Paraguay: Women in Vulnerable Situations and their Resilience against COVID-19 Challenges

Carolina de Miranda and Laura Morínigo

ABSTRACT

Fundación Capital, with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is currently carrying out a Graduation Project in Paraguay with a transformative gender-based approach within the framework of Programa Abrazo (The Hug Program) of the Ministry of Childhood and Adolescence. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project had to be modified and required design and activity adjustments for the different contexts in order to maintain ties with participants, even with preventive social distancing measures. Understanding the women’s reality during the pandemic was crucial to develop strategies to mitigate the socio-economic effects of the crisis. This is why Fundación Capital performed a study with 479 women from Programa Abrazo to know how the pandemic had impacted their personal economy and the strategies they had used to face the crisis.