Graduating from food insecurity: evidence from graduation projects in Burundi and Rwanda

Graduation model programmes deliver a package of support to poor households, including cash and asset transfers, training and coaching, and access to savings facilities. They have been shown to reduce extreme poverty but evidence for their impacts on household food security is limited. Drawing on multiple-round evaluations of graduation projects in Burundi and Rwanda, this paper demonstrates statistically significant impacts on several food security indicators, including months of hunger, meals per day and dietary diversity. Importantly, positive impacts were sustained for households that were re-interviewed 2 years after they exited the programme.