The problems that we are addressing are the limitations of current approaches to measurement of multidimensional poverty and the ways in which NGOs, governments and international development agencies mostly use top-down approaches to address poverty. Poverty Stoplight breaks down the overwhelming concept of poverty into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through simple interventions, making the invisible visible in the shape of simple, understandable indicators.
How does your innovation work?
The long term vision of the Poverty Stoplight is a world without poverty where all want to live. Its mission is to activate the potential of individuals and families to eliminate multidimensional poverty through self-evaluation tools that allow the discovery of practical and innovative solutions. Using a self-evaluation survey of 50 multidimensional indicators, the methodology breaks down the complex concept of poverty into three easy definitions for each indicator: extremely poor (marked as red), poor (yellow), and not poor (green). Once each family’s poverty has been defined through the self-diagnostic, the family becomes the chief architect in a customized poverty elimination plan of their creation: solutions are innovated based on pre-existing family knowledge/skills, by their surrounding community, or provided by private businesses, civil society organizations, or government bodies offering goods and services. The Poverty Stoplight methodology is currently implemented in three different contexts: within FP’s microfinance program, within 82 Paraguayan private businesses and within organizations in 23 countries in various phases of implementation. Our Scale-up Strategy outlines specific objectives and milestones for the next 5 years, including the creation of numerous Stoplight HUBS worldwide.