Fundacion Paraguaya's (FP) Financially Self-Sustainable School model is providing traditional and vocational education to students in 3 schools across Paraguay. The schools offer a safe haven for vulnerable students to learn and live, and learning to operate live businesses in agricultural production and management and tourism and hospitality that allow the school to be self-sufficient while lowering the cost barriers for students to attend. The students leave with academic and practical skills.
The problem of rural development today is that education is weak in both access and quality. To combat this, Fundacion Paraguaya invented a new model that both traditionally educates its students and provides technical, vocational and entrepreneurial education to better prepare them for the future. The schools learn by doing in the form of campus businesses that generate income to cover costs, therefore making the school self-sufficient and decreasing cost barriers for poor students to attend.
The three schools in Paraguay attempt to address challenges faced by vulnerable students to provide them with quality academic and practical education. In order for the schools to be successful, the items outlined below are necessary so that the school can start turning a profit. These items are start-up items, small preliminary investments that will help ensure long-term sustainability of each school.
The financial self-sustainability of the school means that it will continue long after any funding is provided. The school provides products and services to the surrounding community; the incomes help to ensure a quality education is given to young people, preparing them for their futures. The success of the school model will affect hundreds and thousands of students, families, and community members alike in the next decades as the model expands, and it all starts with a small start-up donation.
