BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) Programme
BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation programme has been evolving as the needs of the people living in extreme poverty change. In December 2021, the programme went digital, creating easier and faster ways of meeting our participants’ needs. In the 20-years journey of the programme, it’s one of the major milestones achieved.
Summary of Current Scope
- Centralized configurability for staff, cohort and project
- Configurable complex survey toolkit
- Dynamic and modular management of application menus.
- BRAC ERP integration with the application.
- Process scheduling and task flow management.
- Staff supervision and follow up.
- Role based approval, report module and analytics.
Why was digitalisation needed?
The success of the Graduation approach can largely be attributed to the close interactions between participants and BRAC’s staff members. In the first 12 years of the programme’s operations, these interactions happened face to face, where staff members would spend the whole day in the field – visiting participants, collecting data on paper formats – then return to the office to transfer their collected information onto paper files.
In 2015, the process was made more efficient by having computers installed in all regional offices and introducing a management information system. However, it was in 2017 that the programme decided to digitise the whole operations to better support families living in ultra poverty.
At first, data was collected to view a participant’s progress and achievements against the Graduation indicators. However, we soon realised that the scope and utility can be expanded a lot more – the whole Graduation approach could be digital.
The result? A new platform that benefits staff of the frontlines, higher management and partners.
Field management team can now supervise, monitor and follow-up digitally, with the support of features like task management, scheduling, approval and preparing work plans for day-to-day activities. Over 2,700 staff members in approximately 244 offices across Bangladesh are now using this platform. “I get instant reports from the field. The digital platform has transformed not just the way we work, but also the mindset we have – teams understand that data is a key driver in decision-making” – Pratima Rani, Regional Manager, Bagerhat. The application that helps staff on the frontline to execute tasks with more ease and comfort. For example, staff do not need to manually remember when to give a vaccine to a participant’s livestock anymore, because they get automatic reminders in the system.
