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A fisherman supplier for SmartFish in Mexico

Social enterprises driving global change on World Food Day

Every year on 16 October, World Food Day highlights important topics such as food waste, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and the challenges faced by fishing communities — all in an effort to combat climate change. This year's theme is "Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future”. It's the perfect opportunity for us to shine a spotlight on the incredible efforts of social entrepreneurs, who are making everyday life better for so many people and how they're creating a more sustainable and inclusive world.

Fernando Assad Social Entrepreneur

Improving families’ living conditions in Brazil

One of the social entrepreneurs is Fernando Assad from Brazil. Through his organisation Programa Vivenda, he provides affordable and easy-to-install home improvement kits to mitigate the unsafe housing situation in Brazil’s favelas. There are about 40 million people in Brazil living in 11 million inadequate houses which pose health risks.

He identified the challenge as a web of complicated and inefficient systems, making it more difficult for low-income families to find information and financial planning advice to allow them to renovate their homes. Vivenda creates incentives for actors in the construction supply chain to provide safer housing for the millions living in unsafe homes.

 
Fernando Assad Social Entrepreneur 2
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A home isn’t just a home. When people are safe, healthy and happy in their houses, it enables them to be more in control of their own futures.

Fernando Assad, social entrepreneur and co-founder of Programa Vivenda

An online hub that empowers
Through our programme, Fernando has identified a potential solution: to create an online hub/network where families can easily be connected to resources, credit, technical assistance, labour and construction materials, making it simpler for them to start the process of renovating their homes.
 
Fernando, along with the other participants, will be given further advice and then spend six months testing their ideas. With a new group of advisors, they will decide on how best to put their strategies into action.

 

Change from within

“A home isn’t just a home. When people are safe, healthy and happy in their houses, it enables them to be more in control of their own futures,” says Fernando. And we agree. A dignified home leads to dignified people – people who have the power to believe in themselves and help others too.