The most vulnerable families in Paraguay cannot wait

The sanitary emergency that we are all experiencing globally, has many faces; one of the most neglected is that of the indigenous peoples, with whom we have an unfathomable historical debt as a society, Paraguayan families who struggle on a daily basis to get ahead and; who in many cases, through empowerment and dignity, managed to overcome several of their difficulties by working in their businesses, improving day by day with the help of some organizations that provided them with the tools, such as the entrepreneurs of the Fundación Paraguaya.

 

 

 

Since 2018, in the community of Cerrito in Benjamín Aceval and through the Cerrito Stoplight Initiative, work has been carried out with families in the area; there are more than 1,100 families in the community, of which some 700 belong to the Qom group. Extension agents of the Initiative accompany each of these families through the empowerment process and their way out of poverty, using the Poverty Stoplight as a basis.

 

 

 

Amid so much uncertainty and an evident decrease in the income of family households, the extension agents -bearing in mind all the biological protection measures,- visited the families they are supporting and delivered orchard kits and self-consumption items, in addition to sanitary and cleaning supplies for 4 health posts, and the Villa Hayes regional hospital. “We must work together with the government, on a comprehensive plan that benefits everyone, the most vulnerable families in the country cannot wait,” said Martín Burt, director of the  Fundación Paraguaya, when talking with the team of coordinators of the Initiative.

 

 

 

Furthermore, he stated that it is a mistake to separate economic policy from social policy. “The message for Paraguayan families should be: stay at home, food is on the way,” he says.

 

 

 

Fundación Paraguaya is currently influencing public policies and strategies to continue accompanying families during this emergency in the best possible way, so that it has the least impact on the quality of life of each home with which we work.