{"id":78,"date":"2011-04-14T03:23:56","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T03:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2012-03-26T14:50:45","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T21:50:45","slug":"ultra-poor-initiative","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><div id=\"attachment_1992\" style=\"width: 317px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1992\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992 \" title=\"Pavement Dwellers in Chennai\" src=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pavement-at-T-Nagar-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"307\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pavement-at-T-Nagar-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pavement-at-T-Nagar-640x480-212x159.jpg 212w, https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pavement-at-T-Nagar-640x480-366x274.jpg 366w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 307px) 100vw, 307px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1992\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pavement Dwellers in Chennai<\/p><\/div><\/h2>\n<p>Numbering <a href=\"http:\/\/web.worldbank.org\/WBSITE\/EXTERNAL\/NEWS\/0,,contentMDK:21882162~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html\">1.4 billion<\/a> people worldwide, the ultra poor are those individuals at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder living on less than $1.25 a day. Unitus Labs is working to better understand how more efficient programs might provide new opportunities for hundreds of millions of ultra poor households to achieve self-sufficiency. \u00a0There have been\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cgap.org\/p\/site\/c\/template.rc\/1.26.1467\/\" target=\"_blank\">good innovations<\/a> in this space, but they are still relatively expensive \u2013 thus limiting their ability to scale and meet the massive numbers still in need.<\/p>\n<h2>Published Ultra Poor Case Studies<\/h2>\n<p>Here are our learnings from pilots supported by Unitus Labs seeking to discover improved approaches to providing opportunity to ultra poor populations:<\/p>\n<h3>#1:\u00a0<a href=\"upna-sapna-examining-the-challenges-of-ultra-poor-selection\">UPna sapna: Examining the Challenges of Ultra Poor Selection<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>#2:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/kriti-vaaradhi-understanding-the-challenges-of-establishing-an-urban-ultra-poor-pilot\/\">Kriti\u00a0Vaaradhi: Understanding the Challenges of Establishing an Ultra Poor Pilot<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>#3: <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/pnp-early-livelihoods-support-key-ultra-poor-interventions\/\">PnP: The Ultra Poor Program &#8211; An Examination of Livelihoods<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>#4: <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/sks-ngo-building-bridges-to-self-reliance\/\">SKS NGO: Building Bridges to Self-Reliance<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>#5: <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/equitas\/ebn-housing-the-homeless-case-study\/\">Equitas Bird&#8217;s Nest: Housing the Homeless<\/a><\/h3>\n<h2 style=\"margin-top: 20px;\">More Resources<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/ultra-poor-faq\">Frequently asked questions about ultra poor &gt;<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/ultra-poor-resources\">Additional resources and research about ultra poor &gt;<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/ultra-poor-news\">More opinions about Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>About Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative<\/h2>\n<p>The Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative (UPI) was a unique, three-year program dedicated to the development of innovative and cost-effective interventions designed to alleviate extreme poverty. Initiated in Fall 2008, and generously sponsored by the <a href=\"http:\/\/sorensonlegacyfoundation.org\" target=\"_blank\">Sorenson Legacy Foundation<\/a>, the UPI supported the following organizations in the design and launch of ultra poor-focused interventions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"upna-sapna-examining-the-challenges-of-ultra-poor-selection\">UPna sapna Project by NEEDS NGO<\/a> (Jharkhand, India)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/kriti-vaaradhi-understanding-the-challenges-of-establishing-an-urban-ultra-poor-pilot\/\">Vaaradhi Project by Kriti Social Initiatives<\/a> (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/pnp-early-livelihoods-support-key-ultra-poor-interventions\/\">Ultra Poor Project by Partners in Prosperity<\/a> (Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/sks-ngo-building-bridges-to-self-reliance\/\">Ultra Poor Pilot by SKS NGO<\/a> (Koraput, Orissa, India)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/equitas\/ebn-housing-the-homeless-case-study\/\">Equitas Bird&#8217;s Nest by Equitas Development Initiatives Trust<\/a> (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The term \u201cultra poor\u201d refers to highly vulnerable, marginalized populations that live under $1.25 per day and struggle to meet basic daily nutrition, healthcare, shelter and income-generating needs. The goal of the UPI was to stimulate the microfinance industry to design and deliver products and services that sustainably elevate the ultra poor to a higher standard of living. Unitus Labs has worked with its partners both to initiate new ultra poor programs and help accelerate the growth and efficacy of existing programs.<\/p>\n<p>During the course of the UPI, Unitus Labs works closely with its partner organizations to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide onsite support around business plan development, new product \/ service development, pilot testing, general research, systems expertise, operations consulting, and social performance assessment, as it pertains specifically to the local context,<\/li>\n<li>Leverage industry best practices to help our partners serve this segment in the most efficient, effective manner,<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate and disseminate findings from the pilot programs to spread best practices across our partner network and to all practitioners seeking to provide opportunity to ultra poor populations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Starting in 2011, Unitus Labs released case studies on each partner pilot describing the interventions undertaken and lessons learned about the efficacy of each approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Numbering 1.4 billion people worldwide, the ultra poor are those individuals at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder living on less than $1.25 a day. Unitus Labs is working to better understand how more efficient programs might provide new opportunities for hundreds of millions of ultra poor households to achieve self-sufficiency. \u00a0There have been\u00a0good innovations&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/projects\/ultra-poor-initiative\/\">Read more &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":57,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_aioseop_title":"","_aioseop_description":"Unitus Labs project to develop innovative and cost-effective interventions designed to alleviate extreme poverty amongst ultra-poor populations","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}