Trickle Up uses a holistic model of poverty alleviation known as the “Graduation Approach”, which was first developed by BRAC in Bangladesh. The Graduation Approach is a carefully sequenced set of interventions that systematically create pathways out of extreme poverty and into sustainable livelihoods. It begins with the understanding that families within these communities are often so focused on survival-level issues such as food security that longer-term livelihood strategies seem irrelevant. Championed by the CGAP-Ford Foundation Graduation Program, the Graduation Approach is being integrated into the social protection programmes of governments and large organisations such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) amongst refugees and other displaced people.
“I believe the fear has left me. My community is also seeing that I am changing, they guide and advise me so that my sales grow.”
– Elvira Xo Xol, recipient of seed grant from Trickle up in Guatemala