Updated Dec 07, 2020
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Dristy Shrestha
Send MessageBRAC UPGI aims to scale Graduation through governments worldwide to help 21 million more people escape extreme poverty by 2026, integrating with existing programs and supporting policy change to better meet the needs of the poorest people.
The Ultra Poor Graduation Approach is a comprehensive, time-bound and sequenced set of interventions designed to graduate households from ultra poverty into sustainable livelihoods. Pioneered by BRAC in 2002, it has been scaled in Bangladesh, where more than 2 million households (approximately 7 million people) have graduated over the past 15 years with a 95% success rate. It is a proven, well-...
SEE ALLStage 5: Scaling
BRAC’s approach, carried forward by BRAC’s UPGI, has graduated +2 million households (>7 million people) out of extreme poverty, with an average of +95% of participants continuing to improve financially 5-7 years after the program ends.
14
Countries Implemented In
2,000,000
Customers
20
Employees
$10,800,000
Funds Raised to Date
Problem
The need to combat extreme poverty and drive systemic change has never been more urgent. It has created a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions putting millions of the world’s poorest at risk of being left behind without resources to overcome the shock. At the beginning of 2020 an estimated 700 million people lived in extreme poverty around the world. By the end of 2020, more than 70 million people could be forced to join them, unraveling decades of progress toward poverty alleviation.
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Solution
We work to support those stuck in a poverty trap by providing a pathway out through our Graduation programs. Graduation — an approach we invented in 2002 — is designed to meet the complex and interconnected needs of this hard-to-reach population. Breaking the cycle of extreme poverty requires a holistic approach. Through a set of carefully sequenced steps, participants graduate from a state of severe destitution to a level where they can maintain sustainable livelihoods with dignity.
Target Beneficiaries
394 million people remain trapped in ultra-poverty. The ultra-poor are in a poverty trap facing challenges to dignified everyday survival that come in many forms, including: chronic food insecurity; an inability to access mainstream services and markets; an extreme vulnerability to health shocks and natural disasters; geographic isolation and social exclusion; and many are female-headed households (80% of participants) caring for children, orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Mission and Vision
We are working to break the cycle of extreme poverty through increased integration of our Graduation program. By scaling our proven intervention through government adoption, accelerating the rate of change and lifting 4.6 million households, over 21 million people, out of extreme poverty over the next six years. The solution to reaching millions more people living in extreme poverty is clear: Governments must take the helm and be equipped to scale up and sustain the Graduation approach.
Competitive Advantage
BRAC has unparalleled depth of experience around how to design and implement
scalable Graduation programs in a wide range of contexts.
We invented the Graduation approach in Bangladesh in the early 2000s, and we remain
the largest-scale implementer globally, graduating approximately 100,000 households from the program each year.
Our Graduation approach has also been adapted in 13 other countries, through a mix of direct, partner NGO and government programming.
Much of Graduation’s success can be attributed to our commitment and focus on
learning and innovation. In Bangladesh alone, we changed the rural program four times, and developed separate versions for urban and refugee host communities.
Planned Goals and Milestones
Increased partnerships and coalitions — with country governments, like-minded organizations and donors — who are ready and willing to operate with urgency and adopt the graduation model. If we can expand how governments in low-income countries think about safety nets and social protection programs for extremely poor populations, integrating a graduation approach, millions more people will have their basic needs met.
| Projected Cumulative Lives Impacted | 50,000,000 | |
| New Feature | Create stronger learning and knowledge management systems and support. |
The Team Behind the Innovation
Shameran is Senior Director of Microfinance and Ultra-Poor Graduation programs. He leads the organization’s work in financial inclusion and ultra-poverty globally and chairs the board of BRAC Bank’s mobile financial services subsidiary, bKash. Lindsay Coates is the Managing Director of BRAC UPGI. Lindsay leads the advocacy agenda to leave no one behind using effective, multidimensional approaches to change the lives of the most marginalized people.
EXECUTIVE TEAM INCLUDES WOMEN
Milestone
Sep 2020
New Country Implemented In
Tunisia
Aug 2020
New Country Implemented In
Zambia
Jun 2020
In The News
as part of
BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative
Jan 2010
New Country Implemented In
Afghanistan and Pakistan
Jan 2002
New Country Implemented In
Bangladesh
Jan 2002
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