Developing cost-effective, evidence-based programs for the most marginalized in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings

BRAC uses a ‘Graduation Approach’ to support communities in poverty. This is a time-bound and sequenced set of steps that braid together financial stipends, access to employment, health care support, and various trainings, along with coaching, mentoring, and social inclusion. To “graduate,” participants demonstrate progress against a set of criteria, including an increase in assets (often livestock) and household savings.

Why Rippleworks Invested:

Comparative analysis of programs targeted at the extremely poor found that graduation has, per dollar, the greatest positive sustained impact. Since inception, BRAC’s Graduation Approach has lifted over 7 million people out of extreme poverty. 

Philanthropic dollars provide BRAC with an opportunity to reach massive scale and to position governments to deliver and sustain these results over time.