Fighting Poverty with Education - profile of Martin Burt

[FRSFreeStateNow]

Education is the only viable path out of poverty for adolescents and adults. If people in poverty have High Skills then they can get a good job and be Self Sufficient.

[cuantoes]

What a disgusting cult of personality of a corrupt politician of the third world! I know this guy, he is maybe fighting his own poverty, hahaha! Don't believe this, this is about a corrupt politician PR campaign! Burt fighting poverty? Gimme a break!

[thebestonlinesurveys]

hmmm nice...

videos such as this are an inspiration when I make my own videos

[Kno9bloch]

I consider it a political and social crime that a poor or middle class family be prohibited by the POLITICIANS from getting decent modern housing by negating property ownership through politicaly engineered hyper-inflation and taxation.

FREE MARKETS MUST BE ABOLISHED! DEMOCRACY IS POVERTY --VOTE FOR NO ONE

[skollfoundation]

So glad that people watched this video that we made. Visit our channel for more videos like this and more examples of unique people doing amazing work in the world.

[iamreallyfree]

it sounds interesting, it's just a pitty that this kind of projects are so little known, I've worked in agricultural education in Paraguay and traveled all across the country visiting these kinds of schools and never heard of this model.

[apprentice0007]

Thank you Skoll for making these videos available on the web. I can not always catch the PBS documentaries when they air.

[iamreallyfree]

now I would suggest that you visit one of the agricultural schools run by the mennonites in the paraguayan chaco and you will know what a succesful agricultural education model is.

[humanist7117]

Yes!yes,yes!! This is total education! I wish you continued success. Neal Camp

[iamreallyfree]

I hope this apparent success can be sustainable, because that's what always happens with projects in developing countries, once the project's money is over..everyone forgets about the experience.

[conectivitis55]

Then I guess you didn't pay close attention to the video, iamreallyfree. Didn't you hear that the agricultural school is self-sufficient? With the money they earn by producing vegetables, eggs, etc, they pay their teachers and all the other expenses. Once sustainability is reached, there is no need for outside money. Plus, the campesinos learn useful agricultural tips that will help them throughout their entire lives! Don't be such a pessimist!

[iamreallyfree]

my friend...believe me..this is not a revolutionary model in Paraguay..the mennonites in the paraguayan chaco have been doing this for years and they are perfectly self-sufficient and developed...so it's not about the model being good or bad...its about how well it fits into the culture and that is precisely the problem...

[nkafka]

If you can provide details of any mennonites schools which are free and support themselves entirely through sale of their own products & services (rather than relying on church or state support), I'd love to hear about them.

You're right that creating rural entrepreneurs requires a change of campesino culture, but this is also part of what the school is doing.

[nkafka]

The bottom line is that the graduates from this school are doing better than their siblings & peers, both in continuing their education, and in increasing their income.

To see for yourself, come to our December conference, visit Teach A Man To Fish website for full details.

[iamreallyfree]

another thing you should know is that young people living in rural areas have different expectations today. They don't dream about becoming farmers or rural entrepreneurs. This is the reason why agricultural schools in Paraguay have been losing more and morey students over the years to the point that the government is struggling to keep its schools open.

[nkafka]

I think you're right on this issue. But one of the key reasons young people all over the world don't want to work in agriculture is because they don't see how they'll make money out of it.

If you can show them they'll be richer in the countryside, and give them the skills to make it happen, agriculture begins to make sense.

[iamreallyfree]

Perhaps money is an issue...but especially in Paraguay I think social image is a much stronger reason why students would not chose agriculture as a profession. There is a strong correlation of professions and social status, so young people see agriculture as a field that would keep them at a lower social level. Now if you were able to somehow change the social perception of this professional field then you would be making a huge step forward.

[iamreallyfree]

I guess they are all new people at the school now, but you can't miss it; it's the only Escuela Agricola over there.

[iamreallyfree]

please visit the Escuela Agricola in Filadelfia, Chaco paraguayo...the school is self supporting itself with their own production, which they sell in the local supermarket and the quality is fantastic! They get a seed funding for their work, exactly as you do for your projects with the campesinos and then they are on their own...but then again this works because the culture is completely different.

[nkafka]

I'll definitely look into it - do you have any contacts?

[iamreallyfree]

i would definitely would like to see what kind of strategies the school is implementing to change the campesino's culture

[iamreallyfree]

if you think that teaching a bunch of campesinos a couple of agricultural tips is gonna change their life habits you need to learn so much about the context in which the project is carried out.

[iamreallyfree]

and I'm not being pessimist, I've just worked in too many rural development projects in Paraguay and I perfectly know how they end up..if you understand by sustainability of a project just the fact that they get financially independent you are making a mistake...that is definitely not what sustainability is about.

[alal22000]

I wish if these success stories can be repeated across Africa, Asia and other Latin American countries of the world. Thanks for this example from Paraguay.

[iamreallyfree]

I wish he could have done at least a 10% of what he said he did in his projects while he was major of Asuncion in Paraguay. But then again...perhaps it's a lot easier to be successful in a small project with a lot of money available than in a city with more that 2 million inhabitants isnt it?