Paraguay
From the Field
Photo credit: Rogers Cidosa, US Embassy Tanzania
Our weekly feature highlighting events at USAID Missions around the globe.
In Tanzania, on World AIDS Day, Former President George W. Bush and his family visited sites in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The highlight of their site visits was observing an innovative HIV prevention intervention funded by USAID that takes place in Tanzanian beauty salons. Former President Bush and Mrs. Bush along with their daughters and son-in-law, stopped in at Ramuu’s Beauty Salon in Dar es Salaam to see the Jipende! (Love Yourself!) Program in action. Ramuu’s is one of 46 salons in Dar es Salaam that have been trained and equipped to be Resource Centers for Women’s Health.
Speaking with the beauty salon owner and attendants, the Bush family heard first-hand how the owner and the salon attendants are trained to deliver messages to salon clients about HIV prevention, family planning and women’s health issues such as breast and cervical cancer. Mr. Bush commended the salon owner for participating in the USAID funded Jipende! Program and her efforts to empower women with important health knowledge and information.
In Paraguay, we held the closing ceremony for USAID’s Health Decentralization program. The Health Decentralization Program which began a decade ago, will conclude this month. The program has provided assistance at the central, regional and local levels to strengthen the health decentralization process and health services provided to poor people by Paraguay’s Ministry of Health. USAID assisted health councils across the country to develop local health plans and improve management of financial resources and accountability.
In Haiti, we held a ground breaking ceremony for a 246-hectare Industrial Park in Caracol. Former President Bill Clinton and Haitian President Michel Martelly were in attendance. The Industrial Park is expected to create thousands of jobs in Haiti.
Fundación Saraki Helping Advance Labor Rights and Inclusion for People with Disabilities in Paraguay
Worldwide, it is estimated that 15% of men and women have some kind of disability. The worldwide unemployment rate for people with disabilities is estimated to be close to 80%.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and during my recent trip to Paraguay I wanted to highlight a group that I met with, called Fundación Saraki. The non-profit specializes in helping advance the labor rights of those with disabilities and strives for inclusion in Paraguayan society.
Members of Fundacion Saraki, a non-profit that is dedicated to laboral inclusion for those with disabilities. Photo Credit: Laura Rodríguez/USAID
Although Congress in Paraguay passed a law in 2004, which provides mandatory labor inclusion of People with Disabilities (PwD) in public institutions, there has been little compliance with the law up to 2009. Also, there is no legal requirement for private companies in Paraguay to hire PwD.
In May 2009, Fundación Saraki was granted a Cooperative Agreement for the “Effective Labor Inclusion” of People with Disabilities within the public and private sectors. With this agreement, Fundacion Saraki has started working with many private companies including McDonald’s and Supermercados España (a local supermarket chain in Paraguay).
Public Private Partnership Week: Passion Fruit, Opening the Path for a Brighter Future
Rural farmers in Paraguay are having great success selling their passion fruit through farming associations to a leading corporate juice brand. This is thanks to USAID’s support through Paraguay Productivo, a program that connects small farmers with private sector buyers.
Lucia Santos and her grandson who have benefited from the cooperative with Frutika. Photo Credit: Laura Rodriguez/USAID
Last week, I had the chance to visit some farmers in Paraguay’s Itapúa province and learn about their experiences with Paraguay Productivo and especially the leading local buyer, Frutika. I was thrilled to see the benefits of the program for myself and hear the testimony of small-scale farmer, Lucia Santos, whose life has been transformed through her production work. In the following video she says that she now has enough money to buy necessary items for her family.
USAID/Paraguay Productivo has GDA (Global Development Alliances) agreements with 20 organizations, mainly small farmer cooperatives & private firms and has generated $9.8 million U.S. dollars in local sales and exports. Paraguay Productivo is working with Cooperatives and associations that have over 100,000 members some of them in production and many others in savings and credits cooperatives.
The program also provides technical support to farmers, including advising them on how to best produce crops. And it has helped them find buyers like Frutika, one of Paraguay’s most successful food processing and distribution companies, which buys passion fruit and other products from small farmers.
This is a win-win arrangement. The company can count on a reliable source of passion fruit and rural producers now have a reliable buyer. Since the initial agreement in 2009, approximately 300 small farmers have joined the program and started producing passion fruit and another 250 farmers are preparing to cultivate more passion fruit.
Some municipalities are joining the effort because they are investing in nursery production for passion fruit. In rural Paraguay where the poverty rate is as high as 48 %, this assistance is really helping to transform people’s lives.
Beneficiary Norma Riveros, credits her passion fruit sales to her participation in Paraguay Productivo, which ensures her and her family a regular income. They can now afford to buy a machine that helps them clear the field and improve crop yield. I also had a chance to speak to 19 year old passion fruit farmer and business student, Rolando Fretes, one of the cooperatives’ young leaders. In this video he talks about his work and explains why Paraguay Productivo is important to his community:
At the end of the day, I visited the production plant at Frutika and saw first-hand the results of the farmers’ hard labor. Frutika is one of the best-selling companies in Paraguay, and the leading provider of juices such as orange juice, passion fruit, and peach. Here, Engineer Celso Cubilla discusses the importance the company’s partnership with Paraguay Productivo to its business goals.
In short, there is no denying that this public private partnership is beneficial to Paraguay’s economy and all the parties involved: USAID, the rural farmers and Frutika.
Picture of the Week: A Social Pharmacy in Paraguay
A woman in Paraguay at a social pharmacy. Photo Credit: Laura Alvarez, USAID/Paraguay.
A woman in Carmen del Paraná, a small town in rural Paraguay works at a social pharmacy program at the local hospital. This program implemented by local health councils with technical assistance from USAID/Paraguay helps pharmacies keep prices for medicine affordable for low-income communities who do not normally have access to medical supplies and often cannot afford regular prices of basic medicines. Money for the pharmacies is channeled through a revolving fund managed by the local health councils in each community, in coordination with the municipal and departmental governments and the departmental health council.
From the Field
Our weekly feature highlighting upcoming events at USAID Missions around the globe.
In Indonesia, we will hold a ceremony for the Aceh West Coast Highway construction project. The event recognizes the U.S. Government’s support for the creation of a difficult section of national highway from Banda Aceh to Calang, which is approaching completion. This ceremony will provide an opportunity to underscore that the U.S. Government is committed to Aceh’s economic development and the Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia. New programs through USAID are also contributing to support the province’s reconstruction and future development in other ways, in addition to developing this important economic artery.
In Azerbaijan, Save the Children will host a talk show on disability issues in the nation. During this program, USAID will broadcast a PSA on increasing employment of disabled people.
In Paraguay, A rural farmer’s association, Caapiibary Cooperative will inaugurate a new infrastructure for passion fruit processing. USAID/Paraguay is helping rural farmers to increase production and find new markets for their production and has connected them with local companies which buy the farmer’s product. In this case the leading company Frutika is buying passion fruit for juice processing, helping farmers increase their income and escape poverty.
From the Field
In Senegal, we will launch a new training curriculum on Value Chain and Agri-Food Business in collaboration with Michigan State University. The 4-semester Master’s Degree program is mainly aimed at regular fourth-year agricultural engineering students and includes tailor-made short-term training modules for working people. The overall objective is to promote excellence beyond national boundaries and to generate a critical mass of skillful professionals that will lead to structural changes required for the development of domestic agriculture and its adaption to a global market economy.
In Indonesia, we will host the Indonesia International Infrastructure Conference to highlight the launch of the Indonesia Clean Energy Development (ICED) Program. This program will continue our assistance in the energy sector and focus on increasing access to energy and reducing green house gas emissions from the energy sector through fostering the development of clean energy. A great opportunity to align the program with the Government of Indonesia objectives and strategies in clean energy development.
In Paraguay, along with local NGO’s we will launch a Democracy – Civil Society Program in Asuncion. This 3-year program will promote the participation of different social sectors, strengthen civil society organizations, promote civic education content in formal education curriculum and promote ethics in journalism.
Photo of the Week: Chile and the U.S. Join efforts for Development
Mark Lopes, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Latin America signing the bi lateral agreement between Chile and U.S.A., with Ambassador Liliana Ayelde, Ms. Cristina Lazo, Executive Director from AcGI and Minister for the Social Cabinet, Miguel Lopez Perito. Photo Credit: USAID/Paraguay
Deputy Assistant Administrator Mark Lopes of the United States Agency for International Development Agency (USAID) and Executive Director of the International Cooperation Agency of Chile (AgCI), Maria Cristina Lazo, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to pursue joint development cooperation in third countries. As part of the new partnership, they signed a trilateral agreement to help the Government of Paraguay strengthen its capacity in customs administration, export promotion and support to farmers.
Going forward, USAID and AgCI will collaborate to reduce poverty, strengthen institutions, improve economic development and expand economic and social inclusion across the Hemisphere.
“This Agreement is yet another step in advancing the Obama Administration’s commitment to engage Latin American and Caribbean governments as equal partners in the region’s sustainable development”, said Lopes. “Chile has made remarkable strides in building an open, inclusive and prosperous society and we want to help promote the Chilean experience to help solve other challenges in the Hemisphere.”
“USAID and AgCI are partners for development. This agreement is being signed today, but the joint collaboration between Chile, the United States and Paraguay to identify specific areas of work has already begun” said Lazo. “We believe this is just the first step of many joint efforts in the future.”
From the Field
In Albania, we will open a Taxpayer Service Center in Tirana. Based on a new client-centered model, Albania’s General Directorate of Taxation, with the support of USAID and the MCC Threshold Program, will open a new service center in Tirana. The project has supported the remodeling of the infrastructure, including key IT infrastructure that will allow for a customer queue system and 20 customer service windows for taxpayers. Tax administration reforms are important to increase transparency and reduce corruption in Albania’s business environment.
In Paraguay, we will celebrate the results of a seven year citizen’s initiatives program to improve democracy.
In Zimbabwe, Mission Director Karen Freeman joined Ambassador Charles Ray and Zimbabwean government officials to bestow the 10th annual Auxillia Chimusoro awards to Zimbabweans who have excelled in their involvement in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe. The awards are given to individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions in communication, leadership, social investment and other areas to mitigate the effects and impact of HIV/AIDS. The awards are named after Auxillia Chimusoro, one of the first individuals to disclose their HIV positive status in Zimbabwe. This year, the awardees included Catherine Murombedzi, the first journalist in Zimbabwe to disclose her HIV positive status, Head of the HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Dr. Owen Mugurundgi, and the late Dr. Monica Glenshaw, a former District Medical Officer for Manicaland.
In Iraq, we will join The Ministry of Health (MoH)for their Annual National Conference. This year the conference will focus on “Training Management in Health Institutions”. The MoH Human Resource and Development Center (HRTDC), International Medical Corps (IMC) and USAID/Tatweer are partners in this conference. Papers from each Directorate of Health from each province will be presented. Several workshops will also take place, topics include: planning and implementing the training process and developing training curricula, the role of IT in improving health information systems, the impact of training on MoH service delivery, accreditation and quality assurance of training and budget preparation for training. Additionally, as USAID/Tatweer comes to a close, the conference will highlight MoH and USAID/Tatweer successes in developing sustainable capacity and affecting system reform in the Ministry.
From the Field
In St. Vincent, with the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Alliance, we will hold a seminar with key policy makers exploring the theme – Stigma and Discrimination and confidentiality in accessing HIV/AIDS services
In Paraguay, we will present the results of and celebrate the 1st anniversary of the USAID/Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program.
In Benin, we will launch a Teacher Merit Awards program. The Teacher Motivation and Training Project is piloting a merit based awards program to recognize good teachers and to motivate primary school teachers to improve their classroom performance and professional conduct. The pilot will give competitive awards to the best schools and teachers.
From the Field
In Albania, we are promoting World Contraception Day (September 26th). USAID’s two maternal and child health programs have partnered with Albania’s Institute of Public Health to raise awareness of using modern contraception to mark World Contraception Day. USAID will send out 20,000 text messages to Albanian adults 18-35 years old with the message, “It’s your life, it’s your choice – Use modern contraceptive methods to avoid unplanned pregnancies”. According to the 2009 Demographic Health Survey, Albania has one of the lowest levels of modern contraceptive use in the world; with only one in nine married women age 15–49 using a modern method of family planning. Modern contraceptives not only prevent unwanted pregnancies but are better for women’s reproductive health.
In Paraguay, we will recognize 90 municipalities improved performance under a local government assistance program. Since 2006, around 100 municipalities in Paraguay have been participating in a performance improvement process developed with local NGOs and the support of USAID. The project, called MIDAMOS (Let`s Measure in Spanish) aims at having municipalities open their institutions to to evaluate thier performance and identify areas that must be improved in oder to offer better services to citizens.
In West Sumatra, Indonesia, we will commemorate the Padang Earthquake Anniversary on September 28th. We will hold a brick laying event as part of the first anniversary of the West Sumatra Earthquake reconstruction efforts in which we have partnered with both the Australian and Indonesian Governments to support a large education program. The event will be located in a primary school in Kota Padang. USAID/ AusAID have committed to rebuild 34 primary schools in the area.
