Building Pathways out of Poverty for Ultra-poor Internally Displaced People in Baidoa

Leight, Jessica; et al. 2022. Building Pathways out of Poverty for Ultra-poor Internally Displaced People in Baidoa. AEA RCT Registry. July 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9452-2.0

The objective of this impact evaluation is to generate rigorous, high-quality evidence about the effectiveness of World Vision’s graduation model programming in achieving graduation from extreme poverty for IDPs in Baidoa, Somalia. The intervention entails unconditional cash transfers; the establishment of savings groups that also serve as platforms for skills transfer, social cohesion, and transformation, as well as economic inclusion; and the building of income generation capacity through vocational and financial training and transfer of capital. Throughout the project cycle, participants will receive coaching support on social capital mobilization, financial literacy, and business facilitation. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted using randomization at the household level to assign beneficiaries to receive intervention services or to be part of the control arm; an additional sub-randomization will assign beneficiaries to receive coaching at the individual level, or in groups. The evaluation findings will be used to inform graduation model programming both in this context and in other humanitarian contexts in which interventions target internally displaced people or other vulnerable individuals in urban settings.