Bangladesh, the birthplace of microfinance and many other successful pro-poor strategies has been acknowledged as the model of development for many years. Once again, the country is recognised to have found the most effective solution to one of the most complex problems of the world – extreme poverty.
Khaled considers his work as the ultimate adventure, with a simple philosophy – always work for the greater good of the people around you. BRAC was his first job, and three decades have flown by since.
How do we build resilience during and after a crisis? A new GDI case study from BRAC offers insight into lessons learned from the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2015, highlighting what can be done to strengthen organisations responding and with the people they serve.
You’d be forgiven for thinking microfinance has gone wildly out of fashion. The “development caravan”—defined as the wagon train of poverty interventions that excite donors—has pulled away from micro-lending, drawn to more powerful things like BRAC-style graduation programmes (which aim to “graduate” people from extreme poverty into a sustainable livelihood) and bKash-like mobile money, according to recent coverage in The Economist.
Today is International Day of the Girl Child, and the karate girls of Korail in Bangladesh are screaming – as they are most days.
I can think of few people who have done more for the world’s deprived population than Fazle Hasan Abed. His contribution spans Bangladesh where BRAC, the organisation he founded in 1972, services close to 10 million of the country’s underprivileged households.
What comes to your mind when you think about innovation? Most of us relate innovation to places like Silicon Valley. However, there are incredible social innovations happening in the global South; starting from Sudanese villages to Afghan classrooms and in many other not-so-known places, where you least expect anything related to innovation.
“My name is Salimatu, I am 20 years old and an ELA member of the Kukubana club in Rokupr. I really do not know how I contracted the virus. One day, my aunt saw that I was bleeding, and I had a high fever. Knowing too well these are symptoms of the disease, she called the Ebola hotline (117) and they arrived later with an ambulance. I was taken to the Lakka treatment centre where I stayed for three weeks.
Diarrhea caused by contaminated water is the single greatest killer of children in much of the world. In the 1980s, the Bangladesh-based organization to which I belong, BRAC, ran a program that helped reduce children’s deaths from diarrhea by 80 percent nationwide. The project was fraught with difficulties and challenges, taking a decade to complete. Looking back years later, I think the experience holds important lessons that apply far beyond public health.
When you first meet Jackie, it is difficult not be to be taken by her charm. She sat opposite me in her calm, collected, yet casual poise, occasionally breaking out in laughter. But she still managed to exhibit a stern resolution as we discussed what it meant to part of BRAC’s first batch of international young professionals.
Meet Sonya –an 18 year-old girl living in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Sonya lives a typical Bengali lifestyle; she enjoys the park with her friends and helps her parents with chores. But Sonya isn’t typical. At an age when girls are often expected to get married, she is breaking gender stereotypes, instilling confidence, and empowering a new generation of girls… all through her love for karate. Sonya is among a group of girls who are taking part in BRAC’s Adolescent Development Program where they are mentored in life skills, in this case, through the art of karate.
Without basic legal empowerment, the poor live an uncertain existence, in fear of deprivation, displacement and dispossession