Anti-poverty program is effective even in one of the world's toughest settings

Research shows that an anti-poverty program can even work in a incredibly difficult circumstances, like in the Somali city of Baidoa, where half of the city's 1.2 million population are internally displaced people. Ali Ebubekir Tokcan/Anadolu/via hide caption toggle caption Ali Ebubekir Tokcan/Anadolu/via Fadumo Abdi Sheikh and her children lost everything about a decade ago when famine and drought forced them to leave their village in Somalia and flee to the city of Baidoa. The family struggled to get by until Abdi Sheikh participated in an anti-poverty program in 2021. The initiative taught her how to save money and build a livestock business. As part of the program, she was given 5 goats, which she was able to increase into a herd of 15. Her family can now drink fresh milk and she makes and sells butter, increasing her income up to $50 a month. The program that helped her was a successful poverty alleviation effort but that is typically implemented in rural communities in low-income countries. Now, research shows it works even in incredibly difficult circumstances, like in the southwestern city of Baidoa . Half of the city's 1.2 million people are internally displaced, driven from their homes by extreme drought and violence by the militant group al-Shabab. …