BRAC Utra-Poor Graduation (UPG) program collaborated with BRAC Skills Development Program (SDP) to provide a joint intervention to the urban ultra-poor population in order to address intergenerational poverty in vulnerable urban pockets by socially and economically empowering the households and by better equipping the vulnerable youth with skills required to participate in the job market. This study offers an assessment of the integrated model to identify the impacts of integrating skills-development interventions within the urban UPG program.
Researchers: Mohima Gomes, Suranjit Paul, Nabila Tahsin
Partners: BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Program and BRAC Skills Development Program
Timeline: January-July 2024
Status: Ongoing
Contact: Mohima Gomes; mohima.gomes@bracu.ac.bd
Context
Bangladesh has been experiencing rapid unplanned urbanization over the recent decades. Currently, over 36% of the population live in urban areas, and this is projected to increase to more than 50% by 2050. The growth of the urban poor is closely connected to income poverty and climate change. Besides, the growing youth is also disproportionately unskilled and un(der)employed (World Bank, 2018). Urban poverty tends to be intergenerational perpetuating a cycle of poverty from one generation to the next. The new generation living in urban settlements does not have an adequate level of education and skills required for decent employment. As a result, the households struggle to shift to an upward trajectory of income flow which allows the long-term poverty cycle to persist. As urbanization continues, it is essential to address these challenges and implement policies that promote inclusive and sustainable development to improve the lives of the urban poor and vulnerable groups in Bangladesh.
BRAC UPG collaborated with BRAC Skills Development Program (SDP) to provide a joint intervention to the urban ultra-poor population in order to address intergenerational poverty in vulnerable urban pockets by socially and economically empowering the households and by better equipping the vulnerable youth with skills required to participate in the job market. In the integrated model, SDP’s 10-month long STAR (Skills Training for Advancing Resources) program is incorporated within UPG’s regular 18-month graduation cycle. The joint intervention conducts enterprise development activities with the households by engaging the main female household members as the program participants to promote livelihood development. In alignment with the four pillars of UPG’s graduation approach, the integrated version provides the following support: enterprise development training, cash transfer, enterprise, skills training to the second generation, matched savings, hands-on coaching, healthcare services, and community mobilization. This study, conducted by BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) aims to inform the ongoing efforts to integrate skills-development interventions within the urban UPG program.
Objectives
While there are several areas to be looked at for evidence generation, including assessing effectiveness of the program in the medium to long term as well as generating insights that can inform program tweaking, this particular study is focused on answering some of the questions in the short-term. The study will try to understand if the types of trades provided by the STAR intervention are aligned with the economic opportunities in the contexts of participants vis-à-vis those who are relatively better-off in their communities. It will also look into the differences between the children of UPG participant households who participated as opposed to those who did not participate in the skills training, the factors influencing non-participation of children, the short-terms effects of participating in skills training for adolescent/youth participants on their economic aspirations, and the “forgone’ income amount of participating in the training.
Methodology
The study will deploy a mixed-method strategy, a blend of qualitative and quantitative techniques, to address the research questions. A survey will be conducted and will include the branch offices in Dhaka and Chattogram where the layering of skill training started in 2023. A comparison between the 2022 UPG participants and non-participants will be used to identify their general scope of economic opportunities and skills training as well as to understand the overall UPG targeting effectiveness. Furthermore, the three groups within the UPG 2022 cohort participants will be compared to understand the skills training selection-related dynamics. Additionally, the UPG 2022 cohort participants and non-participants will be compared to assess the short-term impact of the program.
Findings and Recommendations
Forthcoming
