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Sustaining escapes from ultra-poverty: A mixed methods assessment of layered interventions in coastal Bangladesh

Working paper

Written by Vidya Diwakar, Tony Mwenda Kamninga

Working paper

Bangladesh has seen its poverty rate, the proportion of people living on less than USD1.90 a day, reduce drastically, from 34.2% in 2000 to 6.6% by 2019. However, households who have escaped poverty remain vulnerable to re-impoverishment, and there are still people in the country living in ultra-poverty marked by limited capabilities and assets.

This research explores the potential of multi-sectoral integration and layering of the Ultra Poor Graduation (UPG) programming combined with inclusive Market Systems Development (iMSD); climate-related Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR); and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions to enhance individual and community level resilience capacities and prevent re-entry of participants of the UPG programme into poverty.

We examined this potential in south-west Bangladesh basing on the Nobo Jatra Project (NJP), a Resilience and Food Security Activity (2015-2022) funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium of NGOs led by World Vision. We used a mixed methods research approach to examine and compare wellbeing and resilience indicators among a sample of respondents of NJP exposed to different combinations of the interventions: UPG+iMSD, UPG+iMSD+DRR, UPG+ iMSD+WASH, and UPG+iMSD+DRR+WASH.

Authors: Vidya Diwakar, Tony Kamninga, Tasfia Mehzabin, Emmanuel Tumusiime, Rohini Kamal, and Nuha Anoor Pabony