Paraguay continues to export social innovation to the world. This time, the province of Corrientes, Argentina, has launched the «Football Without Poverty» program alongside Fundación Paraguaya. The initiative utilizes the Poverty Stoplight, a tool created in Paraguay to help families identify their main challenges and build a customized plan to improve their quality of life.
The initiative combines sports, social inclusion, and community development, working with children, youth, and their families through football schools and social organizations. The objective is for football to be not just a recreational activity, but also a gateway to generating opportunities, strengthening education, increasing income, and supporting families on their path out of poverty.
A technical team from Fundación Paraguaya traveled to the City of Corrientes, led by Silvana Ortena, the program manager, to provide training on the initiative. The program is already being officially implemented in two sports institutions within the city of Corrientes: Los Canayitas club and Atlético Libertad club. In this initial phase, more than 100 families will access this proposal, which aims to create new opportunities through positive reinforcement and professional guidance.
The project will last between four and five months, featuring personalized workshops—both virtual and in-person—and will conclude with a recreational gathering including special recognition.
How does the program work?
Each family of the club members reflects on their situation and evaluates various aspects of their lives using the colors of the Stoplight:
- Red: Critical situation / doing poorly in this area.
- Yellow: Partial progress / improving, but still work to do.
- Green: Goal achieved / already made it.
Based on this self-assessment, the families themselves decide which aspects they want to improve first and work on an action plan accompanied by professionals. This is not assistance handed down from above: the family is the protagonist of its own change.
With initiatives like «Football Without Poverty,» Paraguay reaffirms its role as a regional leader in social innovation, proving that besides exporting sports talent, it can also export knowledge, innovation, and solutions capable of transforming entire communities.