On April 29th, IPA Philippines hosted a Brown Bag on the Graduation of the Ultra Poor Program for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).Director Gil Dennis Raposa of the DSWD Sustainable Livelihoods Program (SLP) was in attendance, along with other program staff.The SLP is one of the three core programs of the DSWD that provides micro-enterprise development and employment facilitation to the poor.During the brown bag, the participants noted the value of packaging and sequencing social protection interventions.Particular to their program, they are interested in integrating one-on-one life skills coaching and mandatory savings.

Despite the global progress made in reducing the number of people living in poverty, more than 1.3 billion people around the world still live in extreme poverty.According to the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Report, extreme poverty rates have actually increased in Sub-Saharan Africa.The percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day in sub-Saharan Africa (41%) is more than twice as high as any other region (such as Southern Asia, with 17%) and the region continues to lag behind in meeting the global commitment on poverty reduction.