Scoping a "Second-Generation" Graduation RCT: Cost-Effective Scaling with the Government

Malawi remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than two thirds living on less than $2.15 a day, almost all depending on small-scale farming. To address this poverty, our partner Opportunity International Malawi (OIM) runs a Graduation Program that targets rural ultra-poor households led by women and youth. OIM is currently in talks with the Government of Malawi to scale up this model, which presents a timely opportunity to generate rigorous evidence on how such programs can be effectively scaled within public systems. Our application for a travel grant supports a crucial scoping visit to Malawi to inform the design of an RCT for OIM's Ultra Poor Graduation Program. In particular, this travel enables us to obtain in-depth information regarding the program, including on operational and institutional constraints, work out a data sharing agreement with OIM, and organize meetings with field staff, to inform the optimal design of an RCT. Specifically, by studying the contribution of individual components and variations in who delivers specific parts of the intervention, civil society actors or the government or both jointly, we aim to offer novel insights into how the graduation program may be successfully scaled with the government.