Village Enterprise
Ultra-poverty graduation programs combining cash grants and business training in rural East Africa
Our editorial assessment
Village Enterprise operates one of the best-evidenced poverty graduation programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. Their model combines three elements: a small cash grant (~$150), intensive business training, and ongoing mentorship through savings groups. An independent RCT demonstrated a 65% increase in income and 40% decrease in food insecurity for participants 18 months after the programme — strong results that have earned GiveWell's attention. What makes Village Enterprise distinctive is their focus on the ultra-poor: people living on less than $1.90/day who are typically excluded from microfinance because they lack the stability to take on debt. By providing grants rather than loans, Village Enterprise reaches people that credit-based models miss.
The problem they're solving
The ultra-poor — roughly 700 million people — are often invisible to traditional development programmes. They lack the assets to qualify for microloans and the stability to benefit from training alone. Village Enterprise's grant-based model is specifically designed for this population.
About Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise runs ultra-poverty graduation programs in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Where your dollar goes
What your donation could do
Your $100 ≈ 2 people reached through new household businesses
Illustrative estimate based on figures this organisation publishes about its own programs — not a statement from the charity itself. Actual impact varies by program and year.
What donors say about Village Enterprise
Donors signed in with Google can rate Village Enterprise from one to five stars and share a short review of their experience — whether as a donor, volunteer, or beneficiary. Community ratings are displayed as their own criterion alongside our editorial metrics; they never alter the editorial 0–100 score.
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How this score was produced
The Charity Ranking score is our own editorial assessment, produced with a weighted rubric covering program spending, transparency and governance, evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and leadership. It draws on publicly available reports from independent evaluators such as GiveWell, Charity Navigator, and CharityWatch, but it is not a rating issued or endorsed by any of those organisations. The community rating shown above is a separate signal contributed by signed-in donors; it is displayed alongside our criteria but never feeds into the editorial score. Read the full methodology →