Scalable Coaching Approaches for Economic Inclusion Programs

Economic inclusion programs frequently provide coaches for their beneficiaries, who help participants stay on track with program activities and support them when inevitable challenges arise. For programs, coaching is sometimes the one component that differentiates Economic Inclusion targeted at people in extreme poverty from other livelihood programs and is the ‘secret sauce’ that generates success.

Nearly 90 percent of economic inclusion programs include coaching or mentoring as one of their core components.1 Coaching is used by programs to build skills, provide support, reinforce training messages, foster changes in attitudes and social norms, and monitor progress in beneficiary wellbeing.2 Evidence suggests that coaching is key to program success, as it helps beneficiaries to address the socio-emotional barriers that can limit their economic potential. For participants, knowing someone will check in on your progress regularly can mean the difference between weathering the challenges or dropping out. But how can this be done as we scale up these programs? Does increasing the coverage come at the expense of quality control? How can governments leverage local structures?

In this PEI Open House that took place on Thursday, December 8th from 9:30-11:00am ET you will learn from the governments of Peru and Rwanda on the lessons learned in developing and refining the coaching component over many years. NGO Trickle Up will also share experiences from advising the Jharkhand state government in India on strengthening coaching for their approach. A vibrant Q&A will follow.