The National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP) is a flagship initiative conceptualised by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Pakistan. It is informed by PPAF’s successful track record of delivering poverty alleviation programmes over two decades, with a real impact on transforming people’s lives. It is based on the globally tried and tested poverty graduation approach which PPAF first piloted in Pakistan in 2008 and was rigorously tested as part of the Global Study on Graduation (CGAP) and subsequently scaled up.

The programme is designed to catalyse change at the grassroots to pull people out of poverty through social mobilization, livelihood development and financial inclusion. It seeks to reduce dependence on social protection, helping families incrementally move from consumption support to asset transfers, to interest fee loans, and to microfinance. From the inception of the programme in July 2019 till December 2021, over 76,000 livelihood assets were transferred and over 1,200 skills trainings for livelihoods were provided to improve the lives of the ultra-poor families in 23 districts across Pakistan.

As a development organisation, PPAF seeks to test innovative solutions for poverty reduction so that they can be scaled up for a greater reach through the public sector. After PPAF successfully established this project on ground with robust outreach, monitoring and accountability systems and building local partner organisations’ capacities, the programme has been fully adopted by the PASS Ministry since March 2022 for onward management. PPAF is hopeful for the continued success of this programme and encourages increased investment to scale up this poverty graduation model exponentially to benefit the poorest communities in remote, rural areas as the need is immense.