Understanding Graduation Trajectories in Rwanda Stephen Devereux 1 Roberte Isimbi 2 Contents SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... v 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Research objectives ................................................................................................................ 1 1.3. Conceptual framework ........................................................................................................... 2 1.4. Structure of this report ........................................................................................................... 2 2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Sampling .................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1.1. Key informants ................................................................................................................ 3 2.1.2. Household case studies ................................................................................................... 3 2.1.3. Focus group discussions .................................................................................................. 4 2.2. Research methods .................................................................................................................. 4 2.2.1. Semi-structured interviews ............................................................................................. 4 2.2.2. Critical moments reflection (CMR) ................................................................................. 5 2.3. Data management .................................................................................................................. 5 3. Household-level impacts ................................................................................................................. 6 3.1. Food security ........................................................................................................................... 6 3.2. Health insurance ..................................................................................................................... 7 3.3. Productive assets .................................................................................................................... 9 3.4. Housing ................................................................................................................................. 10 3.5. Other assets .......................................................................................................................... 10 3.6. Education .............................................................................................................................. 12 1 Centre for Social Protection, Institute of Development Studies, UK. 2 FATE Consulting, Kigali, Rwanda. 3.7. Hygiene ................................................................................................................................. 13 3.8. Kitchen gardens..................................................................................................................... 13 3.9. Community participation ...................................................................................................... 14 3.10 Self-confidence ..................................................................................................................... 15 4. Community-level impacts ............................................................................................................. 17 4.1. Local multipliers .................................................................................................................... 17 4.2. Sharing .................................................................................................................................. 18 4.3. Learning ................................................................................................................................. 19 4.4. Jealousy and resentment ...................................................................................................... 20 4.5. Social cohesion ...................................................................................................................... 22 5. Policy context ................................................................................................................................ 24 5.1. Social protection ................................................................................................................... 24 5.2. Health services ...................................................................................................................... 27 5.3. Education .............................................................................................................................. 27 5.4. Food security and nutrition ................................................................................................... 28 5.5. Agriculture............................................................................................................................. 29 5.6. Economic development ........................................................................................................ 30 5.7. Politics ................................................................................................................................... 30 6. Shocks and resilience .................................................................................................................... 32 7. Programme design and implementation ...................................................................................... 34 7.1. Cash transfers ....................................................................................................................... 34 7.2. Asset transfers ...................................................................................................................... 35 7.3. Livelihood training ................................................................................................................ 38 7.4. Coaching and mentoring ....................................................................................................... 40 7.5. Savings................................................................................................................................... 43 7.6. Other components ................................................................................................................ 45 7.6.1. Links to services ............................................................................................................ 45 7.6.2. Complaint response mechanism ................................................................................... 46 7.7. Ranking components ............................................................................................................ 47 8. Learning from the Graduation Programme .................................................................................. 51 9. Household case studies ................................................................................................................. 54 9.1. Improver ................................................................................................................................ 54 9.2. Late improver ........................................................................................................................ 55 9.3. Decliner ................................................................................................................................. 57 9.4. Dropout ................................................................................................................................. 58 ii 10. Conclusions and recommendations .......................................................................................... 60 10.1. Sustainability ..................................................................................................................... 60 10.2. Scalability .......................................................................................................................... 61 10.3. Recommendations for future programming ..................................................................... 62 References ............................................................................................................................................ 65 ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................................... 66 Annex 1. Key informant interviews conducted ............................................................................ 66 Annex 2. Questionnaire Guide: Key Informant Interviews .......................................................... 67 Annex 3. Questionnaire Guide: Household Case Study Interviews ............................................. 71 Annex 4. Questionnaire Guide: Focus Group Discussions ........................................................... 76 List of Figures Figure 1. Critical moments timeline,