A Multifaceted Program Causes Lasting Progress for the Very Poor: Evidence from six Countries

Abstract

We present results from six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods among the very poor. The approach combines the transfer of a productive asset with consumption support, training, and coaching plus savings encouragement and health education and/or services. Results from the implementation of the same basic program, adapted to a wide variety of geographic and institutional contexts and with multiple implementing partners, show statistically significant cost-effective impacts on consumption (fueled mostly by increases in self-employment income) and psychosocial status of the targeted households. The impact on the poor households lasted at least a year after all implementation ended. It is possible to make sustainable improvements in the economic status of the poor with a relatively short-term intervention. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

(PDF) A Multifaceted Program Causes Lasting Progress for the Very Poor: Evidence from six Countries. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276356713_A_Multifaceted_Program_Causes_Lasting_Progress_for_the_Very_Poor_Evidence_from_six_Countries [accessed Sep 18 2018].