Graduation Overview

Focusing on assistance that includes improving health, teaching financial skills, and providing vocational support, BRAC invented the Graduation approach in 2002 to address hopelessness and help the world’s poorest escape extreme poverty. BRAC’s Graduation model offers a transition to greater self-sufficiency, autonomy and dignity.The Graduation approach was pioneered by BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) programme (formally known as the Targeting the Ultra-Poor (TUP) program) in Bangladesh, which began in 2002. Today, our approach, carried forward by BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI), has graduated more than 2 million households out of extreme poverty, with more than 95 percent of participants continuing to improve financially five years after the program ends.