This week’s Game Changer is Armando Estrada. He’s a social entrepreneur and the co-founder of Via Educacion, an organization that develops leaders that return to their communities in Latin America to implement ideas and strategies. The goal is to create a more democratic society and better serve the public.

From an early age, Estrada went on missionary trips to rural areas around the city of Monterrey, in northern Mexico, where he witnessed inequality first hand. He came to the realization that there are systemic traps keeping the lowest socioeconomic classes from rising out of their situation.

Those trips forced him to question the role of education. Armando wondered if community participation might be a way to change society and the way people are educated.

Armando believes his project represents the most effective way to build democratic behavior in Latin America.

Via Educacion is already widely present in the Americas with specialists now situated in Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador. The program also operates in the United States.