Project

Graduating to Resilience in Uganda

Boy having arm measured in Uganda — *Photo credit: AVSI*

The USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance-funded Graduating to Resilience Activity sought to test the Graduation Approach’s ability to graduate ultra-poor refugee and host community households in Western Uganda from conditions of food insecurity and fragile livelihoods to self-reliance and resilience.

This seven-year Activity (2017-2024), implemented by AVSI Foundation in partnership with AIR and Trickle Up, engaged 13,200 households in two 24 and 30-month cohorts in Kamwenge District. These households are economically active but unable to meet their basic needs consistently without some form of assistance. Fifty percent of participants were from the host community and fifty percent were refugees from Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement. Using a quasi-experimental design, the Activity tested different variations of the Graduation Approach to identify the most cost-effective and efficient approach to reach ultra-poor refugee and host community populations.

I think the coaching sessions have caused positive behavioral change in the household; currently there is joint decision making, which has greatly reduced gender-based violence cases in the households.

– Youth male focus group participant from the host community

As AVSI’s research and collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) partner, AIR supported rigorous research to facilitate evidence-based decision making. In this capacity, AIR developed a comprehensive learning agenda and drove evidence generation through formative research assessments, scenario planning, performance and context monitoring data, and theory of change review and refinement.

This learning enabled flexible, evidence-driven adaptations to aspects of operations like the allocation of participants to coaches and to the length of cohort implementation, and to aspects of the Activity theory of change and design such as the inclusion of psychosocial support in Cohort 2. To contribute to the broader community of practice around the Graduation Approach, AIR captured and documented lessons learned and best practices, highlighting positive approaches to scale up.