On March 19, IPA presented along with Women for Women International at the Center for Global Development on key lessons from evaluating the impact of graduation programs on the lives of ultra-poor women.

The graduation approach combines elements of social protection, livelihood development, and access to finance to move highly vulnerable households into sustainable livelihoods and economic stability. Rigorous evaluations of graduation approaches show positive sustained impacts on economic growth and household welfare. However, many of these studies do not show significant impacts on women’s empowerment even though many graduation programs have majority female participants. 

This event brought together experts to explore graduation approaches and women’s empowerment, identify gaps in the current evidence base, and highlight Women for Women International’s gendered graduation approach and research agenda. 

Presenter

Eva Noble, Senior Research Officer, Women for Women International

Panelists

Laurie Adams, CEO, Women for Women International

Nathanael Goldberg, Social Protection Program Director, Innovations for Poverty Action

Katharine McKee, Executive Director, Partnership for Economic Inclusion

Linda Scott, Emeritus DP World Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Oxford and Founder, DoubleXEconomy

Moderator

Nancy Lee, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development

Watch the webcast of the event below (event begins at 2:48).