eduKate Singapore

VIEW THIS AS

Auto mode follows the Route Engine until you choose a viewpoint.

YOU ARE HERE

ROUTE CHECK

CONNECTED TO

WHAT NEXT

Use the canonical route for this room, or HELP if you are unsure.

Next useful routeCanonical hubHELP

Everything About Paraguay | Geography, History, Culture and Life

—

by

eduKate Asia
Original illustration of three fictional adults studying a miniature river, wooded banks, grassland and invented town in a library.

What can you learn about Paraguay? Begin with a place, an everyday practice or a question. These twenty chapters connect geography, history, community life and creativity. Read from the beginning, or choose a route and explore the subjects that interest you.

Choose a reading route: country foundations, everyday life, culture and discovery, or connections and perspectives. Each route leads to the complete chapters.

At a glance

  • Location: UN M49 groups Paraguay in South America.

Source: UN M49.

This educational overview is not a travel itinerary or personalised medical, legal or financial advice. Historical places, programmes and cultural accounts do not establish current access or service availability. Surveys, historical accounts and institutional plans answer different questions. Their dates and limits matter when comparing experiences or deciding what to investigate next.

Cover illustration: original AI-generated artwork of three fictional adults studying a handmade river, wooded-bank, grassland and invented-town miniature in an imagined library. This is a nonliteral artistic composite, not a photograph, an accurate map, an exact view of a named place or a representation of all Paraguayan communities.

Choose your reading route

Country foundations

Everyday life

Culture and discovery

Connections and perspectives

Chapter 1: Landscapes and geographic knowledge

Regional position and forest imagery

The United Nations M49 classification places Paraguay in South America, within Latin America and the Caribbean and the wider Americas. Its numerical code is 600 and its alphabetical code is PRY. These are statistical groupings, not judgments about political affiliation, legal status or boundaries. Source 1.1

NASA's November 2009 account describes forest change between 1990 and 2000 using Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 data. The comparison shows the extent of two dominant forest types in 2000 and losses during the preceding decade. A closer view concerns the area around Mbaracayú Nature Reserve. The caption interprets rectangular fields and narrow roads as signs of human influence on forest change. Its underlying data came from the University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility. Source 1.2

Geology and national mapping

A 2011 geological study by Gomes and colleagues examines the Cerro Sarambí complex in northeastern Paraguay. It combines mineral chemistry, geochemistry and isotopic information for selected rock types. The authors describe Early Cretaceous alkaline formations in Amambay as stocks, plugs, dikes and groups of dikes within older sediments and rocks. Their interpretation gives fractional crystallisation and mineral accumulation important roles in the complex's development, possibly alongside separation of liquids. Much of the analytical material originated in Paula's geology monograph. The investigation also describes other alkaline occurrences in the surrounding area. Source 1.3

National mapping has its own institutional history. The military geographic service traces its origin to a 1941 decree creating the Military Geographic Institute. Its stated mandate concerned geography, surveying and preparation of maps of the republic's territory. A decree dated 27 July 1983 changed the institute's name to the Directorate of the Military Geographic Service and placed it under the armed forces' logistical and command structures. Source 1.4

Natural regions and neighbourhood space

Paraguay's first national communication on climate change, printed in October 2001, describes the Paraguay River as dividing the Oriental and Occidental natural regions. To the east, the Paraná plateau extends from the Brazilian massif, with the Amambay, Mbaracayú and Caaguazú ranges along its western edge. The report distinguishes three western subregions: the river's right bank, the Alto Chaco and the Bajo Chaco. Its qualitative account associates the Alto Chaco with dry plains, sandy dunes and marshes, and the Bajo Chaco with low floodable ground beside the Pilcomayo. Source 1.5

Analía Calastra Acosta's 2026 thesis abstract shifts attention to San José, also called Añareta’i, near Asunción's Municipal Market Four. Her neighbourhood study combines literature, territorial analysis, photographs, observation and resident interviews. Internal corridors emerge as spaces for movement, meetings, work, play and extensions of the home. Residents' life histories also describe persistence, self building and community organisation. The abstract interprets these practices as forms of inhabiting space beyond conventional urban planning models. Source 1.6

Back to contents

Chapter 2: History and documentary memory

Founding records and a historic house

Paraguay appears in the United Nations record of founding members. Its row dates the signing of the Charter to 26 June 1945 and ratification to 12 October that year. The Charter entered into force on 24 October 1945, after ratification by the five permanent Security Council members and a majority of the other countries. Source 2.1

Casa de la Independencia preserves a different historical setting. The institution dates the house to 1772 and identifies it as a secret meeting place for patriots planning emancipation from Spanish rule. Its museum description presents five rooms and a large hall arranged around a central courtyard. The permanent collection includes colonial furniture, historical documents, household objects, weapons and portraits of national figures. The building was formally inaugurated as a museum in 1965. Source 2.2

Collections and representations of war

The History Section of the National Archives in Asunción describes records from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, ending in 1870. Its holdings comprise 450 unbound volumes, each containing a varying number of documents. Colonial and First Republic administrative papers sit alongside council minutes and official and private correspondence. The custodian distinguishes two stages of digital work: digitisation through an agreement involving the culture secretariat and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, followed by indexing and online publication through Iberarchivos. Source 2.3

Mary Monte de López Moreira's 2026 study examines portrayals of Paraguayan women in Argentine, Brazilian and Uruguayan satirical newspapers during the war of 1864 to 1870. Using Panofsky's iconological method, she analyses caricatures and engravings in El Mosquito, Zipi Zape and Paraguay Ilustrado. Her interpretation contrasts dehumanising depictions of anonymous women with the differentiated treatment of Elisa Alicia Lynch's European origins, oscillating between a dangerous seductress and a civilising muse. The study argues that this imagery helped construct an enemy and legitimise war, rather than serving only as entertainment. Source 2.4

Repression archives and domestic histories

The Archives of Terror nomination describes official documents dating from 1927 to February 1989, including records of police repression during Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship and evidence concerning Operation Condor. Preservation became an explicit institutional task with the documentation centre created by the Supreme Court on 26 March 1993, through Resolution 81. The nomination also records UNESCO technical support for the centre's website digitisation. Source 2.5

Bridget María Chesterton's 2025 research explores domestic history through oral accounts, magazines, newspapers and historical analysis. It focuses on cooks Josefina “Chichita” Velilla de Aquino and Clara “Chuta” Benza de Garófalo. Chesterton interprets their work with white, middle class Paraguayan households as shaping ideas about gender, race and class during the dictatorship of 1954 to 1989. Her account connects domestic ideals of peace with expectations about women's management of the household. Source 2.6

Back to contents

Chapter 3: Languages and community expression

Census categories and language institutions

The 2022 Indigenous census results describe a population of 118,890 people aged five and over. Within that group, 48 percent used Guaraní as their first language for communication and 42.6 percent used an Indigenous language in the report's classification. The remaining 9.4 percent combines other languages, unreported language and people who did not speak. These are not percentages for all Paraguayans. An INE release in April 2024 describes nineteen Indigenous peoples distributed across five linguistic groups. Source 3.1

Language Law 4251, approved by Parliament in 2010, sets out an institutional framework for language policy. It assigns planning, research, documentation and promotion responsibilities to the language policy secretariat, working with education and culture institutions. The captured law also gives the Guaraní academy responsibility for linguistic norms, dictionaries and grammars, informed by research and spoken usage. Another provision preserves geographical names in Guaraní and other Indigenous languages, including recovery of traditional names at affected communities' request. The law describes the academy as a private nonprofit body. Source 3.2

Jopara and sign language research

Hedy Penner approaches Jopara as a contested scholarly category. Her article, in a 2007 issue, examines definitions of speech involving Guaraní and Spanish rather than proposing another definitive label. She notes that specialists have offered complementary, contradictory and even opposing accounts. Her analysis asks how much those positions depend on observed language practices and how much on theoretical assumptions or preconceptions about language. Penner notes that these competing definitions had accumulated over more than half a century. Source 3.3

A July 2025 article on Paraguayan Sign Language identifies 46 units that its authors call cheremes, together with their formative parameters. The researchers present these for consideration by the signing community. Their stated aim is to develop a language corpus useful to Deaf people, relatives and the wider community. Source 3.4

Community validation and learner perspectives

Dictionary development also involves community review. In July 2026, the language policy secretariat reported a second validation meeting for an Enxet Sur and Spanish dictionary. Leaders and speakers met its technical team in Makxawayá to examine recorded meanings, uses and linguistic forms. The activity formed part of an agreement with the Coordinating Organisation of Indigenous Leaders of the Lower Chaco. The agreement promotes speakers' direct participation in documentation, language strengthening and standardisation. Source 3.5

Michelle Grace's 2025 study combines survey evidence with nine interviews about learning Guaraní. Participants described tension between everyday speech and the academic standard encountered at school. Comparisons with that standard were associated with lower perceived competence and pressure to speak correctly. Although literacy was used infrequently outside lessons, participants valued it alongside oral tradition. Grace explicitly treats these findings as a contextual case study rather than a general account of all learners. Source 3.6

Back to contents

Chapter 4: Public institutions and participation

Constitutional design and election observation

Paraguay's 1992 Constitution describes a unitary state with decentralisation organised through the Constitution and laws. Its opening constitutional articles formally adopt representative, participatory and pluralist democracy, grounded in human dignity. Sovereignty resides in the people, who exercise public power through voting. Legislative, executive and judicial powers are described as independent, balanced and coordinated, with reciprocal oversight. Source 4.1

The OAS preliminary election report of 2 May 2023 combines positive observations with concerns. Its sixty observers, drawn from eighteen nationalities, worked across seventeen departments, Asunción and Washington DC. All visited polling centres had voting machines and essential materials, and officials knew the procedures. However, observers also identified privacy problems in some voting spaces and received complaints about ballot secrecy. Recommendations included a specialised electoral statistics unit and stronger staffing and technology for consolidated information during polling. Source 4.2

Complaints and internal controls

The Ombudsman's account of 2025 activity, presented in January 2026, reported 7,319 complaints attended. Health accounted for 2,560 complaints, alongside 802 judicial protection actions and administrative work and site checks. Complaints attended are not necessarily proven violations or resolved cases. The report also described work involving children, women's rights, environmental complaints and dictatorship victims, including more than one hundred compensation requests processed. It recorded implementation of an online complaints system. Source 4.3

The Comptroller General reported evaluating 477 public institutions in 2024 against the MECIP internal control framework. Documentation reviews and interviews with key officials examined five components: control environment, planning, implementation, evaluation and improvement. Twenty three assessments took place on site, prioritising institutions with higher compliance indicators. The exercise sought to identify strengths, weaknesses and recommendations. Its description links organisational values and planning with the execution of procedures, monitoring of results and corrective action after deficiencies are identified. Source 4.4

Open government and political learning

An independent Open Government Partnership review, published in September 2026, assessed the 2022 to 2024 action plan. Activities were completed for eleven of eighteen commitments, but reviewers found no evidence that most had produced early results. Public consultations and virtual workshops had informed the plan between July and December 2022. The review distinguished those separate contributions from sustained dialogue. During implementation, forum participation was interrupted, with no documented open meetings, public consultations or systematic feedback mechanisms. Source 4.5

A July 2026 electoral tribunal account described the women's political school as a place for leadership learning, exchange and networks. Supported by UNDP, it aimed to strengthen participation in public institutions, civil society and other decision making spaces. Its sixteenth edition concluded in Encarnación in May. The reported 763 women trained was cumulative across editions, not the size of that class. The programme had also extended beyond Asunción and Central to several other departments. Source 4.6

Back to contents

Chapter 5: Economic institutions and livelihoods

Currency history and international programmes

The central bank traces the guaraní currency to Decree Law 655 of 5 October 1943, which divided the unit into one hundred equal parts. Banknotes entered circulation in 1944. The first seven denominations ranged from one to one thousand guaraníes, with different sizes indicating value. A 1963 series standardised dimensions and added five thousand and ten thousand denominations. In 1979, a value expressed in the Guaraní language appeared on the reverse of the five thousand note. Source 5.1

On 6 November 2023, IMF staff announced agreement with Paraguayan authorities on a programme review and a request for access to the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The requested amount was SDR 302.1 million; Executive Board consideration was still forthcoming. The proposed reforms concerned resilient public investment, climate finance, financial sector climate risks, clean electricity and forest conservation. Coordination was planned with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, CAF and other partners following meetings held from late October to early November. Source 5.2

Growth analysis and business institutions

The World Bank's 2024 growth report, using information available by 1 May 2023, organised its recommendations around resilience, productivity and sustainability. It advocated export diversification, including services, and deeper financial markets. For productivity, it emphasised business entry and exit, workforce education and finance for smaller firms. Its sustainability discussion connected natural resource management with finance, training and strategic electricity sector management. Across these recommendations, the report assigned public institutions a role in service quality, governance and the rule of law. Source 5.3

The industry ministry describes SUACE as a single window for opening or formalising businesses, created under a 2013 law. Its institutional account also explains the simplified company form known as EAS. This is presented as a legal entity for organised lawful commercial activity, in which participants share benefits and losses. The ministry classifies EAS as commercial regardless of the activities specified in its corporate purpose. Source 5.4

Family fairs and local producer research

IICA project 5092-19 set out support for Paraguay's agriculture ministry between March and November 2026. Its focus was the family farming fair programme and direct sales between producers and consumers. The design included a launch involving public bodies, producer organisations and strategic partners. Initial actions were intended to support implementation and make the fairs part of the ministry's continuing offer. Source 5.5

A 2019 study by Ferreira Maldonado and Centurión González examined yerba mate producers in Paso Yobai, Guairá. The research population comprised 131 growers; the authors described a random sample covering forty percent, without supplying an exact sample count in the abstract. A descriptive survey investigated social characteristics, economic importance, production and marketing. It identified collectors as the principal marketing channel. The findings describe that local sample, not all Paraguayan growers. Source 5.6

Back to contents

Chapter 6: Households and community organisation

Household research and neighbourhood workshops

The 2022 continuous household survey examined housing, basic services, health, education, work and income. Its universe covered private households in the Eastern Region and Presidente Hayes, rather than every part of Paraguay. Collective dwellings were excluded, with an exception for independent families living within such establishments. Data collection ran throughout the year and labour results were quarterly. The two stage sample selected geographic units, then twelve dwellings within each selected unit. Its rotating design retained half the households between corresponding quarters in successive years. Source 6.1

Around thirty residents attended the first community strengthening workshop in Chacarita Alta in May 2024. The housing ministry placed it within the neighbourhood improvement project's social participation and community organisation work. The series was designed to help residents develop community projects. Planned sessions covered dialogue, listening, project preparation, social monitoring and the movement from an idea to implementation, finance and sustainability. The local pastoral community centre was identified as the meeting place for the workshops. Source 6.2

Care partnerships and local institutions

An undated announcement for Más derechos, mejores cuidados described a partnership between Plan International and the women's ministry, financed by Canada's foreign affairs department. Its stated purpose was to make care policy work visible and strengthen multisector commitment. The project was planned for Asunción, Central, Caaguazú, Guairá and San Pedro. Named local partners included the documentation and studies centre, Mil Solidarios and the organisation of rural and Indigenous women, CONAMURI. Source 6.3

San Lorenzo's Mitã Róga centre has a specific institutional chronology. A January 2026 ministry account reported inauguration of its new building, also housing the CODENI office. Abrazo had begun local implementation in 2008, initially serving children and adolescents in child labour, and expanded to early childhood in 2009. A municipal agreement supported the centre in 2022. After a December 2023 fire, a project and agreement for the replacement building were presented in April 2024. Source 6.4

Community housing and resident perspectives

TECHO Paraguay describes its work as a partnership between volunteers and settlement communities. Its emergency housing model uses eighteen square metre modules with prefabricated wooden walls and zinc roofing, built jointly with families. Community infrastructure projects encompass paths and stairs, recreation areas, dining spaces and meeting halls. The provider also identifies water distribution and sanitation facilities among its project categories. Source 6.5

Mariela Cuevas's study considers residents' perspectives in Asunción's San Francisco housing complex. Published online in 2023 in an issue labelled 2020 to 2021, it uses qualitative material to examine relocation and access to housing. Its abstract connects state housing policy with daily relationships, shared spaces and trust, while also considering exclusion and stigma. Work, education, health and organisation appear alongside residents' experiences of moving and living in formal housing. These are local interpretations, not national survey findings. Source 6.6

Back to contents

Chapter 7: Education and shared learning

A historical plan and accessible materials

The historical National Education Plan 2024 presented a vision of democratic, decentralised and intercultural education. It treated learners and teachers as active participants who create knowledge together through dialogue. For the ministry, the plan assigned responsibilities for public accountability, continuing assessment of management, staff selection by merit and professional training. It also envisaged community participation and the use of research, reflection and digital resources. Source 7.1

UNICEF's June 2022 account describes Paraguay's accessible digital textbook pilot for the first cycle of basic education. The education ministry developed it with support from UNICEF and partners. Universal Design for Learning supplied an approach to making information, perception, expression and emotional aspects of learning more accessible. That year's priorities included textbook production, training and adapting the ministry's home learning platform. The initiative involved teachers, publishers, programmers and organisations representing people with disabilities. Source 7.2

Assessment and participatory research

Paraguay's PISA 2022 assessment involved 5,084 students in 281 schools. They represented about 81,000 fifteen year olds, estimated at 72 percent of the age group, rather than all young people. The OECD reported that fifteen percent reached at least Level Two in mathematics, including recognising mathematical representations of simple situations such as comparing routes or converting prices. Students completed paper tests and a background questionnaire; principals answered questions about school organisation and learning environments. The OECD judged the data fit for reporting. Source 7.3

The MBYA_SIG project joined participatory mapping with geographic information systems for Mbya-Guaraní communities. A university account from October 2024 describes a team bringing architecture, anthropology and geography together with qualitative methods. At a meeting in Caaguazú on 17 October, members of Toro Kangüe, Yvu Santa Rita and Jaguary presented collected information and its mapping applications. A seminar followed the next day. The project received Andalusian cooperation funding and involved partners including the University of Seville and Paraguay's architecture, design and art faculty. Source 7.4

Reading outreach and teacher perspectives

Bibliorutas was presented in Concepción in August 2022 through storytelling, reading circles, drawing and crafts. Led by Celeste Díaz of Tierra Mestiza, the initiative received support through a national culture fund. It aimed to encourage reading among children and young people and in schools without libraries. Its first planned stage covered Loreto, Belén and nearby communities. Source 7.5

A 2024 study of the first two teacher education cohorts gathered an online survey from 56 graduates and two focus groups of five key participants each. Elías and colleagues found broadly positive perceptions of training, with differences among participants. Educational technology and skills for planning, carrying out and evaluating projects were especially valued. Oral and written communication in the official languages and English received lower ratings. These were graduates' perceptions, rather than independent measurements of classroom effectiveness. Source 7.6

Back to contents

Chapter 8: Health institutions and staff learning

Community care and professional development

A September 2024 health ministry account presents family health units as the first point of contact with the national system. Their model combines promotion, prevention, consultations, home visits and rehabilitation within assigned local territories. It is designed to be intercultural and multidisciplinary, with community participation. Team composition varies by unit type, bringing together medical, nursing, obstetric, dental and community roles. The ministry distinguishes a basic family health team from a complementary team working within the unit. The basic team includes nursing and obstetric graduates as well as community agents. Source 8.1

At the National Hospital, the training service describes a process that begins with identifying staff learning needs. Its annual plan is aligned with the national health workforce training framework for 2022 to 2030 and with each person's role. Listed areas range from public health and hospital management to project evaluation and public financial administration. Teamwork, digital skills, leadership and managing workload also appear. The account explains continuing professional development as an institutional responsibility, with both managerial and interpersonal dimensions. The topics also include humanisation of care and emotional intelligence. Source 8.2

Policy design and equipment logistics

An August 2024 ministry announcement set out a mental health policy intended to run through 2030. Its launch was then planned for later that month. The design brought mental health and addiction services into an integrated network with a community focus. Four strategic areas addressed governance, services, promotion and prevention, and evaluation with quality control and technology. A national directorate was envisaged to coordinate and supervise implementation, while the ministry would lead the treatment and rehabilitation strand of the wider SUMAR plan. Source 8.3

A Japan and UNICEF cooperation project closed in November 2022 after supporting Paraguay's immunisation cold chain. Its account reported thirteen solar powered refrigerator and freezer units delivered to health services in the Chaco, where electricity supplies were unstable. Thirteen refers to pieces of equipment, not thirteen facilities. The project also included training for immunisation staff and regional and district storage technicians. National mapping of the cold chain and documentation of the experience formed further parts of the logistics work. Source 8.4

Local rehabilitation and first aid education

The General Hospital of Itapúa reported more than 2,800 physiotherapy and rehabilitation encounters during its first hundred days, in a November 2025 account. That figure counts encounters rather than unique patients. The provider described a service receiving people with several categories of rehabilitation needs, supported by physiotherapy equipment and kinesiology materials. Sessions were arranged for particular days and times in that historical account. Source 8.5

In July 2026, the National Emergency Secretariat reported first aid education delivered by the Paraguayan Red Cross. Its personnel training department organised the activity within the year's staff development plan. The intended audience was employees interested in joining the institutional first aid brigade. Source 8.6

Back to contents

Chapter 9: Connections and infrastructure projects

Road construction and metropolitan buses

A June 2024 public works account described preliminary work on the third segment of the Bioceanic Corridor in the Paraguayan Chaco. The planned segment ran from Mariscal Estigarribia to Pozo Hondo and covered approximately 224 kilometres, including about 220 kilometres of the main corridor and additional local road improvements. The account distinguished three planned phases: design with maintenance of existing roads, construction and improvement, and subsequent maintenance. Preliminary work had begun across four awarded lots, following March and April start orders. The wider Paraguayan route covered 532 kilometres from Capitán Carmelo Peralta to the Argentine border. Source 9.1

In April 2025, the final ten electric buses arrived at Villeta, bringing a pilot fleet supplied through cooperation between Paraguay and Taiwan to thirty vehicles. The public works ministry described ownership transfer and technical tests as subsequent steps. Workshops, charging facilities, driver and technician training, and competitive selection of an operator were also being prepared. Commercial operation was then expected later in 2025. Each bus was described as carrying 55 passengers, with air conditioning, an access ramp and wheelchair space. Other listed features included folding seats and USB chargers. Source 9.2

River terminals and telecommunications planning

The port authority's inventory places Villeta terminal in Central Department, on the Paraguay River, 28 kilometres from Asunción. It lists import and export operations, a quay frontage of 430 metres and covered storage of twenty thousand cubic metres. Other features include a bulk loading system, an administrative building and truck weighing facilities. The inventory also records 2,400 metres of paved internal roads. The listing measures its location as river kilometre 353 from the Paraguay and Paraná confluence. Source 9.3

CONATEL's telecommunications plan for 2021 to 2025 set objectives, indicators, targets and strategies for the sector. It sought to enable digital economy opportunities in businesses, industry and public institutions. The historical plan sought precise targets for telecommunications coverage, uptake and quality. Its strategies were intended to guide both the regulator and other sector actors over that period. Source 9.4

Academic networks and airport works

Academic connectivity has a separate institutional account. The national computing centre describes carrying out technical, infrastructure and configuration work for access to Red Arandu. Through that advanced academic network, Paraguay joined the regional research and education network RedCLARA. The centre presents the affiliation as access to high performance technological infrastructure for research, development, innovation and education. Source 9.5

DINAC's June 2026 airport works account described renewal and expansion of parking and common areas at Silvio Pettirossi. It listed resurfacing thirteen thousand square metres of vehicle space, improvements to 1,165 square metres of the main entrance and 394 square metres of pavements. The agency placed these parking and entrance works within its Continuous Improvements Plan, alongside an expansion of parking spaces. Source 9.6

Back to contents

Chapter 10: Skills and continuing education

Dual learning and recognition of experience

An SNPP account from May 2025 described electricity distribution apprentices beginning the classroom component of a 2025 to 2027 dual training cohort. They had joined ANDE in April and worked across several departments. The model allocated seventy percent of time to professional practice in a company and thirty percent to theoretical classes at SNPP. Training comprised 3,600 clock hours over two years. The account names trainees from departments including Alto Paraná, Amambay, Caazapá, Cordillera, Guairá, Itapúa, Misiones and San Pedro. Source 10.1

SINAFOCAL's February 2025 account describes registration for competency certification among construction workers at a site in Luque. The model aimed to recognise skills developed through work, whether or not a person had previously received formal training. Two masonry profiles, at Levels One and Two, were identified in the national occupational catalogue. Education and labour institutions worked with a construction firm and a professional association. Registration took place at the Olympic Aquatic Centre construction site. Source 10.2

Professional exchanges and workplace learning

The ILO organised virtual training for Paraguay's labour inspection and occupational safety officials between 31 May and 16 June 2021. Its stated objectives included knowledge of the regulatory framework, planning tools and exchanging inspection experience in construction. International specialist Juarez Correia Barros facilitated the course under the coordination of ILO specialist Carmen Bueno. The initiative formed part of a training plan developed with the labour ministry. Source 10.3

A March 2025 Paraguay and Peru cooperation account concerned the training of tourism guides. Participants included SENATUR technicians and guides from different parts of Paraguay. The account identifies Peru's CENFOTUR as the institution responsible for technical training and professional development in tourism. Source 10.4

Digital courses and bilingual adult education

A November 2024 launch introduced an online digital and interpersonal skills project supported by Spanish cooperation and coordinated by UCSA. Labour authorities and SNPP were implementation partners. The project targeted more than one thousand young people, with hybrid classrooms and recording rooms planned. Its design included adaptable learning content and access in settings with limited connectivity. The announcement also reported teachers and technicians already taking virtual teaching courses through the University of Barcelona, based on the European digital competence framework. Source 10.5

The 2016 provider case study of Ñane Ñe’ẽ describes a nonformal Spanish and Guaraní programme founded in 2010 for people aged fifteen and over who had not completed basic schooling. Strengthening and consolidation modules combined literacy and elementary mathematics with reflection on community issues. Facilitators supported learning circles, and a community project formed part of consolidation. Participant booklets, facilitator guides, an abacus, a bilingual dictionary and an alphabet supported the programme's teaching approach. Vocational options included cooking, hairdressing and crafts, with reading, writing and mathematics connected to those specialities. The consolidation project addressed democratic participation and human rights. Source 10.6

Back to contents

11. Habitats and living landscapes

Forests and river margins

Bosque Mbaracayu is a biosphere reserve in the upper Jejui basin, with a UNESCO nomination year of 2000. Its description brings together humid forests at low and medium elevations, periodically inundated forests, palm savannas, dry forests and pasture. The human landscape includes Paraguayan and Brazilian smallholder farmers, Indigenous communities and urban populations. A private foundation handles both management and administration of the reserve. Local awareness programmes within the reserve promote agroforestry, enrichment of degraded forests, subsistence cultivation and capacity building as approaches to using natural resources sustainably. (Source 11.1).

Rio Negro entered the Ramsar list on 7 June 1995 as site 729. Its historical description places it in Alto Paraguay, sharing borders with Bolivia and Brazil. Meandering waterways and oxbow lakes meet at a transition between three biogeographic provinces. The dossier describes fauna associated with all three, in this transitional river landscape. (Source 11.2).

Floodplains and local participation

The 1995 Ramsar description of Tifunque, also written Tinfunque, follows the Pilcomayo River in Presidente Hayes. It describes an alluvial plain flooded during much of the year, with forest patches, clustered lakes and palm savannas. Watercourses occupy former riverbeds, with gallery forests alongside them. Another sector consists of dry grass and shrub plains. These contrasting environments belong to the same designated site, inscribed on 7 June 1995. (Source 11.3).

Vida en el Pantanal was designed for Carmelo Peralta over 2020–2024. Pro Comunidades Indigenas led implementation with WWF Paraguay, supported by the European Union. Its aims linked environmental governance with participation by young people and Indigenous and non Indigenous women. Proposed work included territorial management, community practices responsive to climate change and stronger associations of Indigenous and farming women. Young people were to gain opportunities for employment, communication and cultural skills, with attention to their connections to local culture. (Source 11.4).

Conservation and environmental learning

Guyra Paraguay describes its Guyra Reta reserve complex as properties within San Rafael, or Tekoha Guasu. Its account dates acquisition to 2002 and gives a combined area exceeding 6,000 hectares. The conservation description links the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest with natural grasslands of the Mesopotamia Pampas. The organisation proposes environmental education through nature tourism with limited impact, connecting people with the biodiversity, landscapes and history of these properties. (Source 11.5).

In a 26 January 2026 account, Itaipu placed its educational activities within a Conservation Education Programme. Themes included water, biodiversity, climate change, renewable energy, and cultural and natural heritage. Teaching materials and workshops were intended to encourage awareness of the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest. The account identified Tekotopa Environmental Centre as an educational resource and the Kaninde educational project as a component of Canindeyu conservation work, with an aim of increasing public awareness of biodiversity conservation. (Source 11.6).

Back to contents

12. Food and shared meals

Schools and shared drinks

An FAO account published on 22 February 2019 describes a school food pilot in Yhu involving two schools and 350 children during 2014–2017. The local government coordinated direct purchases from family farming organisations, with food for the dining rooms intended to come from nearby farms. Local producers thus had a role in supplying the school meals. School gardens, physical activity, food education within the curriculum and teacher training complemented the meals. (Source 12.1).

Terere practices associated with Poha Nana were inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of intangible heritage in 2020. The nomination names familiar material elements: a jug or thermos, yerba mate and a metal or cane straw called a bombilla. It describes family transmission as the principal way knowledge passes between generations, alongside apprenticeships. In the nomination’s account, time shared around the drink encourages friendship, dialogue, inclusion, respect and solidarity. (Source 12.2).

Local encounters and survey evidence

Sanra Ritten’s travel narrative published in Gastronomica in May 2009 follows visitors learning to make chipa at a ranch beside the Tagatiya River in Concepcion. During the same encounter, they are introduced to terere and cocido negro, described as a beverage resembling coffee but made with yerba mate. (Source 12.3).

A study presented in 2023 examined traditional food consumption through a voluntary digital questionnaire conducted during the second four month period of 2022. Its 319 adult respondents were predominantly women, at 80%, while 64% lived in Central department or Asuncion. Within this sample, 85% reported eating traditional preparations mainly at home. More than 90% consumed dishes including sopa paraguaya, chipa guasu, mbeju, arroz quesu, chipa almidon and vori vori. The researchers recommended further work with greater national representativeness; these percentages describe respondents rather than the population as a whole. (Source 12.4).

Pottery and family production

Research concerning potter Rosalina Robles of Peguaho, Yaguaron, records how she inherited her craft from her mother, Troadia Cubila, who also taught pottery in a local school. Robles recalled selling goods from carts while travelling between towns. The authors connect this testimony with research supporting her national living treasure recognition in 2021. Their account also describes a plate used for Mbeju Tova, distinguished by a humanlike figure drawn into the potter’s plate, bringing utensils and food presentation into the same story. (Source 12.5).

UNDP’s family food production project describes support for selected farming households through their organisations. Intended beneficiaries include rural settlements, Indigenous communities and other families facing poverty. Its design combines technical assistance with basic inputs for small productive and social projects. These could concern food for household consumption or markets, as well as improvements to housing or surroundings. Strengthening the Agriculture Ministry’s capacity forms part of the objective, with better food and income among its aims. (Source 12.6).

Back to contents

13. Arts, music and storytelling

Threads and collaborative craft

The techniques for making Piribebuy’s Poncho Para’i de 60 Listas entered UNESCO’s Urgent Safeguarding List in 2023. Its construction involves a body, stripes and a narrow border, each made through a different craft process. Weavers specialise in individual parts and collaborate to complete the garment, using three kinds of cotton thread. The nomination describes knowledge passing from mothers to daughters through observation, practice and oral teaching. A safeguarding school also helps weavers transmit these skills to younger generations. (Source 13.1).

A different collaboration brought together weavers and metalworkers in Itaugua and Luque in April 2025. The Paraguayan craft institute’s Joyeria + Nanduti account describes talks followed by exchanges between makers of lace, filigree and other metalwork. Colombian jeweller Paula Velez mentored the experience. The resulting catalogue presents pieces from the textile jewellery workshop, combining nanduti with metals through work undertaken by the participating craftspeople. (Source 13.2).

Recorded music and collections

Smithsonian Folkways released Maitei America: Harps of Paraguay in 2009. Its catalogue lists twenty instrumental tracks over 68 minutes, accompanied by a 44 page booklet with bilingual notes and photographs. Harp, acoustic guitar and upright bass appear among the listed instruments. Performers include Marcelo Rojas, Martin Portillo, Nicolas Caballero and Kike Pedersen. The credits identify Carlos Rojas Hernandez and Daniel Sheehy as producers and Alfredo Colman as the writer of the liner notes. (Source 13.3).

The Museo del Barro traces its origins partly to the travelling collection established by Olga Blinder and Carlos Colombino in 1972. Initially comprising prints and drawings, it expanded into painting, sculpture, objects and installations. The museum opened in San Lorenzo in 1980 with approximately 800 pieces of popular pottery from Ita and Tobati. It moved to Asuncion in 1983. The later visual arts centre brought urban, rural and Indigenous art into one institutional setting, while its renewed 1995 premises incorporated the Indigenous Art Museum collection. (Source 13.4).

An author’s papers and fictional lives

The Augusto Roa Bastos Papers finding aid describes two linear feet of material organised into five series: biographical and professional records, correspondence, written works, teaching and forums, and audiovisual materials. Family letters extend from his school years in Asuncion through exile in Argentina and France. The catalogue also identifies correspondence with Ruben Bareiro Saguier and Josefina Pla. Drafts, annotations and notes concerning Yo El Supremo appear among the written materials. Most material dates from 1940–2005, with Spanish, Guarani, French and Portuguese represented. (Source 13.5).

The producer’s synopsis of Las Herederas follows Chela and Chiquita, a couple descended from wealthy Asuncion families, together for over thirty years. Financial difficulties lead them to sell inherited possessions. When Chiquita is imprisoned over fraud charges, Chela begins driving again and provides rides for elderly wealthy women. Her encounter with the younger Angy introduces another relationship into the fictional story. (Source 13.6).

Back to contents

14. Heritage and places of memory

Mission layouts and commemoration

UNESCO inscribed the Jesuit missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue in 1993. Its account places churches beside residences and squares in mission layouts. Trinidad’s stone church was built around 1745 to a design by Juan Bautista Primoli. At Jesus, the surviving archaeological layout includes an unfinished church, a square and the remaining room of an attached school. Houses for orphans and widows were known as Coty Guazu, or Great House. Trefoil arches express the site’s Mudejar architectural influence. (Source 14.1).

Cerro Cora in Amambay combines a natural setting with historical commemoration. The environmental ministry’s profile dates its establishment as a military reserve to 1960, intended to preserve the historical site in natural conditions. It identifies the place with the final battle of the War of the Triple Alliance and the death of Francisco Solano Lopez beside the Aquidaban Nigui stream. Monuments, a museum and historical paths form part of the institutional description. (Source 14.2).

Houses and cultural institutions

A May 2024 cultural ministry account describes the Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia Museum in Yaguaron as the former home of Captain Jose Engracia de Francia, father of Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia. The house dates from the second half of the eighteenth century, and the museum opened on 17 May 1968. Its collection includes portraits of Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros, Manuel Atanasio Cabanas and the younger Francia. (Source 14.3).

The Republic’s El Cabildo cultural centre opened on 14 May 2004 in Asuncion’s historical Cabildo. Its institutional history records the building’s use by executive, legislative and judicial authorities at different times. During the government of Carlos Antonio Lopez, Spanish architect Pascual Urdapilleta directed alterations that gave it its described design. For the national bicentenary in 2011, Congress acquired additional properties for museums and cultural activities. (Source 14.4).

City objects and restoration plans

Encarnacion’s municipal cultural circuit includes Memoria Viva in the former San Jose flour mill. Its description lists photographs of old Encarnacion, urban transformation and the 1926 cyclone, alongside cameras, typewriters, a printing press and communications equipment. The railway museum occupies a replica station. Another collection on Avenida Japon grew from Alberto Delvalle’s inventory of iron machinery remnants from sawmills, mills and small vessels. The municipality gathered surviving pieces and arranged them along the avenue, turning industrial objects into an outdoor collection. (Source 14.5).

A May 2025 announcement described the presentation of Spanish technical cooperation for restoring San Buenaventura church in Yaguaron. The event formed part of Tekorenda and included a public hearing and community dialogue. The broader programme aims to identify, safeguard and renew cultural heritage through participation across institutions and communities. Its listed supporters include Itaipu, CAF, the Itaipu Technology Park and UNDP. Restoration was still planned. (Source 14.6).

Back to contents

15. Science and discovery

Space programmes and sandstone

The Paraguayan Space Agency dates the launch of GuaraniSat 1 to 20 February 2021 and its orbital deployment to 14 March. Paraguay participated in BIRDS4, a programme led by Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology, with one of the constellation’s three satellites. The agency lists a camera, image classification and storage and forwarding of data among the mission’s functions. (Source 15.1).

At Cerro Koi in Aregua, Maria Lourdes Genez Morinigo investigated the sedimentary setting of columnar sandstones. Her thesis abstract combines desk research, fieldwork and laboratory analysis. She interpreted mineralogical and textural characteristics as evidence that the sediments were deposited in a river environment. Quartz predominated in the columnar rocks. Nearby sandstone outcrops were massive rather than columnar, with grains ranging from somewhat rounded to somewhat angular and moderate to poor sorting, also interpreted in relation to river deposition. (Source 15.2).

Archaeology and groundwater

An April 2026 article describes Isla Po’i, identified during the Fortin Boqueron archaeological project in 2024. The project investigated living spaces associated with the Chaco War of 1932–1935 and occupations preceding it. Intensive survey recovered ceramic fragments and everyday objects along the lagoon shore. Materials connected with the war were also recorded. The authors interpreted their coexistence as evidence of overlapping historical and earlier occupations at this site in the Paraguayan Chaco. (Source 15.3).

A paper published in April 2020 reports two years of groundwater observations near Loma Plata. Researchers monitored 28 wells at two sites about fortnightly, measuring conductivity and water levels. Their survey lines crossed from planted pasture into native forest and followed changes in elevation from bush or pasture towards a temporarily flooded lagoon. The study identified relationships among terrain, vegetation cover, rainfall, groundwater salinity and salinisation at the surface. (Source 15.4).

Looking upward and measuring cities

UNA’s Polytechnic Faculty dates the inauguration of its Alexis Troche Boggino observatory to 6 June 2000, with a sliding dome donated by Japan. Its stated purposes include astronomical observation, training for staff, students and researchers, and wider science education. Listed themes range from variable and double stars to comets, asteroids and solar activity. International astronomical archives, shared observing groups, databases and interdisciplinary seminars also feature in the institution’s description of its intended work. Seminars combine observational, statistical and computing approaches. (Source 15.5).

A study published in October 2026 examined surface heat islands in metropolitan Asuncion and Montevideo using satellite observations from 2001–2016. The authors used a quantile method at 0.05 degree resolution with MODIS data from Terra and Aqua, distinguishing urban, transitional and rural areas month by month through the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme classification. Their estimated maximum daytime contrasts occurred in December: 4.5 degrees Celsius for Asuncion and 0.5 for Montevideo. These are surface temperature contrasts in two different countries, not air temperatures. (Source 15.6).

Back to contents

16. Sport and shared recreation

Olympic institutions and football

The International Olympic Committee’s Paraguay profile names the Comite Olimpico Paraguayo and records recognition in 1970. Its captured postal address places the committee on Medallistas Olimpicos in Asuncion, with street number 1 and post office box 1420. (Source 16.1).

Paraguay’s football campaign at Athens in 2004 moved through several close matches. FIFA’s retrospective records a 4 to 3 victory over Japan, a 2 to 1 defeat by Ghana and a 1 to 0 win over Italy in the group stage. Fredy Bareiro scored against Italy. Paraguay then beat Korea 3 to 2 in the quarterfinal and Iraq 3 to 1 in the semifinal, before Argentina won the final by a single goal. Across the tournament, Paraguay scored twelve goals, including five by Jose Cardozo and four by Bareiro. Cardozo was thirty three at the time. (Source 16.2).

Tennis and swimming

In Paris during May 2018, Veronica Cepede Royg faced Petra Kvitova on Court Philippe Chatrier. The WTA’s 28 May report records Kvitova winning 3–6, 6–1, 7–5 after two hours and seven minutes. Cepede Royg had broken serve in the eighth game of the opening set and then served it out without losing a point in that game. She lost only seven points on serve throughout the first set. Kvitova later broke at 5–5 in the deciding set, after twice breaking in the second. She finished with thirty winners and thirty five unforced errors. (Source 16.3).

Rodrigo Hermosa recorded 29.72 seconds in a Tokyo Paralympic men’s 50 metre freestyle S9 heat on 29 August 2021. A Japanese government account published on 22 October 2021 describes support from Nippon Sport Science University, whose staff and researchers were among those cheering him. Professor Ito Masamitsu met Hermosa in Paraguay in 2018. The university had undertaken Japan Sports Agency projects since 2017, with assistance covering athlete instruction, coaching staff development and Paralympic committee administration, as well as classes on coaching and related subjects. (Source 16.4).

Hosting and varied participation

Panam Sports’ October 2022 account describes the Asuncion South American Games as fifteen days of competition involving fifteen countries and more than 3,500 athletes. Paraguay won 48 medals. Brazil led the table with 133 gold, 100 silver and 86 bronze medals, for a Brazilian team total of 319 medals. At the time, ODESUR president Camilo Perez described Asuncion’s application to host the 2025 Junior Pan American Games. Perez was also identified as an IOC member. (Source 16.5).

Special Olympics Paraguay lists athletics, swimming, speed skating, football, volleyball, gymnastics, badminton, tennis and bocce among its sports, alongside women’s and men’s futsal. Its mission describes the wider movement’s commitment to sports training and competition throughout the year for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. (Source 16.6).

Back to contents

17. Weather, water and environmental challenges

Stations and satellite records

Paraguay’s 2024 climatological annual report drew on nineteen conventional weather stations, with observations checked and processed by the meteorological service. It recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius at Mariscal Estigarribia in Boqueron on 31 December and minus 1.6 at General Bruguez in Presidente Hayes on 10 August. At San Juan Bautista in Misiones, April rainfall reached 575.1 millimetres, including a daily maximum of 166.0 millimetres. These measurements identify particular stations and periods; they are not average conditions throughout the country. (Source 17.1).

NASA’s November 2020 account compared Landsat images of the Paraguay River near Asuncion from 7 October 2020 and 15 October 2017. Its textual interpretation described low water exposing sandbars and islands normally submerged. A separate satellite map in the same account covered South America on 26 October 2020. That map expressed groundwater storage as wetness percentiles against longer October records, rather than measuring the quantity of groundwater available specifically to Paraguay. (Source 17.2).

City programmes and rural landscapes

The GEF registry describes Asuncion Green City as a programme intended to integrate transport, solid waste management and green infrastructure within a sustainable urban framework. It names UNDP as implementing agency and the Environment Secretariat as executing agency. The registry dates approval for implementation to 13 December 2016 and closure to 12 October 2024. Its stated objective linked urban quality of life with a more sustainable and resilient city. (Source 17.3).

PROEZA links poverty, reforestation, energy and climate policy in a Green Climate Fund project approved on 1 March 2018. Its design provides environmental cash transfers in exchange for community agroforestry responsive to climate conditions. Planned credit supports productive forest plantations for bioenergy, timber and combined forestry and livestock production, while capacity building addresses governance and enforcement. The captured registry names FAO as the responsible entity and gives an estimated completion of 19 June 2027. Its separately stated thirty year lifespan should not be confused with that implementation timetable. (Source 17.4).

Sanitation and institutional responsibilities

A November 2024 description of the Lambare basin sanitation project planned work in 58 neighbourhoods: 28 in Lambare, 23 in Asuncion, four in Fernando de la Mora and three in Villa Elisa. It envisaged 70,000 household connections, a wastewater treatment plant and fifteen pumping stations. European Union support also covered planned sanitation and connections for 1,000 vulnerable households and 120 community locations, including schools and markets. The account emphasised local labour, technician training and inclusion of women. (Source 17.5).

A GEF project addresses management of equipment and waste containing PCBs in Paraguay. Its purpose is to protect health and the environment through environmentally sound management and final disposal. The registry names UNIDO as implementing agency and SEAM Paraguay with UNITAR as executing agencies. Approval for implementation is dated 20 February 2018; the captured status reads Project Approved. (Source 17.6).

Back to contents

18. Regional and global connections

Trade institutions and regional agreements

Paraguay joined the World Trade Organization on 1 January 1995, following GATT membership from 6 January 1994. The WTO’s country profile lists goods schedules, services schedules, tariff data and a tariff profile alongside the historical membership dates. (Source 18.1).

Asuncion gave its name to the treaty signed there by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on 26 March 1991, laying the foundations for MERCOSUR. The treaty initially provided a provisional institutional structure. On 17 December 1994, the four countries signed the additional protocol concerning MERCOSUR’s institutional structure, known as the Ouro Preto Protocol. The organisation’s founding texts describe this as establishing a definitive structure, comprising three decision making and three non decision making organs within the regional organisation. (Source 18.2).

Cooperation and policy analysis

The United Nations’ Paraguay cooperation framework for 2025–2029 sets out four priorities: social development, environmental sustainability, inclusive economic development and stronger institutions. Its 13 June 2025 presentation describes a participatory process conducted in dialogue with public institutions. Earlier achievements and lessons informed preparation, alongside attention to the country’s challenges. Across the four areas, UN agencies, funds and programmes committed to combining their efforts, coordinating work and directing activities towards concrete results in cooperation with Paraguay. (Source 18.3).

The OECD’s October 2019 multidimensional review’s third volume moved from analysis towards targeted reform plans. It recommended reducing fragmentation in social protection and improving how services and risk management tools respond to people’s needs. Pension reforms were proposed to widen coverage and strengthen fairness and sustainability. The report also called for better quality and inclusion in education and training, linking these to skills needed by the economy and opportunities for all. Drawing on the preceding two volumes, it offered action plans and a dashboard of monitoring indicators to support the reform agenda. (Source 18.4).

Energy dialogue and peace operations

IRENA’s September 2021 readiness assessment examined Paraguay’s energy institutions, governance and planning over the longer term, including renewable and low carbon technologies in end use sectors. It identified fifteen proposed actions for the short and medium term, organised into six themes. These covered institutional governance, planning and renewable energy rules, efficiency policies and initiatives, renewable energy beyond electricity, investment in renewable technologies and continuing development of institutional and human capabilities. The recommendations sought to improve conditions for deploying renewable energy. (Source 18.5).

CECOPAZ, Paraguay’s joint peace operations training centre, records its move to Campo Grande in February 2005, within Army Command grounds. Its institutional history describes Paraguayan participation in the Cyprus mission UNFICYP alongside Argentina from 2010, and a national contingent in Haiti from 2013 until 2017. The centre describes a teaching role involving military, police and civilian personnel, with specialised courses devoted to training and preparation for peace operations. (Source 18.6).

Back to contents

19. Contemporary creativity and enterprise

Innovation and business learning

WIPO’s Global Innovation Index placed Paraguay 103rd among 139 economies in 2025, with an estimated ranking interval from 95 to 107. The profile ranked innovation inputs at 97 and outputs at 103. It cautioned that data availability and changes in the model influence comparisons between years. (Source 19.1).

A Ministry of Women account describes business workshops at Ciudad Mujer under De Emprendedoras a Empresarias 2024–2028. SINAFOCAL professionals Olga Ovelar and Richard Romero led a session on entrepreneurial profiles and basic business planning. The day also included an introduction to banking by a Banco Nacional de Fomento representative and individual guidance on formalising enterprises. The account presents particular training activities within the economic empowerment module, including discussion of the transition from entrepreneur to business owner. (Source 19.2).

Architecture and creative industries

Gabinete de Arquitectura received the Golden Lion for Best Participant at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. The award named Solano Benitez, Gloria Cabral and Solanito Benitez from Paraguay. The jury recognised their use of simple materials, structural inventiveness and labour in bringing architecture to underserved communities. The organiser lists the venue as the Central Pavilion in the Giardini. (Source 19.3).

CIRD’s creative economy project, supported by BID and FOMIN, proposed work spanning public policy, training, finance, markets and a creative hub. Its design included a sector diagnosis, a strategic plan, support for the creative industries federation and shared financing for innovative projects. Other activities concerned management training and participation in creative industry markets. The stated targets distinguished 100 entrepreneurs receiving innovation and creativity training, sixty smaller enterprises receiving innovation vouchers, and 200 young people and women receiving training. The design also envisaged technical assistance for tools supporting access to markets. (Source 19.4).

Screen stories and digital projects

The San Sebastian festival’s 2012 catalogue lists 7 Cajas, directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori, as a Paraguayan film lasting 100 minutes. Its fictional protagonist, seventeen year old Victor, lives in Asuncion and dreams of owning a television. He agrees to deliver seven boxes for 100 dollars, setting the story in motion. The catalogue records the film’s 2011 Films in Progress Award, credits Maneglia’s screenplay and names Fran Villalba as composer, with cinematography by Richard Careaga and editing by Juan Sebastian Zelada and Maneglia. (Source 19.5).

MITIC’s account of the June 2024 InnovandoPY Demo Day reports nine finalist teams receiving 20,000 dollars each through the Agenda Digital support programme. Selection had begun with 110 applicants, followed by twenty cohort places and ten teams presenting solutions. Support included mentoring and technical, administrative and legal advice. The named projects included Fix for connecting users with home maintenance professionals, Infoed for academic administration and David vs Goliath, a virtual reality game. The Demo Day took place on 25 June. (Source 19.6).

Back to contents

20. Future choices for communities

Youth voices and institutional dialogue

UNICEF introduced U-Report in Paraguay in April 2021 as a way to hear adolescents and young people. Participants from different youth groups led the virtual presentation and shared their views of the initiative. The design used social networks and messaging to exchange ideas and conduct polls on subjects such as education, technology and protection from violence. Its stated aim was to help young people propose changes that authorities and other actors could consider. (Source 20.1).

A UNFPA account dated 25 November 2024 describes a process begun in 2022 involving seven public institutions and Indigenous women leaders. Coordinated by the Ministry of Women and INDI, with international support, it established 23 working tables. Participants developed protocols, manuals and guidance for responding to violence with respect for culture and without discrimination. Formalising institutional commitments and training public servants remained tasks ahead. Indigenous leaders urged that the agreements should become action rather than remain unused documents. (Source 20.2).

Rural organisations and urban planning

IFAD’s PPI2 project for Paraguay’s Eastern Region aims to connect small family farmers and poor rural households with value chains through representative organisations. Its objectives combine stronger organisations with more employment opportunities, particularly for women and young people. Proposed support includes access to investment and working capital, links between farms and buyers, and diversification of production. Gender and environmental concerns form part of the design, alongside intended improvements in household income and quality of life. (Source 20.3).

In February 2025, UN Habitat reported completion of a first draft of Paraguay’s national urbanism, housing and habitat plan, PLANUVH. Consultations since 2024 had involved more than 160 government representatives, specialists and civil society participants in Asuncion, Encarnacion and Ciudad del Este. Institutional validation and a final public consultation were planned before approval, together with a guide for local implementation. The account placed the work within the National Urban Policies Programme and anticipated its continuation through 2026. (Source 20.4).

Landscape priorities and community music

A January 2026 call for the GEF Small Grants Programme invited civil society proposals for its eighth operational phase, with a deadline of 6 March. The programme’s account dates its Paraguayan activities to 2009 under UNDP implementation and national steering committee guidance. Four landscape priorities were identified: the Paraguayan Chaco Biosphere Reserve and Pantanal riverbank, Cerrado del Norte, the Neembucu ecoregion and Corredor Sur. (Source 20.5).

Sonidos de la Tierra traces its creation to orchestra director and music researcher Luis Szaran in 2002. Tierranuestra adopted the programme in 2005 and changed its association name in 2022. Its community music schools use an approach called Orquesta Escuela de Vida. A leadership school develops musical, social and community management capacities, while the Somos H2O campaign invites tree planting, watercourse cleanups and provision of bins in homes, neighbourhoods and communities. (Source 20.6).

Back to contents

Frequently asked questions about Paraguay

What period does NASA’s forest comparison cover?

Its November 2009 account compares forest extent and change between 1990 and 2000 using Landsat data. Source FAQ1

What does the National Archives History Section contain?

Its 450 unbound volumes include administrative records, council minutes and correspondence from the sixteenth century through 1870. Source FAQ2

What was the scope of the yerba mate study?

The 2019 Paso Yobai study sampled forty percent of a local population of 131 growers, rather than growers nationwide. Source FAQ3

Where did Bibliorutas plan its initial outreach?

The 2022 launch account identified Loreto, Belén and communities along that stretch in Concepción department. Source FAQ4

Which river shapes the Tifunque wetland?

The Pilcomayo River. (Source 11.3).

When was the Piribebuy poncho tradition inscribed by UNESCO?

In 2023, on the Urgent Safeguarding List. (Source 13.1).

When did Paraguay join the WTO?

On 1 January 1995. (Source 18.1).

Who founded Sonidos de la Tierra?

Orchestra director and music researcher Luis Szaran, in 2002. (Source 20.6).

Continue reading: specialist guides to Paraguay

These guides offer focused educational reading. The companion How Paraguay Works explains government, hydropower, agriculture, river trade and everyday services and their practical connections; this overview offers a broader route through geography, history, culture and everyday life. Visitor-oriented pages do not confirm current access, safety, opening times or services, and vocabulary material is a reading resource rather than a claim about every community.

Explore the Everything About Countries archive for more national overviews. The companion How Countries Work archive follows the systems behind everyday life.

Bring the evidence together

Choose a place, practice or community project from these chapters. Which details describe observations, which explain an earlier event, and which set out an aim? Compare two examples and write a question that would help you understand them more fully.

Sources and further evidence

Sources consulted 27 October 2026; observations retain their original dates.