We are pleased to inform you that BRAC has been named to a new list of top-rated nonprofits by GreatNonprofits, the leading provider of user reviews for nonprofit organizations.
“BRAC has set up a global record for establishing world class development programs. They are very successful in microfinance and they are considered to be one of the most successful organisations globally,” Minister Bhumba said during her visit.
A couple of weeks ago, BRAC USA President & CEO Susan Davis moderated a panel of researchers and practitioners providing resources to the “ultra poor” – women who are too poor to be able to take advantage of microfinance loans – at the Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference.
Earlier this year, BRAC Uganda entered into an exciting new partnership with Whole Planet Foundation to provide microloans to adolescent girls between the ages of 16 and 21. The youth microfinance component is part of a targeted solution developed by BRAC to empower adolescents living in poverty. With the support from Whole Planet Foundation, BRAC Uganda is projecting to reach more than 8,000 adolescent girl borrowers in 2010 and 16,000 borrowers by 2012.
On Monday night, The Asia Society in partnership with The Schwab Foundation and WAM-NY, hosted a debate between SKS Chairperson and Founder, Vikram Akula and Grameen Foundation President and CEO, Alex Counts. The debate, which was moderated by Niki Armacost, Co-Founder of Arc Finance, focused on whether the for-profit approach in microfinance is the best way to take microlending to scale. Ms. Armacost put forth the claim that “for-profit microfinance is the ideal model for alleviating poverty globally” and invited Mr. Akula and Mr. Counts to debate it. In addition, Ms. Armacost pointed out scalability and affordability of loans as critical considerations in the debate.
Over 20 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan, 75% of whom are in the Sindh and Punjab provinces. The floods damaged or destroyed 1.9 million houses.BRAC has a relief and rehabilitation program in place in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The flood waters have started to recede and the displaced population is returning to their homes and villages.
Last Monday, The Council on Foreign Relations hosted a panel of experts to discuss the Progress of the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Panelists included Mr. Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary General for Policy Planning at the United Nations, Mr. Samuel A. Worthington, President & CEO of InterAction, and Mr. T. Charles Cooper, Vice President for Congressional and Public Affairs at Millenium Challenge Corporation. The panel was moderated by Gail D. Fosler, President of GailFosler Group LLC.
Below is a post from Reeta Roy, President & CEO of the MasterCard Foundation. She is currently visiting BRAC’s programs in Uganda along with other members of the MasterCard team. She wrote this after visiting one of BRAC’s microfinance groups.
Below is a post from Reeta Roy, President & CEO of the MasterCard Foundation. She is currently visiting BRAC’s programs in Uganda along with other members of the MasterCard team.
Almost 21 million people are now reported as having been directly affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan. With 23 out of 94 BRAC Pakistan’s microfinance branches affected by the flooding, BRAC is close to the people and communities that have been suffering as the disaster began to unfold in July.
“Wait, let me get my glasses first”. How many times have we heard this expression from our colleagues, parents and friends or pronounced it ourselves? And experienced a feeling of relief as the blur of black waves turns into a legible text! Reading glasses are ubiquitous in our society: we use them when we are working, reading, watching news, etc. – so that we consider them as a basic necessity and take them as granted.Yet, in some parts of the developing world, a pair of reading glasses can be a hard-to-access luxury, available in expensive optic shops in urban areas. This means that millions of men and women lose a great part of their economic productivity, not to mention emotional well-being, as the acuteness of their vision decreases with age. A lot of young people with a weak vision have to forego opportunities to be engaged in certain professions such as jewelry or weaving, or cannot advance in education because of limited reading.