Malawi Graduation and Gender Impact Report

This report presents the findings from in-depth research which evaluated the impact of Concern Worldwide's Graduation Programme in Malawi. To address some of the key challenges faced by people living in extreme poverty, the Graduation Programme seeks to simultaneously boost livelihoods and income, provide access to financial services, improve people’s self-confidence and tackle social exclusion.

To evaluate the impact of the programme 5 months and 17 months after it had been implemented, researchers from Trinity College Dublin conducted a Randomised Control Trial to measure specific impacts over time, complemented by a Qualitative Impact Protocol to qualitatively map the broader impacts. The researchers evaluated how three variations of the Graduation Programme – one where cash was given to men, one where cash was given to women, and one where cash was given to women and gender transformative training was provided to the woman and her partner – compared to a control group. Comparing across intervention groups, the researchers could identify impacts related to the gender of the cash recipient and the impacts of incorporating gender transformative training into Graduation Programmes. 

The research shows that by engaging both male and female spouses in gender transformative dialogue aiming to improve gender equality, household income, the value of household assets such as livestock, women’s decision-making power, and the distribution of household chores all improve. The findings are the first of its kind to measure the impact of a gender transformative approach within Graduation.