We’re number … 2

It’s time again for the once-every-so-often ranking of NGOs, and we’re proud to announce that BRAC has again placed near the top. “The agile giant of the development world,” in the words of Global Geneva, BRAC has been ranked number two out of 500 NGOs in the world.

Now – I know what you’re thinking. Last time around, BRAC was flat-out declared the No. 1 NGO in the world. And indeed, we joked internally that there wasn’t anywhere to go but down from there. Can we really pretend to be pleased about being demoted?

Actually, yes.

The top NGO this year was Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who along with a few other civil society organizations was at the leading edge of Ebola response in West Africa. MSF and Samaritan’s Purse were frequently called out as exemplary organizations – “heroic exceptions,” in the words of Nicholas Kristof – in a field of official screw-ups at the front lines of the battle.

A BRAC USA colleague, Aissatou Diallo, recently returned from Liberia, where she met BRAC clients starting to rebuild their lives.

Miatta Kromah, a model farmer and microfinance borrower in Kakata, lost three daughters, a husband, a son-in-law and a grandson to Ebola. A local clinic initially misdiagnosed it as typhoid in August.

There were no ambulances available, so Miatta; her daughter Tina Varney, the president of the local BRAC village microfinance group; another daughter, Sianneh; and grandson, age 4, took a cab 70 kilometers to to an Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia, run by MSF.

Miatta and Tina survived. They now care for eight dependents along with six other small children who lost their immediate family. “The children were running about playing,” Aissa told us. “If they do not tell you, you could not guess at the level of grief and loss they are dealing with.”

So, yes – BRAC is fine with being #2.

In the coming weeks and months we’ll be sharing more stories of Ebola survivors and how they’re finding their feet.