Through the ASHA project, partnered with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and USAID, Fundación Paraguaya inaugurated a total of 21 new dormitories to accommodate 150 students of its Cerrito Self-Sustaining Agricultural School.
The Executive Director of Fundación Paraguaya, Dr. Martin Burt and Robert Krueger, Head of the Social Sciences and Policy Studies Department of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Massachusetts, USA attended the inaugural ceremony, as well as other authorities of Fundación Paraguaya, students and their parents.
“We inaugurated new constructions, which became a reality thanks to a donation of USAID, of the US Embassy in Paraguay and of WPI. There are 21 dormitories for girls and boys with all the amenities: private bathrooms, air conditioning, heating, internet and laundry, among others. We seek our students to feel loved, to feel accompanied, and to have peace of mind to study and also to rest,” said Dr. Martin Burt.
More than USD 190,000 was invested in the 21 dormitories, distributed into four sectors. The inauguration of these new spaces is part of the ASHA project, which also includes the construction of other facilities already in operation, such as the new Cheese Factory, and others that are under construction, to enhance the functionality of the agricultural school.
Internationally Recognized Educational Model
In 2022, the model of Fundación Paraguaya’s Self-Sustaining Agricultural School was selected as one of the most impactful and scalable educational innovations in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2021 in the Spotlight Report on 21st Century Skills in Latin America and the Caribbean prepared by HundrED, in collaboration with the International Development Bank (IDB).
“Under the slogan ‘Learning by doing, selling and earning money’, and with an educational model that is unique in the world, young people from rural environments are transformed into rural entrepreneurs. This educational model has been implemented for almost 20 years and more than 2,000 young people have already been benefited. With our work in the Self-Sustaining Agricultural Schools we are going to end rural poverty, shifting from the old model of support to family farming to training rural entrepreneurs who generate resources and money in rural areas,» stated Dr. Martin Burt, Executive Director of Fundación Paraguaya.
