The Yemen Graduation Pilot is located in the governorates of Aden, Lahij, and Taiz.

Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East with an estimated 43% of its population below the poverty line. Currently about 1.5 to 2 million households receive support from a government safety net program. The government is interested in trying to link its existing cash support program with livelihoods training and savings services in order to help the poorest become self-sufficient over two years.

The government’s Social Fund for Development (SFD) and Social Welfare Fund (SWF) are launching the Yemen Graduation Pilot, with guidance from CGAP and the Ford Foundation. This pilot will reach 750 households in the governorates of Aden, Lahij, and Taiz.

The Social Funds have already identified very poor localities. Last week, CGAP met with the implementing team in Yemen to guide the selection of the poorest households in these communities.

Like other pilot sites, the Yemen Graduation Pilot has a sophisticated targeting process: the team first selects the poorest communities based local knowledge and gets a list of the government safety net recipients in the area. The Yemen Progress out of Poverty Index is then used to rank the poorest recipients of the safety net within these poor communities. Through household visits, field workers further narrow the list of potential beneficiaries to make sure only the poorest are included. Finally, supervisors visit all the households on the shortlist in order to minimize targeting errors. A consultant from BRAC has also cross-checked a sub-sample of targeted households.

The project partners are discussing a randomized impact assessment with Innovations for Poverty Action. The BRAC Development Institute will conduct qualitative research.