NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, May 24, 2012

(New York, NY) – Today FXB International released a Graduate Tracer Study. Among the exciting results include findings that, from their starting point as the poorest households in their communities, FXB-Village participants in Rwanda and Uganda show greatly increased income and savings. Additionally, the study shows that FXB-Village participants have vastly improved access to clean drinking water and are more likely to own their homes, and children are much more likely to be enrolled in school than they were at the beginning of the program. In each of the three study areas, the results show that the FXB-Village program significantly improves the lives of these participants.

Background

For over 20 years, FXB has refined its community-driven FXB-Village model into a structured program of household support and economic strengthening designed to empower particularly vulnerable families to escape extreme poverty and ensure the enduring well-being of the children in their care.

Long-term impact evaluations for holistic, community-based programs are relatively uncommon in the wider development community. The Graduate Tracer Study attempts to rectify this lack of evaluation by assessing the current well-being of 3 groups of FXB-Village participants who graduated from the program at different times throughout the past decade. It examines the long-term impact that the FXB-Village has had on their lives and considers the history and evolution of the program, including changes to the participant selection process, the development of additional program components and the experiences and lessons learned that have informed decision making for subsequent programs.