Graduation Program - Overview
The CGAP-Ford Foundation Graduation Program is a global effort to understand how safety nets, livelihoods, and microfinance can be sequenced to create pathways for the poorest to graduate out of extreme poverty, adapting a methodology used by BRAC in Bangladesh.
The CGAP-Ford Foundation Graduation Program is helping to implement nine Graduation Pilots, in partnership with local organizations.
The Graduation Model
The graduation model targets the “ultra poor”—people who have no assets and are chronically food insecure. The graduation program combines support for immediate needs with longer term investments in training, financial services, and business development so that within two years ultra poor people are equipped to help themselves “graduate” out of extreme poverty. This approach was originally developed by BRAC in Bangladesh. Over the past five years BRAC’s Ultra-Poor programs has reached 800,000 households. Over 70% of them are expected to be food secure and manage sustainable economic activities.
Nine Graduation Pilots
Since 2006, CGAP and Ford Foundation have adapted BRAC’s experience to other countries and contexts. Nine graduation pilots are underway, in Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Pakistan, Peru, Yemen and India in three places (with Bandhan, SKS, and Trickle Up). The nine pilots involve diverse institutional forms, economic contexts, and cultures. The pilots are implemented through partnerships between financial service providers, nongovernmental organizations, and government units. Several of the pilots are measuring the program’s effects on people’s lives through rigorous randomized impact evaluations and qualitative research.
Contact Us
For more information, please contact Syed Hashemi or Aude de Montesquiou.
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