Help Poor Rural Girls in Paraguay go to University

On Friday December 14, 2018, the graduation ceremony of the Mbaracayú Educational Center was held, in which over 30 young women from the area of the Mbaracayú Reserve received their Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences.

In rural areas, receiving a bachelor's degree is a challenge for young women, so this graduation means a very important achievement for the families and communities to which they belong, They now have environmental technical skills and stand out for their knowledge and leadership.

This is the eighth group of graduates from the school, which, since 2009, has been changing the lives of adolescents in an environment of vulnerability, affected by the gender inequality that is common in the area.

The event was held at the Mbaracayú Educational Center (CEM) located in the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve. Dozens of relatives and friends of the graduates accompanied the ceremony, in addition to the school staff and the Moisés Bertoni Foundation.

The Moisés Bertoni Foundation was chosen as the winner of the BBVA Foundation Awards for the Conservation of Biodiversity XIII edition. The Foundation is the first Paraguayan organization to gain access to the award to which many institutions of the world apply. The award was given for the management model developed during its 30 years of activity, specifically in its management of Mbaracayú Reserve where the Educational Center Mbaracayú is located.

The award was confirmed on October 1, 2018. The Moisés Bertoni Foundation (FMB) was chosen as the winner of the BBVA Foundation Awards for the Conservation of Biodiversity. The contest was held in Madrid, Spain. The award annually recognizes worldwide the work of organizations and institutions focused on conservation.

The Moisés Bertoni Foundation, with 30 years of institutional life, is a private and non-profit association that bets on the concept of Sustainable Development, which is understood as the process of creating environmental, social and economic value. "This recognition leaves a clear message: Paraguay also generates innovative ideas that can greatly contribute to the growth and conservation of biodiversity," said Yan Speranza, executive director of the Foundation. 

"They called me directly from the Board of Directors from Spain and they told me that they were really surprised by our work, particularly because of that systemic and very entrepreneurial vision within the framework of conservation," said the director. He added that the award comes at a very opportune moment considering that the pressures against protected areas have grown substantially in aspects such as illegal plantations, the presence of poachers. He emphasized that "the levels of violence that have been increasing with extremely tragic outcomes for us in particular, such as the death of three park rangers in the last five years (one in Mbaracayú and two in the Tapyta Reserve) in pursuit of protection, precisely , of our natural resources. " 

In 2008, the Mbaracayú Educational Center project was launched, which seeks to offer quality education for adolescent women from areas surrounding the area of influence, believing that they are agents of change for the conservation of biodiversity and forest protection. The school has the recognition of the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) and offers a technical baccalaureate in environmental sciences with emphasis on agroecology and nature tourism. The institution is located in the middle of the Reserve and until 2017, 243 students have graduated. 

During the candidacy the FMB was supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Paraguay), WWF - Paraguay, the Paraguay Biodiversity program (promoted by Itaipu), and the program of the Program on Man and the Biosphere (MAB) (through of its chapter in Paraguay).