ASISTIR is the first school system designed to educate boys and girls early on and simultaneously feed their families.

The program works through a student ID card that turns public school attendance into food for their homes. Every child receives a student card that is used to register class attendance through an electronic system. From then on, for every school attendance this card accumulates money that is used as help to supply food for the family.

The money accumulated in the student ID may only be exchanged by each student's parents at the end of the month only for products of the family basic food basket in the state food banks (BANASUPRO).

ASISTIR was approved by the Honduran Department of Education with the support of the President of the Republic, to operate during the next 4 years. The children from the schools that were chosen received a special school card that kept record of their attendance through an electronic system. For every attendance registered in the card the kids received certain amount of money in their accounts. Later on, in a monthly basis, the appointed parents went to their closest food bank (BANASUPRO) and with the same card exchanged their money for products of the family basic food basket. Under the program, month attendance matched or surpassed the income that the child could have received by dropping out of school to work. This way, they were contributing to their family's economy without having to go out and work in the streets. Studying is their only job.

The ASISTIR campaign became a national success, it was communicated through the most important communication media in the country and at the same time, it had an impact in the entire nation creating awareness in the society. It was the trending conversation topic during several days. With this we were able to show evidence of a problem that happens every day on the streets of Honduras and also communicate that education is the solution for the social problems. With a national audience of more than 2 million people, it became the first educational program where the favorable opinion was unanimous. Twenty thousand kids will enter the program in the next 2 years and the investment designated towards the program will be more than 4 million dollars. We believe that for the first time in years, the reduction of school desertion and child labor will become a reality.

To solve two of the country´s social problems, school desertion and child labor, we created an educational program that is unique, different and self sustainable for the families. This system works based on the identification element of a school, the student ID Card. We innovated its functionality and turned it into a food card that accumulates money according to the school attendance. ASISTIR can generate new enrollments in schools considering the fact that the kids are the household´s source of income and they provide support while studying.  

Through a press conference the Honduran Department of Education and the Presidential Scholarship Program "Honduras 20/20" launched the idea and made known each of its benefits, as well as the schools where the program will be implemented. We communicated to the media how ASISTIR is a very innovative and cutting-edge idea in the country´s educational matter and also announced that this project will carry on for the next 4 years. This is how we created reactions in the country and generated conversations on the topic without investing money in mass media.

Honduras is a country with countless social problems, and all of them impact in school education, forcing children and teenagers to stop studying and become financially responsible for their families. It is estimated that at least 25.000 of them abandon school to work and forget about their education.

In a country with more than 350.000 children working, and one of the highest levels of child exploitation in the region, we saw the need of creating an idea that will generate an immediate change in society. With the help of the Honduran Education Department and the Presidential Scholarship Program "Honduras 20/20", we implemented ASISTIR, the first education system capable of educating our kids and feeding their families.