While the Graduation Approach was initially designed for the extreme poor living in rural areas, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees—recognized its potential to help refugees living in rural areas, urban centers, and refugee camps. UNHCR, in partnership with Trickle Up, has been piloting Graduation since 2014 in Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Following promising results from a pilot project, UNHCR Ecuador has used a Graduation lens to completely transform planning for its wider refugee response, with Graduation as the response of choice for those living in extreme poverty.