Stoplight Ambassadors: Nidia

“I always learn from people and people also learn from us” - This is how Nidia Fariña sums up her experience as a Stoplight ambassador, a role that she took as part of her community leader responsibilities in the city of Guarambaré, Paraguay.

But who are the ambassadors of the Stoplight? In Paraguay, the ambassadors are social leaders from all over the country who, from their work and volunteer spaces, are committed to the elimination of poverty through the social innovation tools provided by the Poverty Stoplight.

In several corners of the country, the Poverty Stoplight has an ambassador who works for the growth of their community and to improve people’s quality of life. This is the case of Nidia Fariña, who has been working for her community since she was 15 years old, because at such a young age, she started a community soup kitchen with her family.

“My mother sold chipa* and one afternoon she had a few left, and I said, why don’t we make cocido* with it and distribute it to the people,” she said. This is how the community soup kitchen started more than a decade ago. Today, it feeds entire families and was key for the neighborhood during the pandemic.

Nidia, before being an ambassador for the Stoplight, was a participant, and that’s how she knew about the program. In her case, the tool showed her that she needed to make adjustments in the health aspect in order to improve her quality of life. “I was not noticing that health, which is our right, was not accessible,” she said.

Considering her own results, she noted that developing the Stoplight among the people who attended the community soup kitchen could be very helpful. They did so and noticed two common central aspects: the lack of diversified income and access to health, especially in relation to dental care.

Let's do it

As an ambassador, Nidia was trained to lead a committee of women who, after identifying the points where they had to work, managed to access credits from the Fundación Paraguaya to expand their own businesses. “We have been working with the advisors and we are ready to invest in our projects. Previously, we couldn't move forward because we didn’t have capital,” she explained.

In her case, she hopes to be able to invest in expanding her chipa business, that is, to have her own production and to be able to hire people who were unemployed by the pandemic so that they can sell the product. “This is not a dream, it is a goal,” she said.

But the contribution of the Stoplight to Nidia and her community does not end here. She said that, thanks to the tool, they noticed that they needed to focus on saving money and elaborating their own family budget. Time management was also another important point to look at, because, like Nidia, the women on the committee have many responsibilities.

All these issues are being addressed with the Fundación Paraguaya, which not only facilitates loans, but also offers advice in response to the points identified thanks to the Poverty Stoplight.

Plans for the future

The future is bright for Nidia and her community, and she says so herself with a wide smile. She is very excited about the idea of ​​being able to work independently, which will allow her to spend more time with her family, her three children and her husband, as well as dedicating herself to improving the community soup kitchen.

Regarding the community soup kitchen, they await a response from the Guarambaré Town Hall to have their own public space. Currently, the community soup kitchen operates in her family home and is supported by self-management and donations.

Like Nidia, there are several stories of the Stoplight Ambassadors throughout Paraguay. The goal is for this network to grow and, with the participation of community leaders themselves, we will eliminate poverty and create opportunities for all.

*Chipa: is a type of bread, made of cassava starch and semi-hard cheese. It’s one of the main traditional dishes in Paraguay, served with breakfast, as a snack or as a food accompaniment.

*Cocido: is a beverage made of yerba mate and water, usually served hot and with milk and sugar.