Building the Social Innovation Sector at Catalysing Change Week 2024

Dr. Martín Burt of The Poverty Stoplight and Larry Reed of Thrive Lights are thrilled to announce their participation in Catalysing Change Week 2024, hosted by Catalyst 2030, the largest global network of social innovators. Taking place from May 6th to May 10th, 2023, Catalysing Change Week will unite social innovators and change catalysts from over 120 countries to collectively build an efficient social innovation system that addresses the world’s most pressing challenges.

This compelling session titled "Eliminating Multidimensional Poverty Means Allowing Communities to Own Their Poverty and Activate Partners" will be held on Tuesday, May 7th at 17:00 CEST. The session will focus on the transformative power of the Poverty Stoplight, a bottom-up poverty measurement tool and coaching methodology to help individuals learn how to navigate social and development systems while the important work of systemic change is occurring. The metric allows households to self-diagnose their level of multidimensional poverty and develop customised strategies. The model has been used in over 59 countries, 850 organisations, and adopted by over 200 businesses, that participate in a special branch of business innovation that targets poverty elimination among workers. The session includes a case study of Thrive Lights, which adopted and adapted the model for the United States, as well as information on a recent partnership with the European Union in order to address systemic poverty in the Roma population. The session will be hosted by journalist Jessica Kantor.

The theme of this year’s event, "Building the Social Sector," aligns with Catalyst 2030’s commitment to community-led development. As Jeroo Billimoria, Catalyst Co-Founder and Chief Facilitator, emphasizes, “Our goal is to inspire change in the mindsets, culture, and behaviors of policymakers, funders, and leaders. And we want to empower social innovators and communities to affect this change.”

For more information and to register for the event, please visit https://catalyst2030.net/events/eliminating-multidimensional-poverty-means-allowing-communities-to-own-their-pov/

About Catalysing Change Week

Catalysing Change Week is an annual event hosted by Catalyst 2030, bringing together social innovators and change catalysts from around the world to address global challenges collaboratively. This year’s event features over 100 impact-driven sessions and aims to foster connections, share ideas, and develop actionable plans to advance the social innovation sector.

About Catalyst 2030

Catalyst 2030 is a global movement of social entrepreneurs and social innovators from all sectors who share the common goal of creating innovative, people-centred approaches to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
Launched at the World Economic Forum in January 2020, Catalyst 2030 comprises more than 4,000 proven social innovators who are active in over 180 countries and who directly reach an estimated two billion people.

About Dr. Martin Burt

Martin Burt fights poverty by helping vulnerable families understand the barriers they face, and designing interventions to overcome them. Through Fundacion Paraguaya, the NGO he created and it's signature Poverty Stoplight, an innovative digital self-assessment tool for communities living in poverty, Burt helps uncover economic opportunities to promote self-sufficiency for people struggling with social and financial challenges. Widely praised as one of Latin America’s most impactful non-governmental groups, Fundacion Paraguaya partners with 800 organisations and companies in 59 countries. Burt holds a PhD from Tulane University in Development Economics and International Development, and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Research Associate at University of California, Irvine. Dr. Burt has received awards from organizations including Avina Foundation, Skoll Foundation,

Schwab Foundation, Synergos, Eisenhower Fellowship, Inter-American Development Bank, World Innovation Summit for Education, and Nestlé. He is co-founder and board member of Teach a Man to Fish, a United Kingdom organisation dedicated to spreading its method of microfinancing around the world, and previously served as mayor of Asuncion, vice-minister of commerce, and chief of staff to the president of Paraguay.

About Larry Reed

Larry Reed has worked internationally in microfinance for 30+ years, serving as the CEO of the Opportunity International Network, and the Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign (a movement started by Nobel Prize winner Muhhamad Yunus). He established Thrive Lights as the US office of the Poverty Stoplight, a social innovation developed by Fundación Paraguaya. As Executive Director, he establishes partnerships with organizations in the US, including the Salvation Army, United Way, and CARE USA. Previously, he led global advocacy effort to focus on ultra-poverty in order to reach the 2030 goal of ending extreme poverty. He assisted the World Bank to create Platform for Economic Inclusion to promote movement from welfare to work.