Graduating Out of Extreme Poverty: Who Succeeds?
This brief discusses differences among participants’ performances in the Graduation Program funded by CGAP and the Ford Foundation. The program combines support for immediate needs with longer-term investments in training and business development so that ultra poor are equipped to make a better living within two to three years.
Evaluation results from pilot programs across eight countries revealed that most participants managed to enhance and diversify their livelihoods, but there were stark differences between individual performances.
The study attempts to identify factors and characteristics that influence individual success or failure. It followed 20 program participants in Haiti, India, Pakistan and Ethiopia from May 2009 to May 2010. It examines the constraints they were under before entering the program, how they experienced the program and the changes it had made, or failed to make, in their lives. It concludes that:
- Well-designed livelihoods are essential to social and economic transformation;
- It is important to identify early on people who lack the propensity to succeed;
- It is worthwhile to think creatively about graduation pathways besides credit.
