This article examines graduation impacts of social protection programmes in Africa, by presenting evidence from an interim evaluation of the ‘Enhancing the Productive Capacity of Extremely Poor People’ project, implemented by Concern Worldwide in Rwanda's Southern Province. The project builds on the principles of the Rwandan government's national social protection scheme, the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP). Its design is adapted from the ‘graduation model’, an innovative approach from Bangladesh that delivers a sequenced package of support with the objective of moving households out of extreme poverty. Difference-in-differences analysis was performed to compare participants and control group households after the cash transfers phase. Findings reveal that participants have significantly reduced their level of deprivation and demonstrated improvements in consumption, health, education and social participation. Further research will assess the impacts of other project components, notably asset transfers and training, and will investigate the sustainability of these positive impacts over time.