Livelihoods

'Graduation' refers to the movement of individuals or households out of extreme poverty and into food security and sustainable livelihoods. Our Graduation programmes are designed to enable pathways out of poverty for the extreme poor by providing them with a comprehensive, integrated and sequenced package of support (social assistance, livelihood development, access to financial services, and social empowerment).

The aim is not only to move people above a certain income/asset threshold, but also to address the root causes and obstacles that prevent them from escaping poverty. For example, in Rwanda we work with local partners to engage men and boys on women’s empowerment and gender equality, in Burundi we aim to reduce risk and vulnerability by working with communities to develop disaster-risk reduction plans, and in Ethiopia we focus on natural resource management, in particular, watershed rehabilitation.

The model consists of six core components:

1. Comprehensive targeting: To ensure the extremely poor households are identified as programme participants.

2. Income support: To help programme participants meet their basic needs while they invest in livelihood development activities.

3. Technical and business skills training: To enhance skills and facilitate the development of individual business plans aimed at diversifying livelihoods and income generation.

4. Coaching and mentoring: To support participants to meet their goals, encourage certain behavioural changes, and offer guidance on addressing the specific problems they face.

5. Facilitating access to financial services and promoting saving: To help participants to manage risk, build resilience to shocks and stresses, and reduce the likelihood of having to resort to negative coping strategies.

6. Transfer of capital or assets: To support the economic activities of participants such as establishing or expanding a small business. It can also be used to support access to employment.

While not responsible for most environmental degradation, people living in extreme poverty are often highly reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and are therefore disproportionally affected by the effects of climate change. Building the resilience of communities and natural systems to a changing climate is essential in the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods. Given the critical links between the Graduation Approach and environmental protection and sustainability, Concern is working to ensure that Concern’s Graduation programmes apply a green lens to every stage of programme design.

As part of the Green Graduation approach, Concern promotes activities that include environmental awareness raising and capacity building; examine potential environmental impacts; avoid harm to the environment and mitigate impact through environmentally enhancing activities; sustainable management and restoration of natural resources; and to promote low carbon development (Green Jobs).

The overall objective of Concern’s Food Systems approach is to increase the level of food and nutrition security experienced by vulnerable households by engaging them in income generation along food value chains. The approach works on the main pillars of food security:

• Improving food availability (field and garden crops, livestock, fish) by promoting climate smart agriculture and landscape management.
• Facilitating access to strong market systems that work for the poor.
• Ensuring stable consumption of an adequate and affordable diet by all.

While several of Concern’s interventions already work on food availability, access, utilisation and stability, this approach brings the various food security aspects together by using a food systems approach. While food production remains an important pillar, a new focus for Concern is on improving households’ access to markets for inputs, such as seeds and farming tools and services, such as financial services, vocational training and information. Individual farmers and farmer groups/associations are supported with improved post-harvest management and adding value to farm products by processing and trading them. The approach also works on changing consumer behaviours, so that enhanced and diversified food production and generated income translate into improved nutritional outcomes especially of young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is a humanitarian approach that supports vulnerable individuals by providing money or vouchers instead of direct goods or services, enabling recipients to prioritise their needs while stimulating local markets. Concern has extensive experience using CVA across emergency and development contexts, demonstrating its flexibility, dignity, and economic benefits.

• Definition and types of CVA: CVA involves giving cash physically or digitally, which can be spent freely, or vouchers that are restricted to specific goods, quantities, or services and often have expiry dates. Assistance can be conditional or unconditional based on programme requirements.
• Benefits of CVA: CVA empowers recipients to meet their prioritised needs, respects their dignity by restoring control, stimulates local economies through increased market activity, and offers a cost-effective, rapid, and scalable alternative to in-kind aid. 
• Concern’s 2024 achievements: Concern distributed €36 million via CVA across 23 countries, reaching about 1.5 million people, including emergency responses with €16 million and longer-term development support with €19.9 million for productive assets. Localisation efforts enabled local partners to manage around €3.9 million euros independently, and technology like RedRose's OneSolution improved distribution tracking.
• Sectoral applications of CVA: CVA supports diverse outcomes such as nutrition, healthcare, education, water access, and livelihoods. Examples include multipurpose cash in Sudan for displaced families, social transfers and asset grants in Democratic Republic of Congo, school income-generating activities in Chad, electronic food vouchers in Haiti for maternal and child nutrition, and water vouchers in Somalia that improve access and reduce costs.