professional and university degrees—many of them young Indigenous and rural women transforming not only their futures, but also their communities.
In these schools, students don’t just learn—they produce, they innovate, and they make a difference.
The Poverty Stoplight: The Piece That Guides Change
Created in 2009, the Poverty Stoplight is the methodology that brings the entire puzzle together. It enables each family to conduct a self-assessment across dimensions such as health, education, income, and housing; identify their challenges; and plan concrete actions to move from red to yellow, and from yellow to green.
In 17 years, the Poverty Stoplight has been implemented more than one million times in 60 countries, reaching over 590,000 families. Today, it is used by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide.
In Paraguay, it is the foundation of the Verdeate initiative, which aims to help 100,000 families improve their well-being over the next five years.
In the past year alone:
- 48,000 indicators turned “green.”
- 48 new rural entrepreneurs graduated.
- 386 young people received vocational training in the northern region of the country.
- 120 new smiles, 170 new bathrooms, and 183 new kitchens improved living and housing conditions.
- One million Poverty Stoplight surveys were conducted worldwide.
Forty-one years later, the puzzle is taking shape
Every loan granted, every young person trained, every indicator that turns green, and every self-sustaining productive unit represents a piece that fits into a greater vision: a Paraguay where families are the protagonists of their own development.
Forty-one years after its founding, Fundación Paraguaya demonstrates that poverty is not an inevitable destiny—it is a challenge that can be addressed through innovation, coordinated action, and confidence in people’s potential.
The puzzle continues to grow. And every new piece brings the country closer to the shared dream of living without poverty.