Testing the Stoplight in the Field
Written by Nancy Ramos, Manager for Methodology
The Poverty Stoplight was officially implemented in 2010. We began working with Fundación Paraguaya’s microfinance clients and then we extended the program to businesses and their employees as well as Paraguayan families that receive interventions from other organizations. We have now reached people in 25 countries.
Each implementation is unique and our team has gathered insightful knowledge from each one. More importantly, we have many moving and inspiring stories that hold something in common: each beneficiary has moved forward and worked to achieve a better life for themselves and their families.
The question is what causes these people to confront and eliminate their poverty? Our assumption is that the Poverty Stoplight, with its self-diagnosis through indicators presented with pictures and easy-to-understand definitions of poverty, begins a process of awareness and empowerment that drives individuals and families to act.
In the course of this poverty elimination process, a large amount of internal and external resources are mobilized for the family, which allows for the complexity of interactions that need to be observed and analyzed in order to draw valid and reliable conclusions.
Today, data analysis enables the thoughtful use of information we gather in the field and Fundación Paraguaya is firmly committed to supporting research on the Poverty Stoplight.
To this end, Fundación Paraguaya is supporting ten investigations, led by qualified researchers from all around the world. Each investigation was designed to test different parts of the process and aims to provide us with a greater understanding on how the Poverty Stoplight methodology benefits people.
Below we list the studies in progress:
1. The Poverty Stoplight as a Tool for Empowering Women
Developed by: The Poverty Stoplight Methodology team, with the support of Suzanne Cade, PhD Student in Comparative and International Development Education at the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. University of Minnesota.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in Communities.
Setting: Cerrito community at Chaco, Paraguay.
Aim: To find evidence on the impact the tool has on the empowerment of women, and to document how this process occurs.
2. The Impact of the Poverty Stoplight on Families
Developed by: The Poverty Stoplight Methodology team.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in Communities.
Setting: Cerrito community at Chaco, Paraguay.
Aim: To find evidence that the Poverty Stoplight activates families and allows them to overcome poverty to a greater extent than a control group that does not use the tool. In the research, families receive different levels of mentoring in order to validate which level is the most effective. Likewise, it also seeks to verify if the tool activates the community so that people work together to solve its indicators, and additionally if it generates a reaction in the State, increasing the provision of goods and services.
3. The Impact of the Poverty Stoplight on Companies
Developed by: The Poverty Stoplight Methodology team with the support of Emily Hsiao, MA Student in Public Administration in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in Companies.
Setting: Paraguayan companies that use the Poverty Stoplight.
Aim: To discover the impact of the Poverty Stoplight on companies. To verify if it increases productivity, reduces employee desertion, improves the work environment, increases work attendance, and also to explore what other impacts the tool has on companies. At the same time, the study seeks to examine what companies are looking for in the Poverty Stoplight; specifically, what is the added value they would like to obtain.
4. The Validation of the Poverty Stoplight as a Poverty Measurement Tool
Developed by: The Poverty Stoplight Methodology team.
Scope: General.
Setting: Communities not linked to the programs carried out by the institution.
Aim: To demonstrate the reliability and soundness of the Poverty Stoplight as a tool for measuring poverty. Note: We carried out similar research 5 years ago, but we seek to validate the tool once again, considering the new indicators aligned with the MPI.
5. The Poverty Stoplight as a tool for Microfinance clients
Developed by: Juan Carlos Pane, PhD student at Institute of Development Studies (IDS) University of Sussex, UK.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in a microfinance program.
Setting: 8 cities where Fundación Paraguaya’s Microfinance program is developed in urban areas.
Aim: To find out how the Poverty Stoplight empowers Microfinance clients to solve their poverty indicators. We compare their results with clients who do not use the Poverty Stoplight.
6. The Poverty Stoplight Mentoring Process
Developed by: Marie Claire Burt, PhD student at Institute of Development Studies (IDS) University of Sussex, UK.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in a microfinance program.
Setting: 2 cities where Fundación Paraguaya’s Microfinance program is developed in urban areas.
Aim: To find out how the mentoring process is developed and how the assessor supports the client in the search for solutions to their indicators. It also seeks to understand how the Positive Influence Theory and Integral Theory is applied in the field.
7. The Impact of the Poverty Stoplight in Microfinance
Developed by: The Poverty Stoplight Methodology team.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in a microfinance program.
Setting: The entire country of Paraguay in urban and rural areas where Fundación Paraguaya’s Microfinance program is developed.
Aim: To demonstrate the impact of the Poverty Stoplight in changing the quality of life of microfinance clients. The research will focus on clients who have overcome income poverty, clients who have solved at least 5 indicators, and clients who have solved all the indicators. The mentoring processes will also be studied and different levels of mentoring will be examined in order to find out which provides the most efficient processes. Finally, the effect of the Poverty Stoplight on the financial results of the microfinance program will also be analyzed, evaluating aspects such as delinquency, credit amounts, and the permanence of clients in the program, among other elements.
8. The Cost of the Poverty Stoplight in Microfinance
Developed by: Yalda Amani, MA student in Public Administration in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in a microfinance program.
Setting: All of Paraguay in urban and rural areas where Fundación Paraguaya’s Microfinance program is developed.
Aim: To determine the cost (in time and money) of implementing the Poverty Stoplight in a microfinance program.
9. The Poverty Stoplight in Companies in Mexico
Developed by: Tania Tanoos, MA student in Conflict, Security and Development at the University of Sussex, UK.
Scope: The Poverty Stoplight in Companies.
Setting: Companies in Mexico City, Mexico.
Aim: To understand the perception Mexican companies have about Poverty Stoplight and the expectations they have for its implementation. Note: the implementation in this country is in its initial stage; this research aims to be a baseline.
10. The Impact of Microfinance “Plus”
Developed by: Nathan Fiala, University of Connecticut, along with Opportunity International.
Scope: Microfinance programs.
Setting: Paraguay, Ghana, and Myanmar.
Aim: To demonstrate the effectiveness of microfinance “plus” programs. These are microfinance programs implemented by microfinance institutions in order to benefit their clients, and in some cases, their own employees. In the case of Fundación Paraguaya, the “plus” is the Poverty Stoplight program.
By 2019 we will have enough evidence to document and publish the conclusions of these studies, in this way providing data on how the Poverty Stoplight eliminates poverty.
