Increasing immigration is the most effective, least costly anti-poverty program, by far.
"...[L]etting a worker work in the USA for one year is almost forty times better than the annual gain [from the best possible in-country development program]. The average annual household gain from the [best possible development program] is $344 per year. The average wage differential from [allowing an immigrant to work in the U.S.] is $13,119—38 times higher. Even under the doubly optimistic scenario that these programmatic gains last forever and are discounted at 5 percent, the total lifetime value of the best you can do is less than a fourth the gain from just letting a worker work in a high productivity environment for one year."
http://www.cgdev.org/blog/least-you-can-do-global-poverty-better-best-you-can-do
"...[L]etting a worker work in the USA for one year is almost forty times better than the annual gain [from the best possible in-country development program]. The average annual household gain from the [best possible development program] is $344 per year. The average wage differential from [allowing an immigrant to work in the U.S.] is $13,119—38 times higher. Even under the doubly optimistic scenario that these programmatic gains last forever and are discounted at 5 percent, the total lifetime value of the best you can do is less than a fourth the gain from just letting a worker work in a high productivity environment for one year."
http://www.cgdev.org/blog/least-you-can-do-global-poverty-better-best-you-can-do