Are you poor? Am I poor? And what will it take to stop poverty? Social Impact Pioneer Dr Martin Burt doesn’t think we should just be measuring poverty, or in turn wealth, by the amount of money we have alone. Martin believes that we can all be poor by some measures and that none of us are necessarily poor by all the measures.
That is because Martin has been studying, working and leading businesses, civil society and governments to on his mission to tackle poverty. During this podcast you will hear what Martin has learnt on his journey; he shares the tools and skills he has developed in tackling poverty; and challenges us all to end poverty.
Dr Martin Burt is the Founder and CEO of Fundación Paraguaya, a social enterprise he set up in 1985 to tackle poverty head-on. Together they have researched poverty in depth and developed the Poverty Stoplight – which Martin will go into detail for us during the conversation.
Fundación Paraguaya was named Latin America’s most impactful and innovative development organisation by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2018. El Pais recently named Dr. Burt as one of the “21 Latin Americans who are changing the world.” Whilst the Poverty Stoplight (which is a key programme Martin is spearheading) is featured in the Solutions Insights Lab “What’s Working Solutions”.
If that wasn’t enough – Martin holds a PhD from Tulane University in Development Economics and International Development, he is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Research Associate at University of California, Irvine.
In public service, Martin was elected Mayor of the capital city of Paraguay in the 1990s, he has served as Chief of Staff to the President of Paraguay, between 2012 to 2013 and was appointed Vice Minister of Commerce. Martin was also twice elected as the president of the Paraguayan-American Chamber of Commerce; and has written books on economics, development, municipal government, poetry, and education. Check out – “Who Owns Poverty?”
Links:
Poverty Stop Light
Who Owns Poverty?
Martin’s Linked In
And if you liked this, try: Reframing Poverty with Eric Meade