Poverty Alleviation Coalition

Bwalya, 28, is a Zambian trader from the nearby village of Kampampi who regularly comes to Mantapala Settlement to sell fish she buys from traders along the road to Nchelenge. She is saving up the money she makes for her education.

Many refugees and people of concern live in extreme poverty. The most vulnerable among them are so poor that they can’t engage in activities from most regular livelihood programmes. They are also short of basic know-how and lack confidence in their abilities. All this makes escaping extreme poverty even harder.

In response to this global poverty situation among refugees and in line with the Global Compact on Refugees, UNHCR formed a global coalition with the World Bank Partnership for Economic Inclusion and 13 NGO partners.

Together we aim to alleviate poverty for vulnerable refugees and host communities in selected countries.

In line with the Global Compact on Refugees, we formed a global coalition with the World Bank Partnership for Economic Inclusion and 13 NGO partners: BOMA Project, BRAC, Caritas Switzerland, Concern Worldwide, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), GOAL, HIAS, Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA), Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Trickle Up, Village Enterprise and World Vision.

The aim of this coalition is to alleviate poverty particularly among vulnerable refugees and host communities by offering a personalized response to individual needs. The coalition is uniquely put together and able to combine forces of humanitarian and development actors with complementary expertise:

Members with proven technical experience in poverty alleviation programming;
Members with a strong and wide presence in developing and refugee-hosting countries; and
International and intergovernmental organizations able to mobilize political will and financial support required for an impactful response to the poverty situation of refugees and host communities.

The Coalition uses a well-proven poverty alleviation model: The Graduation Approach. The model has been extensively used in the development community, and, as noted by the Economist, is one of the few poverty alleviation strategies that works consistently across countries, cultures and conditions.

The approach was pioneered by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee in 2002 with a success rate of 75% in poverty graduation. It has since been tested in over 15 countries including 10 refugee situations.

The Coalition has set an ambitious goal of alleviating poverty of 500,000 households consisting of refugees and nationals in 35 countries within 5 years.

Further resources:

Poverty Alleviation Coalition website
The Graduation Approach
Economic Inclusion of the Poorest Refugees – Building resilience through the Graduation Approach (pdf)
The Graduation Approach: the key to sustainable livelihoods for refugees in countries of first asylum? (article published on the ‘Forced Migration Forum’)
International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth: Debating Graduation (pdf)