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Abstract

Transformando Mi Futuro (Transforming my Future) is a poverty reduction program implemented by the Colombian government as part of the strategy to support and repair the victims of the armed conflict. The program is based on the graduation approach that implies a comprehensive intervention in which the household receives consumption support, financial education, asset transfer, technical training, and instruction in life skills. However, unlike other graduation programs, this one targeted the urban population and did not offer direct transfers. Its primary purpose was to build capacities among those households who reported wanting to invest their legal monetary compensation as victims in productive projects. A before-after approach was employed to evaluate this program. The main results highlight positive changes in well-being and a reduction in the gap between the current perception of well-being, expectations for two and five years in the future, and positive changes in labor income and informal savings. These results suggest that the program contributed to improve the living conditions of participating households. However, a heterogeneity analysis shows that changes are differentiated according to participants' initial labor status.

As part of the Colombian government's strategy to support the armed-conflict victims, a Graduation Program called "Transformando Mi Futuro" (Transforming my future) was implemented. Unlike other graduation programs, this one targets the urban population and has no assets transfers. To evaluate this program, a Results Evaluation (Before/After) approach was performed using the information collected before and after implementing the program. The main results show positive changes in well-being and a reduction in the gap between the actual perception of well-being and the expectations for two and five years, and positive changes in labor income and savings. These results suggest that the program contributed to improving the living conditions of participating households. However, heterogeneity analysis shows that impacts are differentiated according initial status of participants. This exercise is part of the set of evaluations carried out within the Platform for Evaluation and Learning of the Graduation Program in Latin America (http://www.plataformagraduacionla.info/)

ural poverty, a widespread problem for the Paraguayan government over the last decade ¿as well as for other economies in the region-, led to the implementation, in 2016 and 2017, of the ¿Sembrando Oportunidades Familia por Familia¿ pilot program, an initiative based on the graduation approach to reduce the incidence of extreme poverty in rural areas. Evaluating the intervention results is essential to understand the effectiveness of this approach in reducing poverty in the Paraguayan context, where the government is in charge of its implementation. For this evaluation, an instrumental-variable impact evaluation and a results evaluation were conducted, showing significant positive changes in the treated households¿ productive capacity and savings behavior as well in their perception of wellbeing. These results are useful for the design of a program that can help to effectively overcome extreme poverty in this and other developing countries. This exercise is part of the set of evaluations carried out by the Platform for Evaluation and Learning of the Graduation Program in Latin America (www.plataformagraduacionla.info).