A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries

We present results from six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods amongst 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, costeffective 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. MIT, CEPR, NBER and Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) MIT, CEPR, NBER and J-PAL Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Yale University, CEPR, NBER, IPA, and J-PAL University of Ghana – Legon IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain and J-PAL Princeton University University of Ghent and IPA Yale University, CEPR, NBER, and JPAL Corresponding author email: [email protected]