Long-term impact of Graduation Program on ultra-poor in Ghana

The Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) utilizes a cluster research approach to address issues of poverty and growth in developing countries. The research clusters are organized both thematically and geographically, with focus countries selected with a view to collect long-term panel data. In Ghana, two waves of panel data collection were completed in 2009-10 and 2013-14, and GPRL is preparing to conduct the third wave of data collection in May 2018. The panel data provides regionally representative data for Ghana’s ten regions. The intended sample of the third wave is the 5,484 households selected for surveying in the first wave. Detailed information will be collected on the demographic and economic characteristics of households, including information on education levels, health and employment status, migration, land use, agricultural production and inputs, livestock and household tools, non-farm enterprise activities, housing characteristics of households, financial assets, psychological measures, and risk preference, social status and responsibilities. The lab is requesting funds to add 2,543 ultra-poor households to the third wave sample. These ultra-poor households were previously surveyed as part of a randomized evaluation of a poverty graduation program conducted in Ghana by Abhijit Banerjee, Dean Karlan, Robert Osei, Bram Thuysbaert, and Chris Udry. The study took place in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana, a region that is disproportionately poorer than the coastal south. Out of these households, 1,308 received the graduation program, while the rest were in the control group. Adding these households to the panel sample will allow researchers to study the long-term impact of the graduation program in Ghana. It will also provide a very rich dataset on the lives of the ultra-poor that researchers can use as a baseline for further work in Northern Ghana.