Overcoming Extreme Poverty in India: Lessons Learned from SKS
This paper examines reasons for the success of Swayam Krishi Sangam’s (SKS) Ultra Poor Program (UPP), focusing specifically on reasons why the program was more effective than government-run poverty alleviation programs.
The UPP operated with the belief that income generation is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, but that the poorest are too vulnerable, too risk-averse and lack the entrepreneurial skills to make use of a microfinance loan. The UPP program:
- Offers productive assets, a cash stipend, a savings scheme and health services for 18 months to carefully targeted individuals, in order to graduate them out of extreme poverty;
- Aims to provide social safety nets with an effective exit strategy, with particular attention to the challenge of scaling up nationally.
The program was successful, with 95% of members graduating out of extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods. Finally, the paper suggests a partnership between the state and civil society to scale up the program to a national level, where the state would use its ability to effectively scale, and the NGO would use its client-driven ethos.
