paraguay
FUNDACIÓN PARAGUAYA
Fundación Paraguaya is a social and self-sustaining enterprise, founded in 1985 and working in the field of microfinance and entrepreneurship in Paraguay. They run entrepreneurial and vocational training for low-income youth, called Financially Self-Sufficient (FSS) School. Within their FSS Schools programme, they actively promote the Homeless World Cup and select participants from across Paraguay.
Fundación Paraguaya currently run four schools in Paraguay which follow the FSS School model, and provide technical assistance to some 50 schools in Latin America and Africa, which are also adopting the model. Football activities are an integral part of the FSS Schools programme due to the popularity of football in Paraguay. More than 300 children and adolescents from very low-income families participate in their sports programmes annually.
Homelessness statistics
103 out of 189 in Human Development Index rankings (UNDP 2020)
Average salary per person $12,600 (World Bank 2020)
24% of the 7 million population live below the poverty line (World Population Review 2021)
Despite rising economic growth in the past decade, there remains a deep urban-rural development gap, which highlights the stark contrast in living conditions and inadequate housing for large portions of the population. Data for homelessness is not readily available from the government, although Habitat for Humanity estimates that in the capital city of Asunción, 20% of the families live in informal settlements without access to basic services.
A historical challenge in the housing sector has been vast swathes of indigenous people being evicted from their lands due to corrupt landowners. This further exacerbates the migration from rural to urban areas and the chaotic mushrooming of slums with unsafe and inadequate conditions.
The country has also been plagued by natural disasters, especially floods – sometimes displacing up to 50,000 after one event, which can reoccur on a regular basis due to the government’s lack of disaster risk management.
As in so many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the poverty and housing situation. Protests in the capital have demanded the government address Paraguay’s housing crisis, which is estimated by Habitat to be 1.1 million houses short of the national need.
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