Can an intensive package of support lift the ultra poor out of extreme poverty to a more stable state? This 24-month program provides beneficiaries with a holistic set of services including: livelihood trainings, productive asset transfers, consumption support, savings plans, and healthcare. By investing in this multifaceted approach, the program strives to eliminate the need for long-term safety net services. Spanning seven countries on three continents, the Ultra Poor Graduation program is being piloted around the globe. IPA is conducting randomized evaluations in India, Pakistan, Honduras, Peru, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Ghana to understand the impact of this innovative model.

Governments have often attempted to address the needs of the ultra poor by offering consumption support that is costly and offers no clear pathway out of food insecurity. The Ultra Poor Graduation Pilots attempt to apply a model, developed by BRAC in Bangladesh, which recognizes that the ultra poor need the "breathing space" that is provided by temporary consumption support, but that public funds may be better used to build households’ capacities to maintain a sustainable livelihood. The idea is that this initial assistance, lasting two years, will place households securely on the first rung of the development ladder, which they can then climb with the help of appropriate development strategies. The model incorporates a comprehensive package of services: a productive asset (such as chickens or goats), consumption support, livelihood trainings, healthcare, and financial services. Ideally this wide set of support services will help households to weather any shocks they may face along during their climb out of ultra poverty.

This project is a part of a set of evaluations, in partnership with CGAP and the Ford Foundation, that intends to determine whether the model, pioneered in Bangladesh, is effective in a range of contexts.  

This study takes place in the Wukro district of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The World Bank reports that 77% of the population lives on less than US$2 per dayand 39% of Ethiopians live at $1.25 per day[1]. Eighty-five percent of Ethiopian households are engaged in agriculture[2].  Droughts are common in Ethiopia and Tigray was the epicenter of the 1984-85 Ethiopian famine.  The famine, which attracted worldwide media coverage, resulted in relief aid for the region from Live Aid and other efforts. 

More recently, aid efforts have begun to shift from direct food support and food-for work programs to interventions designed to increase long-term prosperity.  These interventions include credit for entrepreneurship, savings associations, and agricultural support, such as irrigation, water storage, and market linkages.  The Ultra Poor Graduation Pilot targets the lower tier of those households who are already a part of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP),the Government of Ethiopia’s program to address food security issues by offering guaranteed employment for up to fifteen days a month in return for cash or food handouts designed to meet households’ basic nutritional needs. 

Five hundred treatment households in ten villages in Wukro district initially receive consumption support transferred through PSNP for six months.Once households’ food consumption stabilizes, they receive individual savings accounts at DECSI, a microfinance institution operating in the region, as well as business training. Later on, participants receive a livelihood asset chosen from a preselected list of options: raising small ruminants, cattle fattening, petty trade or beekeeping, to help jump start a new economic activity. Participants are monitored throughout the process – they receive home visits to help boost confidence and build expertise, and are provided with access to social and health services.

Results forthcoming.

For additional information on the Ultra Poor Graduation Pilots, click here.

[2] CIA, “World Factbook: Ethiopia Economy”