Studies

Resilience of the Ultra-Poor People in the Face of COVID-19

The Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) program is recognized worldwide as the pioneer of the Graduation approach and acclaimed for its innovative and holistic solution to ultra-poverty. However, the pandemic has severely affected the socio-economic condition of the nation and impacting the livelihood of all social classes, leaving far worse the poor households. This research has been conducted to investigate the condition of the graduated ultra-poor households and examining their current status. Phone survey was carried out on the 2007 cohort of the program. 

Researchers: Oriana Bandiera; Robin Burgess; Narayan C Das; Atiya Rahman

Partners: BRAC; London School of Economics (LSE)

Timeline: 2020 – 2021

Status: Completed

Contact: Atiya Rahman; atiya.rahman@bracu.ac.bd

Publications: 

Context

The success of BRAC’s flagship ultra-poor graduation (UPG) program in eradicating extreme poverty is well-established. The specially designed graduation model that BRAC has been implementing since 2002 has been proven to lead to improvements in various dimensions of the targeted ultra-poor households, with many sustained long-term effects. But, considering the widespread and deep impact of COVID-19 on the economy and poverty, there is a valid concern that the pandemic may have reversed, if not completely wiped away, these achievements and that many of the graduated ultra-poor households have slipped back into extreme poverty.

Therefore, to understand the graduated UPG program participants’ experience of the COVID-19 shock and to recommend effective means of helping them cope with the crisis, we conducted a survey on the 2007 cohort of the program.

Objectives

BIGD and LSE have a long-standing research collaboration on the UPG program and have collected several rounds of panel data on the 2007 UPG program cohort spanning more than a decade (2007-2018). Through the current research, the joint research team from BIGD and LSE aims to understand how COVID-19 has affected the employment, earnings, and expenditure of the successful former UPG program participants, what support they have received, and what they need. The study also aims to recommend effective interventions that BRAC and other organizations working with the ultra-poor population can implement for their economic recovery.

This study is relevant to SDG 1 (no poverty), particularly to ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Methodology

We used a telephone-based survey on a sample of about 3,500 former program participants and interviewed those for whom we could find a phone number. We collected the required information and used this in conjecture with the existing panel dataset on the same households.

Findings and Recommendations

Study ongoing.

 


The study is part of the Covid Collective initiative. Supported by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Covid Collective is based at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The Collective brings together the expertise of UK and Southern-based research partner organizations and offers a rapid social science research response to inform decision-making on some of the most pressing development challenges related to COVID-19.

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