Knowledge Matters – Graduation

As an organisation, our focus in Concern Worldwide is on addressing extreme poverty. In differentiating this concept from poverty we emphasis the need to not only address people's lack of basic assets but also the causes, maintainers and obstacles that prevent people from escaping extreme poverty. In this respect, we recognise the need to address inequality, and risk and vulnerability.

With this in mind, we have developed an amended version of the Graduation Model first developed by the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC). This model is currently being implemented in Burundi, Rwanda, Haiti and Zambia.

The articles in this issue of Knowledge Matters point to some of the early success and challenges which the Graduation model is unearthing in these countries. For example, we see how in Zambia cash transfers are pivotal to the success of the intervention. We also learn of how, without the ability to collect real-time data it would not be possible to carry out monthly monitoring exercises due to time and resource constraints.

This publication covers aid activities implemented with the financial assistance of several donors, including Irish Aid, UK Aid, The European Union and USAID. The ideas, opinions and comments herein are entirely the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies of any donors.