Poverty Stoplight: A global approach to combating poverty
Por Santiago Fiorio
Head of Global Partnerships
Throughout the world, poverty remains a persistent challenge. The Poverty Stoplight emerges as a powerful tool to address this complex problem. This is a program created and promoted by the Fundación Paraguaya, aimed at empowering families to escape poverty, from a multidimensional perspective.
With its expansion to 59 countries and the active participation of 50 implementing partners — several of them in multiple countries — the Poverty Stoplight is changing the way we confront poverty globally. In this article, we will explain how this innovative program offers a methodology that is transforming lives and communities around the world, highlighting its family-centered approach and its ability to catalyze social change, empowering families, as a strategy to escape poverty.
Multidimensional measurement of poverty: Poverty is not limited solely to lack of income, it is a multidimensional phenomenon that affects various dimensions of life. The Poverty Stoplight recognizes this complexity by evaluating aspects in six dimensions, income, employment, education, culture, health, environment, organization and interiority. By providing a holistic view of poverty, this methodology allows families to identify their own needs or deprivations, as well as their strengths and opportunities, in order to encourage them to take concrete steps towards a more prosperous life. It is not a program that provides social or humanitarian assistance, but rather focuses on encouraging families to develop and implement their own solutions to said needs or deprivations.
Family Empowerment: One of the distinctive features of the Poverty Stoplight is its family-centered approach. Through the self-assessment survey and the creation of a personalized Life Map, families become architects of their own change, proposing their own goals, ways to achieve them and within a period defined by the families themselves. This process of self-assessment and goal setting at the family level strengthens the social fabric and promotes sustainable solutions from the inside out.
Global collaboration: Transnational collaboration encourages the exchange of best practices and mutual learning, thus enriching the program’s impact in communities around the world.
With implementing partners active globally, the Poverty Stoplight has become an international reference in the fight against poverty. Starting in Paraguay and expanding throughout Latin America, the United States; European countries such as the United Kingdom and Portugal; to Africa, including countries such as Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, among others; and Asia, reaching countries such as Uzbekistan, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Egypt, Vietnam and Malaysia are the last three countries conquered by our methodology, which will soon begin new implementations of the Poverty Stoplight.
Challenges and opportunities: Although the Poverty Stoplight has achieved significant expansion, it still faces the great challenge of promoting the multidimensional approach to poverty, which is gradually becoming the international standard on the matter.
These challenges also represent opportunities for greater engagement and growth of Fundación Paraguaya, Poverty Stoplight’s founding organization. With continued awareness and collaboration efforts, the Poverty Stoplight can reach more communities and transform lives around the world.
The Poverty Stoplight journey is an inspiring reminder, more than a measurement methodology, it is a catalyst for socioeconomic change. It also shows us that solidarity and innovation can transcend geographical and cultural barriers, prioritizing community empowerment and global collaboration, allowing us to build a world without poverty with a common goal.
