UPGI September 2023 Update

Dear friends,

We are writing to share a brief update on our shared aspirations. BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative is in its third year of a large and flexible Audacious grant, with the aim of catalyzing governments to scale an evidence-based approach to reducing extreme poverty.

Our goal of reaching 4.6 million households remains our driving focus. We have gained valuable insights and made a number of inroads towards this objective. A few highlights so far in 2023:

• In Bihar, one of India’s largest and poorest provinces, we are launching an Immersion and Learning Exchange program, which will enable global visitors to visit and learn from Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana, the world’s largest government-led, high-quality Graduation program.
• Concurrently, we are partnering with the Bihar State Government to implement the first urban Graduation program in India to help address growing urban poverty and climate adaptation challenges.
• The Bihar programs complement wider South-South learning and our efforts with the Partnership for Economic Inclusion at the World Bank to increase investment in Graduation.
• In Indonesia, we have launched a partnership with the Government and UNICEF to integrate Graduation in national policy and adoption across a large social assistance infrastructure.
• Meanwhile, in South Africa, we are accelerating our partnership with FinMark Trust to help the government expand from social assistance to more sustainable livelihoods.
• We are underway in Rwanda establishing an inter-ministerial Secretariat to coordinate the Government’s robust National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation, bringing together 15 ministries and a whole-of-government approach to reducing extreme poverty.