Policy Brief: Evaluation of a Graduation Bundle for Households Experiencing Ultra-Poverty in Egypt
In 2019, nearly one in every three Egyptians lived below the poverty line, with more than four million people experiencing extreme poverty. Poverty is concentrated in rural areas, particularly in Upper Egypt. Assiut and Sohag governorates have the highest poverty rates, at 66.7 percent and 59.6 percent, respectively.
J-PAL Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been evaluating a promising program that is focused on improving the lives of those experiencing poverty. The “graduation approach,” initially developed by the Bangladeshi Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in 2002, has emerged as an effective strategy for addressing poverty on a large scale. Known as a “big push” intervention, it is designed to provide comprehensive support to individuals and households to help them escape the cycle of poverty. The key idea behind the BRAC graduation approach is to provide a holistic package of services that includes a combination of several components: access to productive assets, technical skills training, financial/ consumption support, participation in a savings group, coaching/ home visits, health education, and social support. Earlier international evaluations have shown this approach to be a cost-effective solution for improving the standard of living of households experiencing ultra-poverty in the short and long term.
In 2019, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD), in collaboration with two local NGOs—Giving Without Limit Association (GWLA) in Assiut and the Human Development Egyptian Association (HDEA) in Sohag—began implementing this program with technical support from BRAC. A team of researchers at J-PAL MENA conducted a randomized experiment to evaluate the program and to test different adaptations. The program is named “Bab Amal”, which translates to “A Door of Hope”.
The Bab Amal experiment tests three versions of the program, targeting 3,465 households experiencing ultra-poverty in the villages of Assiut and Sohag, where poverty is concentrated. The first treatment arm tests the standard version of BRAC’s graduation approach. This version includes key components like transferring productive assets worth EGP 11,000 (~$660 at the exchange rate at the time of the asset transfer), financial and technical training, 8-month consumption support (EGP 400) for non-recipients of the Takaful or Karama cash transfer program, regular savings and counseling group meetings, connections to government services and community solidarity committees, and 18 months of home coaching visits.
