Cerrito Forum, the traditional event organized by the Fundación Paraguaya that brings together national and international experts on various topics related to innovation, development and strategies for poverty elimination, implements a new modality starting this year: visiting different cities of the Central, Paraguarí, Itapúa, Caaguazú, Cordillera, San Pedro and Alto Paraná departments, prior to the traditional meeting at the Cerrito Agricultural School/Hotel at the end of March, called Cerrito Forum in your city, the first venue being the city of Paraguarí, in the School of Economics.

The meeting brought together local authorities, neighborhood leaders, women entrepreneurs, and agents of change, with the main objective of raising awareness and nurturing these leaders with the resources of the Poverty Stoplight and the Fundación Paraguaya. It was also attended by the executive director of the organization, Martín Burt, who spoke about the mission and vision (of the Fundación) and the Poverty Stoplight methodology. “The idea is to promote the Poverty Stoplight in all Paraguayan families, not all are the same, they have different needs and priorities,” he said during his presentation.

The meeting also sought to create the proper environment to promote reflection, exchange, innovation, and action to lift families out of poverty, articulate stakeholders in poverty solutions with Stoplight principles and place the concept of multidimensional poverty and that of family as key actors to improve their quality of life. “Each family can have its own plan to escape poverty, for more than 10 years we have been traveling the country with the Stoplight and we have discovered that families are the owner of their own destiny,” he said at a different time.

The attendees also expressed themselves during this first meeting of the Cerrito Forum in your city, some already with prior experience working with the Fundación Paraguaya. “Thanks to Fundación Paraguaya, I was able to change my business during the pandemic and kept working to support my family,” said Mrs. Elva Delgado, an entrepreneur from the city of Yaguarón.

The main objective of this first meeting -and those that will come afterwards, – will be to promote poverty elimination and create regenerative responses within the framework of the effects of COVID-19, positioning the Fundación Paraguaya as a leading actor in this effort at the national and international level, in addition to locating the Cerrito Forum as a center for social innovation.