CLM: Sustainable Impact

• They have a good tin roof over their heads, and
• They have a plan for the future and the confidence to know they can succeed.

But what happens to the families after graduation? Do they sustain the improvements they’ve made in their lives? A study of the program by England’s Institute of Development Studies attempted to answer these questions. The study was financed with support from the Swiss Embassy in Haiti. It looked at data from 550 participants, both from when they entered and when they graduated from the program. For 353 of those program participants, it included surveys done four years after they graduated. Researchers did an additional survey a year later for 160 participants, and at that time 60 in-depth interviews were undertaken as well.

Results of the study were both encouraging and instructive. 72% of the women interviewed had either sustained their improvements or made further progress five years after graduating. But the analysis also pointed to ways that the CLM team could do more to help members build sustainable success. Analysis pointed to the importance of increasing the emphasis on strategies designed to help families withstand the economic and other shocks they are likely to face.

To read the full report on the study, go here.

The program is now working in three areas in particular:

• A more wide-ranging approach to teaching families to plan for the future,

• Increasing the emphasis on teaching the importance of having diverse savings strategies, and

• Encouraging families to diversify their productive assets.

For more information about the Fonkoze-IDS research program on CLM, visit www.ids.ac.uk/projects/haitian-graduation-research/