Scaling in a more Frugal World? Foundations to Tackle Extreme Poverty through Government

Caption (image above): Members of the BRAC team, led by Managing Director, Greg Chen, met with Minister Musabyimana and Minister Kayisire with the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) in Rwanda. The meeting reviewed the progress of collaboration for the National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation.  In recent years, momentum has grown to take evidence-based solutions to … Continued

South-South Learning Forum 2025: Insights from Kigali

The South-South Learning Forum (SSLF) 2025, held in Kigali, Rwanda, convened 270 policymakers, practitioners, and partners from nearly 60 countries to exchange strategies for scaling economic inclusion programs that create jobs for the poor. Co-hosted by the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank’s Social Protection Global Practice, in collaboration with the Partnership for Economic … Continued

Engaging in the Systems for Poverty Reduction: the Role of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

In 2000, Jane Jacobs wrote about the complexity and unpredictability of development in her book The Nature of Economies. She described development as an open-ended process, a qualitative change that “can’t be usefully thought of as a line, or even a collection of open-ended lines. It operates as a web of interdependent co-developments.”  The idea … Continued

Targeting the Ultra-Poor Through the Graduation Approach: Insights from BRAC (VoxDev)

This episode was originally published by VoxDev on April 9, 2025. In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Tim Phillips speaks with Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International, about the ‘Graduation approach’: a pioneering intervention model developed by BRAC in Bangladesh to help the ultra-poor build sustainable livelihoods and escape extreme poverty. More than 20 years after … Continued

Introducing the Graduation Essentials: Core Components, Designed for Scale

BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative is working to help scale up Graduation through governments with an audacious goal of reaching 21 million people. To reach that scale, we are continuously consulting the literature and gathering feedback from deeply experienced implementers at BRAC and beyond on how to scale more effectively.  We recently engaged in an exercise … Continued

Graduation Essentials

This resource identifies the essential elements required for the Graduation approach to deliver long-term gains and put people on a long-term, upward trajectory out of extreme poverty. These essentials are based on what we know of the programme’s design and the global evidence. Meaning it will evolve as more learnings come to light. This IS … Continued

G20 Social: Global Representatives Announce Actions and Investments to the Global Alliance

The Brazilian government is taking another step forward in consolidating the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty. During the G20 Social Summit, governments, international organisations, philanthropic entities and non-governmental organisations announced historic commitments to promote the eradication of hunger and poverty in the world by 2030. The announcements were formalised in an activity promoted by … Continued

BRAC’s Statement of Commitment to the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty

BRAC hereby voluntarily joins the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and states its dedication to pursue the Alliance’s mission, objectives and principles, as expressed in the Global Alliance’s Terms of Reference and Governance Framework, and to collaborate with other members to achieve lasting solutions to poverty and hunger worldwide. Learn more about the Global … Continued

Governments, Development Banks, International Organizations and Philanthropies Partners to Bring Socioeconomic Inclusion Programs to Scale, Help to Lift 100 million More People Out of Poverty by 2030, Prioritizing Women Empowerment

Rio de Janeiro, November 15, 2024. A group of governments, multilateral institutions, NGOs, and knowledge organizations recently committed to increase efforts and coordination to scale evidence-based socioeconomic inclusion programs in hopes of reaching an estimated 100 million people in poverty by 2030 of whom at least 50% women and girls. These new commitments aim to … Continued

How BRAC, Governments, and the World Bank Scale Innovations to Combat Poverty – World Bank

The World Bank Group originally published this feature story on November 11, 2024. By Rasha Natour, Senior Specialist, Policy and Partnerships, BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative The number of people living in extreme poverty continues to be alarming and disheartening. The World Bank estimates that around one person in 10, or 700 million people, live in extreme … Continued