Can intensive, time-bound support help households work themselves out of extreme poverty? Is it possible to make sustainable improvements in the economic status of the poor with a relatively short-term intervention? Over the past decade, a body of evidence across multiple regions about different approaches to the Ultra-Poor Graduation Model suggests that the answer is resoundingly yes to both of these questions. Graduation programs offer a holistic set of services designed to help ultra-poor households develop new livelihoods: a productive asset transfer (often livestock), along with training and regular coaching visits, consumption support (such as some form of a cash transfer), and savings services. Results published in
Science in 2015 show strong gains for program participants in income and consumption, food security, assets, savings, and mental health, across implementation models and contexts. Join renowned development economist and founder of Innovations for Poverty Action, Dean Karlan, for this talk on the Graduation Model: what we know, what we are still learning, and what development institutions like USAID are doing and can do to support local governments and partners in scaling-up of one of the most cost-effective poverty alleviation innovations in global development.
Watch the video here.
