The Fundación Paraguaya (FP), a social enterprise based in Asunción, Paraguay, runs the San Francisco Agricultural School, a boarding school for 165 youth in grades 10-12, which transforms the sons and daughters of poor farmers into “rural entrepreneurs,” thereby enabling them to overcome poverty. The school is 100% financially self-sufficient.
The school achieves this by integrating the teaching of traditional high school subjects with the running of 17 small-scale, on-campus rural enterprises. These enterprises, operated by students and teachers, sell a range of goods and services-- from agricultural products to hotel, restaurant and other services—in the local market. The income from these enterprises covers 100% of the school’s operating costs, allowing the school to educate poor students at virtually no cost to their families, and without government subsidies or long-term reliance on donors. These enterprises also provide a “learning by doing” platform for students to develop the technical, entrepreneurial and leadership skills they need for future economic success.
The FP measures the success of its model in two ways. The first is the success of graduates: 100% are “productively engaged” within four months of graduation. This means that they are either working in mid-level jobs in the modern agricultural sector or as agricultural extension agents; teaching at other agricultural schools or starting their own businesses (often on the family farm) with their own business plans and lines of credit in hand; or are studying at university. The second measure of success is the fact that since 2007, the school has generated enough income to cover all of its operating costs, including depreciation -- about $300,000 per year. This both ensures the school’s sustainability and shows that students are learning marketable skills by helping to run profitable school enterprises.
The FP works with its sister organization, the London-based TeachAManToFish (TAM2F) to disseminate the financially self-sufficient school model and the concept of “education that pays for itself” around the world. Over 20 schools have taken concrete action to implement the model, from preparing business plans to fully implementing the model.
SEEP PLP for Youth and Workforce Development
Luis Fernando Sanabria (Paraguay)
lfsanabria@fundacionparaguaya.org.py
Mary Liz Kehler (USA)
mlkehler@fundacionaparaguaya.org.py
2003-Present
