Fundación Paraguaya’s Stoplight Olympics is based on the Poverty Stoplight methodology and it was launched in virtual format for its sixth edition. It is an initiative of national scope, created by the organization’s executive director, Martin Burt. The current situation has challenged the Stoplight Olympics to propose a whole new format so this year, the implementation will be completely virtual, where participants will have a Support Center and a mobile app to learn about the challenges given, and receive assistance from the team of Fundación Paraguaya.

The Olympics is a group program, where high school students take a survey on the current situation of their families, and then implement good practices and attitudes that will allow to generate positive habits and behavior changes to overcome their vulnerabilities and those of their communities. This initiative is supported by the MEC (Ministry of Education and Sciences) and MADES (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development).

To register, participants must form groups of 15 to 20 students, designate a leader or captain who will register the team through the Stoplight Olympics app, which is available on the Play Store (for devices that use the Android Operating System). They can also contact Facebook, through the Stoplight Olympics fanpage, at +595 981269146, with Hugo Céspedes, program coordinator, or email to ods@fundacionparaguaya.org.py. All high school students from all over the country can participate; both, the registration as well as the participation are free of charge.

“There is no other competition in the world that makes young people be main actors on the way out of poverty for their families,” says the executive director of the Fundación Paraguaya, Martín Burt, who also adds that the Stoplight Olympics have been successfully replicated in other countries, with the participation,  in recent years, of over 40,000 young people. “Our methodology provides learning and experiences that strengthen life and leadership skills. We have success stories of young people who have encouraged their families to save, have a family business, create a budget for household expenses,” emphasizes the CEO of the Fundación Paraguaya.

There will be prizes for outstanding institutions in this edition, and it intends to reach 10,000 young people from all over the country.