The Poverty Stoplight Community Welcomes Emprender from Colombia
Written by Juan Fernando Gomez, Program Associate for International Replicas
Approximately a year ago, July Ardila, the CEO of Emprender, a network of entities that seek to promote financial inclusion, was in Asunción becoming familiar with the different initiatives of Fundación Paraguaya. One in particular caught her attention: the Poverty Stoplight.
“I fell in love with the tool (Poverty Stoplight) thanks to a visit I made to Fundación Paraguaya, where I could see in more detail the benefits of the model,” July said. “From that moment on I have been promoting it within our network to bring the tool to Colombia.” After obtaining the support of the executives of Emprender and establishing an alliance with Fundación Paraguaya, July and her team began to use the tool within their network.
“Our objective was to support our partners in the implementation of the Poverty Stoplight, understanding that it was a collective responsibility of the entire network to help our clients, microentrepreneurs and communities overcome their poverty gaps and improve their quality of life,” July said.
From June 18th to June 22nd, two Fundación Paraguaya employees packed their suitcases and left for Bogota, where they trained six members of the Emprender team on the methodology and technology of the Poverty Stoplight. During this training week, officials from both organizations visited an office of the Congente Cooperative in the city of Villavicencio and tested the tool with five of their clients. Likewise, a group of associated organizations traveled to Bogota from different cities across the country to participate in a training on the Poverty Stoplight led by Emprender and Fundación Paraguaya.
The training was also an opportunity to brainstorm business plan ideas and identify potential solutions to be offered, which would be based on Emprender’s existing programs like the “Virtual Campus”, an online platform that seeks to help people to improve their financial behavior.
Moving forward, Emprender (the second Poverty Stoplight Hub in Colombia) seeks to work with 9 of its organizations during the first year, and they eventually want to provide the tool to all the members in their network. Under July’s leadership, Emprender will use its years of experience and knowledge to carry out effective interventions and share them with the Global Poverty Stoplight Community.
“Emprender is an expert in the development of training programs. It has been one of our strengths for almost 28 years, so it is one of the fundamental aspects that we believe we can contribute, not only for solutions in Colombia, but on a global scale,” July said.
Colombia, in addition to having one of the most complete multidimensional poverty metrics on the continent, now has two Poverty Stoplight Hubs, which will be an important resource for the country in its effort to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals.
