Policies and Practices to Enhance the Gender Transformative Potential of Multi-faceted Social Protection Programs

Anoushka Bhari and Sonia Laszlo, McGill University (2020) ABSTRACT This scoping paper documents current practices used by Graduation Program practitioners to produce meaningful and sustainable improvements in women’s wellbeing. To do so, it builds on the theory of change in Rao and Kelleher (2005) and adapted by Hillenbrand (2015) and identify practices that affect change … Continued

TED Talk | Audacious Project – 4 Ways to End Extreme Poverty

Approximately 700 million people worldwide currently live in extreme poverty, a state of severe financial and social vulnerability that robs many of hope and dignity. BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, began a sustainable, multifaceted intervention called the Graduation approach in 2002. Since then, it has helped over nine million people escape extreme poverty. Now, Shameran … Continued

Impact Evaluation of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Program for the Host Community in Cox’s Bazar

By Atiya Rahman, Anindita Bhattacharjee, Dr Narayan Das, Rafia Nisat (June 2020) Produced by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, BRAC University and Supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) In collaboration with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), BRAC rolled out its flagship Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) program in Ukhiya … Continued

Cash-Plus: Poverty Impacts of Alternative Transfer-Based Approaches

By Richard Sedlmayr, Anuj Shah, Munshi Sulaiman (2020) Abstract Can training and mentorship expand the economic impact of cash transfer programs, or would such extensions waste resources that recipients could allocate more impactfully by themselves? Over the course of two years, a Ugandan nonprofit organization implemented alternative poverty alleviation approaches in a randomized manner. These … Continued

DOLE Graduation Project – COVID Update Bulletin #1

Given the rising number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the declaration of a local General Quarantine in Negros Occidental, the Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE) Graduation Pilot in Negros Occidental suspended all field activities effective March 16, 2020 through at least April 2020. All field staff have moved to remote work, engaged in … Continued

Aperçu du Graduation (Français) / Graduation Overview (French)

Qu’est-ce que l’approche de « Graduation » ? L’approche de progression mise en oeuvre par BRAC est un ensemble d’interventions complet, limité dans le temps, intégré et séquencé qui vise à permettre aux foyers extrêmement pauvres ou très pauvres de développer une certaine résilience socio-économique afin de sortir progressivement de la pauvreté.

Graduation Story: Kuntola

A single mother, a farmer, an entrepreneur. Meet Kuntola – a woman who has defied all odds. Kuntola is one of 2 million families supported by the BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation programme in Bangladesh.

No Household Left Behind: Afghanistan Targeting the Ultra Poor Impact Evaluation – World Bank Group

By Guadalupe Bedoya, Aidan Coville, Johannes Haushofer, Mohammad Isaqzadeh, Jeremy Shapiro (2019) Abstract The share of people living in extreme poverty fell from 36 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2015 but has continued to increase in many fragile and conflict-affected areas where half of the extreme poor are expected to reside by 2030. … Continued

Graduation-Based Social Protection for Cambodia’s Extreme Poor – UNDP

Author: Dr. Stephanie Levy, London School of Economics (LSE) This study explores activist approaches to social protection, through interventions that tackle poverty by addressing the multiple dimensions of economic exclusion of the rural extreme poor in Cambodia. It explores the potential of so-called graduation packages, which consist of a combination of transfers of productive assets, vocational … Continued

Valuing Assets Provided to Low-Income Households in South Sudan

By Reajul Chowdhury, Elliott Collins, Ethan Ligon, Kaivan Munshi (2016) — Abstract Several previous studies have found that the “graduation” or “Transfers to the Ultra-Poor” (TUP) framework is an effective approach to alleviating the constraints that prevent extremely poor households from increasing their productivity. The framework consists of a sizable transfer of productive physical capital, … Continued