Going the Last Mile: Lifting Ultra-poor Households Out of Extreme Poverty

Conference
Cronograma:
- (12:30-4:30am EDT)
Location:
Hotel Chanakya, Patna, Bihar

Partners:

launching the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana Playbook, Going the Last Mile: Lifting ultra-poor households out of extreme poverty in Patna, Bihar.
Left to Right: Dr Shagun Sabarwal, Principle Investigator, SJY, Rahul Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, JEEViKA, Charanjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, N. Saravana Kumar, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of Bihar, Shobhini Mukerji, Executive Director, J-PAL South Asia, Usha Rani, Lead, IBCB SISD, NRLM and Shantamay Chatterjee, Vice President, Bandhan-Konnagar, launching the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana Playbook, Going the Last Mile: Lifting ultra-poor households out of extreme poverty in Patna, Bihar | Photo Credit: J-PAL South Asia

On August 10, 2023, the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (JEEViKA), in partnership with Bandhan-Konnagar and J-PAL South Asia, launched a new playbook that captures five years of collective learning from the implementation of the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY)—the world’s first government-led scale-up of the Graduation Approach.

The event brought together key policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working to end extreme poverty in India.

Keynote address:

  • Charanjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India

Distinguished speakers:

  • Rahul Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, JEEViKA
  • Shantamay Chatterjee, Vice President, Bandhan-Konnagar
  • Shagun Sabarwal, Principal Investigator, SJY  
  • Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay, Principal Investigator, SJY
  • Shobhini Mukerji, Executive Director, J-PAL South Asia

About the SJY Playbook

Since 2018, SJY has reached 155,000 ultra-poor, women-headed households across all 38 districts of Bihar. The program is led by JEEViKA, with Bandhan-Konnagar as technical advisor and J-PAL South Asia as the knowledge and monitoring & evaluation partner. The playbook consolidates operational experiences, best practices, and lessons learned from this scale-up, serving as a resource for State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), philanthropies, and civil society organizations interested in replicating or adapting the model.

About the Graduation Approach

The Graduation Approach, developed by BRAC, has been widely studied through rigorous evaluations, in multiple countries, over the long-term, and is globally recognized for its transformative results. The model has been adopted across 50 countries, reaching over 14 million people globally.

The Graduation Approach provides ultra-poor households with carefully sequenced support over 18-24 months, which serves as a ‘big push’ for these families to attain sustainable livelihoods and graduate out of extreme poverty. 

External Documents