June 6, 2023

Grassroot entrepreneurs leading Bangladesh’s sanitation revolution

Bangladesh’s drive towards zero open defecation has led to an increase in demand for high-quality latrine building materials in both rural and urban areas. This has created a unique opportunity for many locals to unlock their entrepreneurial spirit while contributing to better sanitation in their communities. Read more to learn how.
June 5, 2023

Deconstructing gender narratives brick-by-brick

Shayera Begum defied all odds to become a leader in the male-dominated field of construction in her community. It was a fifteen-year long, treacherours and, oftentimes, lonely journey to the destination. Read more to learn how Shayera banked on her resolve to overcome her circumstances.
May 30, 2023

How 32,000 community health workers in Bangladesh helped 2 million people see better

One in five people in Bangladesh suffer from Presbyopia, a condition which makes seeing things up close difficult for older adults and heavily impacts livelihood opportunities. BRAC, in partnership with VisionSpring, with a cadre of community health workers took to the communities in Bangladesh with a radical idea of ‘demedicalising’ the treatment of Presbyopia in 2006. Read more to learn how trained community health workers helped 2 million people in Bangladesh to see better and preserve their livelihoods.
May 28, 2023

Me, my sunflowers and the climate crisis: A farmer’s diary

In coastal Bangladesh, extreme levels of salinity in the soil is rendering thousands of hectares of farmland barren for most of the year. Forcing millions of farmers to give up farming because of this slow-onset impact of the climate crisis. But all is not lost yet as farmers find hope to adapt to climate change is an unassuming crop - sunflowers. Read the first-person account of one such farmer who is tackling the climate crisis with a field full of smiling sunflowers
March 22, 2023

Climate crisis: Youngsters taking charge of local water conversations

Young people have the most at stake in the climate crisis but their representation in climate leadership and decision making is still negligible. With one-fourth of the population of Bangladesh belonging to the 15-29 age-group, it’s high time their voices on climate crisis are heard and their suggestions heeded. Local conversations on safe water seems like just the perfect platform to start developing local youth leadership on climate change.
January 5, 2023

3 key insights from Frugal Innovation Forum 2022

At Frugal Innovation Forum 2022, we revisited the fundamental pillars of development with the post-pandemic world in mind. We reflected on the lessons learnt from the pandemic and together identified three key thematic focus areas in our quest to build back better.