Graduation criteria

This guide is for implementers defining the conditions beneficiaries must meet for program graduation.

Criteria configuration

Each criterion within a pathway has:

Field	What it means
Name	Criterion label (e.g., "Income Threshold")
Pathway	Which graduation pathway this belongs to
Weight	Importance (default 1.0, higher = more important)
Assessment Method	How the criterion is verified
Required	Must be met for graduation (vs. optional)

Assessment methods

Method	How it works	Best for
Self-report	Beneficiary provides information	Income, savings, livelihood status
Verification Required	Third-party or document verification	Employment, bank account, asset ownership
Computed	System calculates from data	Program attendance, payment history
Field Observation	Case worker observes during visit	Housing quality, livelihood activity

Pre-configured criteria examples

Criterion	Method	Weight	Description
Income threshold	Verification Required	1.0	Monthly income above poverty line
Livelihood activity	Field Observation	1.0	Has active income-generating activity
Savings account	Verification Required	0.8	Has functional savings account
Training completion	Computed	0.6	Completed required training sessions
Debt level	Self-report	0.5	Manageable debt-to-income ratio

Setting up criteria

Step 1: Plan your graduation conditions

Determine what beneficiaries must achieve:

• Which criteria are mandatory vs. optional?

• How will each criterion be verified?

• What weights reflect your program's priorities?

Step 2: Create criteria

1. Navigate to Graduation > Graduation Criteria

2. Click Create

3. Select the Pathway

4. Set the Name, Weight, and Assessment Method

5. Mark as Required if mandatory

6. Save

Step 3: Run assessments

1. Open a beneficiary's graduation assessment

2. For each criterion, record whether it is met

3. The system calculates an overall readiness score based on weights

4. If all required criteria are met, the beneficiary is eligible for graduation

Monitoring duration

After graduation, beneficiaries enter a monitoring period:

Setting	What it means
Monitoring Duration (months)	How long to track post-graduation

During monitoring:

• The system continues tracking the graduated beneficiary

• If key indicators fall below thresholds, they can be flagged for re-enrollment

• At the end of monitoring, the graduation is confirmed as final

Are You Stuck?

Criteria weights - how are they used?

Weights contribute to an overall graduation readiness score. A criterion with weight 1.0 has twice the impact of one with weight 0.5. The exact threshold for "ready to graduate" depends on your program policy.

Can I have different criteria for different pathways?

Yes. Each criterion is linked to a specific pathway. Standard Graduation might require 5 criteria while Early Graduation requires 3.

How do I handle computed criteria?

Computed criteria pull data from the system automatically (e.g., attendance records, payment history). The computation is based on existing program data.

Beneficiary meets criteria but supervisor disagrees?

If the pathway has Approval Required enabled, the supervisor can reject the graduation even if criteria are met, with a documented reason.

Next steps

• Graduation overview - Graduation pathway fundamentals

• Scoring Framework Overview - Use scoring models for graduation assessment

• Session tracking overview - Track training completion for criteria