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

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

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

Highlights of ADB’s Cooperation with Civil Society Organizations 2022

This report provides a rundown of ADB’s work with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) during 2022 to help developing member countries (DMCs) recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and give stronger social protection and economic support to some of the region’s poorest. Under Operational Priority 1: Addressing Remaining Poverty and Reducing Inequalities, the report highlights promoting social … Continued

Impact and Reach of BRAC’s Graduation Approach

In 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation (Graduation) approach in Bangladesh, the first holistic intervention to enable people to lift themselves from extreme poverty, after recognizing that existing poverty alleviation programs were not reaching the people who were poorest. Through the provision of livelihood assets, cash transfers, and continued mentoring and training, the Graduation approach … Continued

LDC5 Side Event | Flip the Script from Potential to Prosperity

This is a recording of the side event, Flip the Script from Potential to Prosperity: SDG advocacy and campaigning towards the SDG Summit, that took place on March 7, 2023, at The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5). The multi-stakeholder session discussed the importance of mobilizing action and momentum towards the … Continued

High-Level Thematic Round Table 1: Investing in People in LDCs to leave no-one behind (LDC5)

This is a recording of an event that took place on March 5, 2023 at LDC5 in Doha, Qatar. The high-level thematic round tables will focus on consensus-building to renew and reinvigorate partnerships and mobilize additional international support measures and actions in support of least developed countries to enhance their resilience to multiple shocks and … Continued

In Practice Brief: Designing and Delivering Government-Led Graduation Programs for People in Extreme Poverty

Maxwell Gollin, Carolina de Miranda, Taddeo Muriuki, Steve Commins While governments face significant obstacles in designing and delivering approaches for people living in extreme poverty, a substantial body of research shows that programs can achieve transformative impact by addressing the socioeconomic barriers that often exclude this population. An increasing number of governments are adopting and … Continued

Designing and Delivering Government-Led Graduation Programs for People in Extreme Poverty

Maxwell Gollin, Carolina de Miranda, Taddeo Muriuki, Steve Commins While governments face significant obstacles in designing and delivering approaches for people living in extreme poverty, a substantial body of research shows that programs can achieve transformative impact by addressing the socioeconomic barriers that often exclude this population. An increasing number of governments are adopting and … Continued