Kansas City, Kan., June 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a world where top-down aid models have fallen short, a growing body of data points to a simple, transformative truth: When people experiencing poverty are empowered, real change happens. And when organizations combine strengths, resources and perspectives, it further drives that change.
EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO BUILD PATHS OUT OF POVERTY
Across the globe, individuals once labeled as aid recipients are becoming decision-makers. The international development community is learning that to achieve the first of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 1) — “End poverty in all its forms everywhere” — funds must go toward meeting people where they are.
Unbound, a nonprofit organization working in 16 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America since 1981, is among those leading the way on a radically decentralized approach to eradicating poverty, shifting decision-making power to those most affected by choices in how aid is utilized. This approach is not only more dignified for those being supported but is also proving to be more effective.
“Foreign aid can often ignore the voices of the people it’s intended to help,” said Dan Pearson, chief international program officer at Unbound. “We’re proud to invest in a model where families on the ground guide the process from start to finish. Empowering individuals and families creates ripple effects that impact their communities and ends with changing society.”
As a global leader in the eradication of multidimensional poverty for almost 44 years, Unbound has distributed more than $2.4 billion in aid to date. The organization has supported over 1 million children, youth, elders and families across three regions of the world on their paths to more promising futures. Over the past decade, Unbound aid has primarily been delivered via direct cash transfers to individual families’ bank accounts.
In 2024, funding for Unbound’s child and elder sponsorship program totaled $109.7 million and benefited over 261,000 individuals and families in their journeys to exit poverty. Unbound also sent over $4 million in scholarship assistance and $1.27 million to programs worldwide to support families recovering from a crisis.
Additionally, there are 11,000-plus active small groups that are a part of Unbound, empowering women and mothers and providing support in their communities. These self-help groups emphasize saving, developing sustainable livelihoods and community-led solutions to poverty.
In recent years, there has been an international push toward community empowerment, with unconditional direct cash transfers being an important mechanism. Recent studies by GiveDirectly show that families who received cash transfers have experienced long-lasting improvements in their monetary poverty and health, including a 70% decrease in child mortality. A study published in Nature magazine in May 2023 that said, “… cash transfer programmes were associated with significant reductions in mortality among children under five years of age and women.”
PARTNERSHIPS AGAINST POVERTY
Unbound’s core belief is that people experiencing poverty deserve the opportunity to chart their own path out, as well as have access to the right tools and support to make it achievable. Dr. Martin Burt, founder of Fundación Paraguaya, a nonprofit that has developed and implemented solutions to poverty and education and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, shares this core belief, which has been a major component of the four-year partnership between the two organizations.
Burt authored “Who Owns Poverty?” which challenges preconceived notions about poverty and international development. He also created the Poverty Stoplight, a unique poverty measurement tool and coaching methodology that not only helps families design and manage their own paths out of poverty but also helps families reach distinct goals. It has been used in 60 countries and adapted in 24 languages, helping 550,000 families throughout the world.
Unbound is the largest implementer of the Poverty Stoplight, with 250,000-plus participants as of June 2025 who also receive direct cash transfers from Unbound to help fund the pathways out of poverty that Poverty Stoplight empowers them to tackle. Since Unbound first implemented Poverty Stoplight in 2020, as of June 2025 families have logged 293,593 achievements, which means they succeeded in changing their “poverty” and “extreme poverty” indicators to “no poverty” in such high-priority areas as housing, health and employment.
In 2024, 172,500-plus baseline and follow-up Poverty Stoplight surveys were completed, revealing that the most prioritized goals by families were “family savings, “income” and “housing resources,” while the most achieved goals were “family savings” and “income.”
“We are truly blessed to have partners like Unbound who believe in the mission of the Poverty Stoplight, and who also believe in the value of empowering the individual and the family to eliminate their poverty,” said Dr. Martin Burt of Fundación Paraguaya. “We have seen time and again that a top-down statist approach to eliminating poverty not only does not work, it eliminates the voices of the key stakeholders in the situation: those experiencing poverty. Their voices are the most valuable in achieving the solution, and we must not only listen to them but provide them with the tools they need to identify their deprivations and overcome them.”
Studies have shown that the Poverty Stoplight allows families to reduce their poverty deprivations much faster than families that did not participate and that the Poverty Stoplight accelerates the reduction of multidimensional poverty by approximately half of a standard deviation.
MEET THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE NUMBERS:
Unbound’s vision of building a world free from poverty, where all people have access to resources, community support and the ability to make decisions that improve their lives, is helping families work toward creating lasting, positive change.
- In the Philippines, Marilou, mom of four, works as a housekeeper, while her husband, Christopher, works as a cook at a hotel. When their child’s education was covered by sponsorship funds, Marilou and her family used Poverty Stoplight, a mobile technology platform that shows how multidimensional poverty affects each family differently, to identify and prioritize their needs and set goals to change their situation. Having a safe and secure living environment was one of their indicators in red. They decided to prioritize “housing and infrastructure” and after just a few years of saving and with follow-up guidance from staff, the family has successfully moved indicators in these areas to yellow (poverty) and green (no poverty).
- Rosa Miriam is a 54-year-old mother from Unbound’s Guatemala program. When her daughter was sponsored, she began investing part of the funds in her daughter’s education, while using the other part to start a small business selling refried beans. She bought laying hens, which have now doubled in number, and their meat and fresh eggs not only provide the family with a profit but also feed them when necessary.
- In 2010, thanks to sponsorship and scholarship funds, after two years at ITCA-FEPADE School of Engineering in El Salvador, Jonathan completed his technician studies. Today, he works in various areas of the electrical trade, including residential and industrial installations, and primarily photovoltaic (PV) systems. Jonathan is one of only six technicians in El Salvador certified in this specialty by Huawei, a global company with a PV presence in El Salvador.
The international development sector is learning the value of empowering those directly affected by poverty to control the choices that shape their lives. Empowerment not only leads to more effective and sustainable solutions but also fosters a sense of ownership, accountability and confidence within individuals, families and communities. And when organizations work together, support and results are greater.
“True and lasting change begins when people and organizations unite to empower those facing poverty with access to the tools, resources and opportunity to shape their own futures,” said Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound. “Working alongside partners such as Fundación Paraguaya, we believe the momentum is there, progress is happening, and the eradication of poverty is attainable.”
ABOUT UNBOUND
Unbound is an international nonprofit founded in 1981 that delivers more than $100 million in personalized support annually for children, elders and their families living in poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Supporting families and communities worldwide on their self-directed paths out of poverty, Unbound utilizes a decentralized approach to provide individuals, families and communities access to resources, support, and the ability to make decisions that improve their lives and uphold human dignity. Unbound leans into its core values of respect, authenticity, innovation and optimism to offer a practical way for sponsors, donors and volunteers to make a personal and direct impact as partners in our global community. To learn more, please visit www.Unbound.org.
ABOUT FUNDACIÓN PARAGUAYA
Founded in 1985, Fundación Paraguaya is one of the longest running and largest non-profits in Latin America, with programs reaching hundreds of thousands of families in over 50 countries. Initially founded as a microfinance lending institution, it has incorporated other services such as financial and entrepreneurial education programs for young people and a network of self-sufficient agricultural schools in rural areas. Fundación Paraguaya developed the Poverty Stoplight, a new poverty metric and coaching methodology that uses technology, self-assessment, and a bottom-up approach to help families escape poverty and has been implemented in over 60 countries. Learn more at www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py and www.povertystoplight.org.
Attachments
Tammy Marino Unbound 913-827-4175 TammyM@unbound.org
