* BRAC saw 60% of beneficiaries join BRAC MF and take out a loan within a year of graduation. 100% of beneficiaries increased awareness, and began to link with a variety of government and NGO development initiatives, including government clinics, BRAC Education, BRAC Health and BRAC legal. BRAC currently has 100,000 graduated and existing Ultra Poor members.

The SKS Ultra Poor Program works to address the challenges of extreme poverty through three linked interventions: economic, social and health, and aims to work with members so that they have the capacity to participate in mainstream microfinance after a period of 18 months. After the program is over, most members will choose to take a microfinance loan to grow their existing business or diversify income sources by starting new businesses.

The SKS Ultra Poor Program, modeled after the highly successful BRAC program in Bangladesh, attacks the challenge of extreme poverty on three levels: economic, social and health, and aims to graduate clients into being able to run a sustainable income-generating enterprise—and to access formal financial services Upon graduation, many members may choose to join microfinance organizations to sustain existing businesses or diversify income by starting new businesses. In Bangladesh, since 2002, the program has successfully graduated 75% members of its 50,000 members. SKS scientifically targets the Bottom of the Pyramid extreme poor, (<1 US $ a day) employing participatory identification tools. The intervention targets extreme poor households reconnecting them to lost opportunities in livelihoods and quality lives.

SKS Microfinance Private Limited (SKSMPL) is partnering with SKS NGO that is currently running a pilot phase of the Ultra Poor program. The program, was launched in April 2007, is being supported in-kind by SKSMPL yet is an autonomous entity that incorporates the necessary social, health, training and savings components into the program.

Phase I of the pilot program is working with 426 members in 100 villages in Narayankhed Mandal of Medak district, Andhra Pradesh. Phase II will expand its reach to 1200 members in Orissa by October 2009.

Ultra Poor Program is the flagship program of the NGO which is involved in operations, strategy and expansion of the program through technology, innovation, and research and implementation from the field.

SKS is one of the three organizations which has been chosen to introduce the Ultra Poor Project in India. Through field experience, research and understanding, SKS is working on a reformed Ultra Poor model which will use research, innovation and technology to create a standard Ultra Poor Model which can be nationally replicated by many other organizations.