South Africa - BRAC International

BRAC began its journey in South Africa in 2022. With a population of 62 million people, South Africa is known for its cultural diversity, natural beauty, and difficult history. While it has the largest economy in Africa, wealth is not experienced equally. BRAC has been working with FinMark Trust in South Africa on the Generating Better Livelihoods project.

In South Africa, the extreme poverty rate is about 31%—meaning that 19 million people live on less than $3 per day. Unemployment is high, and it can be hard to access education, healthcare, and basic services. This is especially true for women and people living in rural areas. BRAC partners with FinMark Trust to help families overcome these barriers and build more secure, hopeful futures through the project, Generating Better Livelihoods for Grant Recipients (GBL).

At a Glance

360

Participants successfully linked to various livelihood opportunities

132

Participants operating their own businesses

5,000

Participants to be reached through the GBL project

Our Approach

Scaling the Graduation Approach through Government

Scaling a proven pathway out of poverty in partnership with the Government of South Africa

The Graduation approach is a proven way to help people graduate out of extreme poverty. We work with people who face the biggest barriers to overcoming it. This includes women, people with disabilities, and families living in rural areas.

Graduation is a step-by-step programme that helps people build sustainable livelihoods. Each participant gets support to meet basic needs and receives a productive asset. Assets could be livestock or inventory to start a small business. They also get coaching to build confidence, know-how, and hope.

In South Africa, BRAC partners with FinMark Trust to support three government partners: the Department of Social Development, the South African Social Security Agency, and the National Development Agency. Together, we are running the ‘Generating Better Livelihoods’ project. It helps unemployed social grant recipients find economic and livelihood opportunities.

The project is piloting the Graduation programme over three years across three provinces: Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. It aims to reach 5,000 participants and provide a big push out of poverty by combining interventions and support that promotes social protection, social empowerment, livelihood protection and financial inclusion. The goal is to build a stronger system of economic support that can grow through government leadership. It will help reduce poverty and inequality across the country.

The Graduation approach was first developed in Bangladesh in 2002. Today, over 100 organisations in nearly 50 countries use it. Through our efforts to scale government-led Graduation, BRAC hopes to help 21 million people escape extreme poverty by 2030—including 4.6 million families by 2026.