The Problem: Access to Relevant Education
Agricultural education is widely accepted as a vital part of economic development – particularly for countries like Paraguay, where half the population is rural. However, most developing countries don’t have the resources to provide this type of education free to all who that could benefit from it.
The Solution: Education that Pays for Itself!
Fundación Paraguaya has converted a regular, heavily-subsidized, agricultural high school into a self-sufficient farm school. Our students spend half their time outside the classroom learning literally ‘in-the-field’. Since farming is a business, students learn not only to increase yields, but also how to maximize profits. Students are also very involved in marketing and selling their products, which builds their confidence as agro-entrepreneurs. All of the income from sales goes towards covering the schools' operating costs.
We are creating a new model, one with the potential to bring sustainable, agricultural education to a far wider audience.
One school can make a difference.
History of San Francisco Agricultural School
The Congregation of the La Salle Brothers transferred San Francisco Agricultural School to Fundación Paraguaya at the end of 2002. The Fundación made a commitment to continue with educational work they and the Congregation of the San Francisco Missionary Brothers had carried out since its inception in 1962.
The commitment Fundación Paraguaya made to the Congregation of the La Salle Brothers is as follows:
1. Continue giving technical education on agriculture and livestock to young, rural farmers of scarce means and introduce academic and administrative reforms.
2. Invest resources to subsidize the school’s deficit, build new infrastructure; open credit lines and provide technical assistance for graduates.
3. Maintain the boarding school system; and
4. Develop self-help and advisory programs for graduates to be able to apply what they learned at the school in their communities of origin, and facilitate access to credit for production enabling them to carry out viable projects.
In total, the commitment is approximately Gs. 2.4 billon in the 2003-2007 period.
The school is situated Cerrito, a small area on the outskirts of the city of Benjamín Aceval, Department of Villa Hayes, (the Paraguayan Chaco) at Km 46.5 of the Trans Chaco Highway. Its campus has a surface of 62 hectares, of which Fundación Paraguaya purchased 14 and 48 hectares were a donation with stipulations as to use.
