Featuring
Dean Karlan
Professor of Economics, Yale University
With Discussant
Alexia Latortue
Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Development & Debt, U.S. Department of Treasury
Hosted by
Michael Clemens
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Can an intensive package of support lift people out of extreme poverty to a more stable state? The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and the Ford Foundation have partnered with local organizations to apply a graduation model based off of BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) program in seven countries on three continents. The Ultra Poor Program provides holistic livelihood development programs for the ultra poor including consumption support, savings services, skills training and coaching, and the transfer of a productive asset such as livestock.
Dean Karlan will present results from randomized control trials of six of the graduation programs. Drawing from these results of the programs, Karlan will argue that the graduation model can be a powerful tool to create a pathway out of extreme poverty but more work remains to be done to learn which factors drive impact.
*Following the move to our new home, CGD has renamed the Massachusetts Avenue Development Seminar series the CGD Invited Research Forum. Now in its thirteenth year, the series brings some of the world's leading development scholars to discuss their new research and ideas. The presentations meet an academic standard of quality and are at times technical, but retain a focus on a mixed audience of researchers and policymakers. For more on the history of the series, check out this blog by Michael Clemens.
