Harvesting Child Nutritional Gains through the Graduation Approach: Results from Randomised Control Trial on BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) Program
Harvesting Child Nutritional Gains through the Graduation Approach: Results from Randomised Control Trial on BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) Program

Organiser:
SPEC Webinar Series
Recording of the webinar organised by the Social Protection for Employment – Community (SPEC) which discussed BRAC’s graduation programme, Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP). It combines the transfer of income-generating assets, as well as training on entrepreneurial activities, health, nutrition, and social and political awareness training, over a two-year period.
While positive socioeconomic impacts of TUP has been well documented, this is the first paper to evaluate the effects of TUP on nutritional outcomes of children under 5 using data from a randomised control trial over a four-year period. The research found large improvements in nutritional outcomes of children in participant households. The likelihood of wasting reduced by 8 percentage points and the likelihood of being underweight reduced by 19 percentage points. The webinar will present the detailed findings of this research.
Presenter: Nazia Moqueet, Technical Specialist, BRAC USA
Nazia provides technical assistance to governments and NGOs implementing the Graduation approach. She currently provides technical support to the Government of Kenya on a Graduation pilot that targets vulnerable women and youth and to the Government of the Philippines on its social protection convergence strategy. Nazia has previously worked on the CGAP-Ford Foundation Graduation pilot in Yemen and with the World Bank. She has extensive experience in technical advisory, quantitative analysis and program evaluation in social protection, gender, and water and sanitation. She holds a master’s in International Trade and Development Economics from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s in Economics from Colgate University.
Presenter: Wameq A. Raza, Senior Researcher, BRAC Uganda
Wameq is an economist, interested in health and poverty outcomes with extensive experience in impact evaluation using experimental and quasi-experimental methods in developing countries. He is currently overseeing quantitative research, with a focus on livelihood and health outcomes in nine BRAC International countries. He has a BA in economics from Ithaca College, NY, a MA in Development Economics from the University of Sussex, UK and a PhD in Development/Health Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His work has been published in journals including Health Economics, Health Policy and Planning, International Journal of Educational Development, Journal of Development Effectiveness, and BMC Health Services Research.
Discussant: Mathew Tasker, Asia Regional Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) Advisor for Save the Children UK
Previously, Mathew worked for the Save the Children Myanmar Country Office as the FSL and Social Protection Advisor when he supported in designing and implementing an urban graduation programme and Maternal and Child Cash Transfer (MCCT) interventions. He provided technical support to the Government of Myanmar to adopt the MCCT model and roll out through government structures. Mathew has also worked for the Australian Government (Australian Agency for International Development Aid (AusAID). His role mainly focused on food security and social protection issues across a range of countries. Mathew is a graduate of the University of Sydney in Anthropology and obtained a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Environment and Social Development from the University of Cambridge.
Moderator : Lisa Hannigan, Director, Poverty and Social Transfers Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia.
Social protection is a core part of Lisa’s work which includes providing support to DFAT country programs, building capacity in social protection, facilitating South-South events in areas where countries would most benefit in learning from each other’s experiences and contributing to the social protection literature in under researched areas. Lisa has been working on social protection for many years, including in Indonesia from 2009-2012.
This webinar was the fifth of the Linking Social Protection to Sustainable Employment webinar series, which was organized by DFAT and GIZ. Please join the Online community Social Protection for Employment if you are interested in following the most recent discussions on the topic.
