Staff blog

May 23, 2011

BRAC USA President & CEO reviews her recent trip to Liberia

On a recent trip to Libera, Susan Davis, President & CEO of BRAC USA, had the opportunity to meet members of BRAC Liberia's Agriculture Program.
May 12, 2011

A most meaningful birthday gift from Pakistan

The following was originally posted by BRAC USA President & CEO Susan Davis on The Huffington Post. This morning, I received a touching letter from Munshi Sulaiman about his recent trip to Pakistan to see BRAC's Ultra Poor program there. Munshi has been working with BRAC for the last 8 years and currently coordinates BRAC's research activities outside Bangladesh.
March 23, 2011

Health Promoter & Entrepreneur in Sierra Leone

I met Margaret on my most recent trip to West Africa. Margaret is a BRAC Sierra Leone health promoter in Grassfield, south-east of central Freetown. In only three months after joining, she is already very active in health education in her community. "I first learned about many health topics from BRAC - importance of breast feeding, TB, Malaria, personal hygiene, safe drinking water, and more." She is noticing changes in the level of cleanliness and hygiene maintained by members in the community that she covers.
March 9, 2011

Courage in the Heart: The story of how women in rural Bangladesh are radically changing the fabric of their society

The below post was written by BRAC intern Annie Escobar and originally published on the NYU Reynolds Program Blog. This past summer, as part of our Reynolds Program Internship program, Patricia Schneidewind (a fellow Reynolds scholar) and I traveled to Bangladesh for nine weeks to document BRAC, the world's largest development organization's social justice initiatives. Today, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day we are launching Courage in the Heart, an online storytelling platform featuring the stories of 12 women who are radically changing the consensus about the value of women by organizing to demand their rights. Visit the site here: www.brac.net/courageintheheart
February 23, 2011

Broadening Impact Through Partnerships

Anthony Muljadi, a former BRAC Bangladesh intern and a student at Harvard Business School writes about the importance of partnerships for the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference blog.
November 2, 2010

Aarong – An Inspiring Story of Stitches

A throng of village children, led by a boy in a blue shirt, follow me as I walk over the narrow ledge separating two rice paddy fields, and make my way over to a small production sub-center located in a remote rural area in Bangladesh.Being Indian by birth, I have similar coloration and features as a Bangladeshi but the children seem to know that I am not from their part of the world. I think that my slightly off-Bangladeshi garb, my water bottle and camera give me away.
July 26, 2010

Empowering Women and Children for Global Health at Star Island’s 2010 International Affairs Conference

On Monday, I had the opportunity to speak at Star Island’s 2010 International Affairs Conference on the rock shoal of Star Island off the coast of New Hampshire. It was a very moving experience as I got the chance to interact with a unique group of people -- generations of families who have been traveling to Star Island for years, enthusiastically learning new things from leading academics and practitioners working in international development in a relaxing and beautiful natural environment.This year, the Conference focused on “Empowering Women and Children for Global Health” with a focus on the growing perspective that the world’s health care challenges can be met by promoting and empowering women and children. Along with Donna Barry of Partners in Health, Ann Cotton of CAMFED and other experts in the field, I was asked to share my experiences about social entrepreneurship, microfinance and the empowerment of women. While the participants had read Kristof and WuDunn’s Half the Sky and Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, most of this learned audience had not yet heard of BRAC and its remarkable story and holistic approach to development. They were interested to know about Ian Smillie’s book on BRAC, Freedom From Want, as well as my new book, Social Entrepreneurship, co-authored with David Bornstein (and even carried it in their bookstore on the island!).
July 15, 2010

BRAC Intern, Sharon Kim, Reports from Uganda

This post was written by Sharon Kim, a research and program development intern for BRAC Uganda and a current Masters student in international educational development at Teachers College, Columbia University.
June 16, 2010

BRAC USA intern Sun Woo Koo writes his story

My name is Sun Woo Koo, and I am a foreign student who recently graduated from NYU Stern School of Business undergraduate program. I majored in Finance and Economics. My story that leads to BRAC starts from the 2 years I took off from my college education to serve in the army of the Republic of Korea. This break helped me stop flowing reluctantly into the path where everyone seems to go and revaluate my purpose in life. One day in the base, I realized that what I really want to do is to solve problems of the world with colleagues who are forerunners of innovation and creativity. This initial dream led me to the concept of “Social Enterprise” which soon narrowed into the concept of “Microfinance” which is a perfect fit to both my specialty and passion. After the discharge and during the first class back in NYU, I had chance to hear from Susan Davis and about her life in BRAC. I felt all the puzzles coming into the exact spot and I started to see a glimpse of my future.
June 14, 2010

BRAC Intern blogs from Bangladesh

Annie Escobar is an Intern with BRAC's Human Rights and Legal Services department in Bangladesh. Below is her introductory post for her internship in Bangladesh.  Be sure to check out her blog for more stories about her experience with BRAC and some amazing photos.
June 11, 2010

Tanvi Vattikuti: BRAC USA Intern

My name is Tanvi Vattikuti and I am thrilled to join the BRAC USA team as an intern in the Summer 2010. As an individual who is deeply passionate about effecting social and economic change in impoverished and underprivileged populations, I find BRAC to be an inspiring organization.
April 13, 2009

Shubho Noboborsho (Happy New Year), Club Bangla Style

Michelle and I observed the advent of the Bengali New Year by setting up a BRAC stall at Club Bangla's take on the traditional Boishakhi Mela - Bengali New Year's Fair - this Sunday. A group comprised of Columbia University and Barnard College students, Club Bangla's objective is to take major steps in increasing awareness on campus about the language and culture of Bengal at Columbia. There couldn't be a better way to accomplish that goal than to celebrate the Bengali New Year festivities right in the middle of campus.