Globalising Southern Approaches to Reducing Extreme Poverty: Policy Adoption of BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor Graduation Program

By Syed M. Hashemi and Aude de Montesquiou This paper explores how BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor graduation program was globally adopted as a successful pathway for extremely poor households to build sustainable livelihoods and improve their conditions. It explores how this Southern model of development and transformation became an integral part of global knowledge. … Continued

Book Launch: Scaling Up Development Impact – Scaling Up Community of Practice

This event was hosted by the Scaling Up Community of Practice and took place on March 12, 2024. This panel discussion featured Isabel Guerrero and her coauthors presenting and discussing with a global panel of experts, including Gregory Chen (Managing Director of the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, BRAC International), the key messages from their recently published … Continued

The Graduation Approach has Reached the Philippines, Integrating into Existing Government Initiatives

2023 marked the end of the Government of the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Padayon Sustainable Livelihood Program, which equipped more than 2,700 households in the three poorest provinces of the country with the resources and tools needed to improve their socio-economic conditions and develop sustainable livelihoods. DSWD is now looking to … Continued

Climate Adaptation Within Livelihoods and Poverty Programmes: Responding to Extreme Heat in India

The authors of this paper are Shweta S. Banerjee (Country Lead India, BRAC International), Siraz Hirani (Senior Programme Management Specialist, Mahila Housing Trust), Boudewijn Weijermars (Technical Advisor, BRAC International), Ramesh Veluru (India Programme Officer, BRAC International) India is experiencing the effects of the current 1°C global warming. Heat waves, floods, and droughts are affecting the … Continued

Building Stable Livelihoods for the Ultra-Poor

This research was originally published on the J-PAL site and was last updated in October 2023. A multifaceted livelihood program that provided low-income households with a productive asset, training, regular coaching, access to savings, and consumption support led to large and long-lasting positive impacts on their standard of living. Additionally, recipient households were better positioned … Continued

ADB Briefs: Integrating the Graduation Approach into a Sustainable Livelihood Program

No. 258, September 2023 KEY POINTS Drawing on the success of a previous pilot project, the Government of the Philippines and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) implemented a social protection for economic inclusion project serving 2,784 poor households across Iloilo, Bukidnon, and Sultan Kudarat provinces. The project included specific measures and context-specific interventions to improve … Continued

Devex @ UNGA 78 – Pathways out of Poverty

Devex at UNGA 78 – Day 1 Shameran Abed, Executive Director, BRAC International Raj Kumar, President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex

Effectively Scaling Up Promising Approaches: What Evidence is Necessary and How to Ensure It Is Used to Improve Lives

This text is from Chapter 25 of the Oxford Handbook of Program Design and Implementation Evaluation. By Annie Duflo, Heidi McAnnally-Linz, Anu Rangarajan Abstract This chapter describes an approach to scale-up that focuses on delivering effective programs to increase the reach of program services. Program scale-up can occur along a number of dimensions—organizations can expand … Continued

Scaling the Graduation Approach

In the past five years, many governments have adopted Graduation and incorporated it into existing programmes, making them more comprehensive and better positioned to meet the long-term needs of those living in extreme poverty. Governments have the mandate, the infrastructure, and the established systems to transform the lives of their most vulnerable people, as well … Continued

A “Big Push” To End Extreme Poverty – J-PAL South Asia

For the last 15 years, J-PAL South Asia has been working with governments, academia, NGOs, and philanthropic organizations to fight extreme poverty. J-PAL South Asia, together with JEEViKA and NGO Bandhan-Konnagar, has been working on implementing JEEViKA’s Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY) in Bihar since 2018. The program offers useful lessons for organizations seeking to form … Continued