Social Innovation Lab
March 31, 2013
Day 1 of our Frugal Innovation Forum sought out best practices from diverse organizations—from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan to Myanmar and Sri Lanka—grounded in developing human capital, organizing communities, and engaging civic action. While common rhetoric around innovation tends to stress technology advances, Asif Saleh, BRAC’s Senior Director, Strategy, Communications, and Capacity, stressed that "this innovation is not about products, but is a constant process in the organization focused on impact.”
March 24, 2013
Published by Maria A May at Mar 24 2013
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It may surprise you to learn that BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab team is actually incredibly sceptical about the importance of innovation. More than once, my colleagues have asked if we could change our name to something that didn’t put innovation up on a pedestal. “Social Innovation, Improvisation, and Improvement Lab” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, unfortunately. From my perspective, this questioning is important—it keeps us grounded in terms of the limitations of the tools we can offer to the problems posed to us.
February 19, 2013
Published by Maria A May at Feb 19 2013
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Crowdmapping is an undeniably cool tool in development. It’s amazing that we now can take data from people scattered all over the place, who don’t know each other, and easily consolidate it into a central, often beautiful and transparent website.
February 5, 2013
Published by Maria A May at Feb 05 2013
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As a child, I was fed a healthy supply of fairy tales and fables. One of my favorites was that of “stone soup.” In the version I know, it’s about a community facing extremely harsh times during a war. Food was in short supply, and hope even shorter. A hungry traveller came to town and in the village center, put a big pot with water and a stone on a fire. Curious villagers came and asked what he was doing. “Making a tasty stone soup!” he would explain.
September 16, 2012
In Bangladesh, close to two million young people join the workforce annually. Many of the opportunities are not that of employment in the formal sector, but rather entrepreneurship in the growing informal service sectors. BRAC works millions of youth and provides a range of activities, including many focused on income generation and livelihood.
September 10, 2012
Published by BRAC at Sep 10 2012
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This spring, Daniel Ng was the winner of BRAC’s first Facebook Innovation Contest. He visited us in August to work with the Social Innovation Lab on advancing his idea. His reflections are below. You can watch his submission video and final presentation on the BRAC youtube channel.
July 30, 2012
On July 22, David Lewis wrote a blog post on "Is Innovation Essential for Development Work?" Maria May, from BRAC's Social Innovation Lab, reflects on where development practitioners should start.Last week I visited a few families that have taken microfinance loans from BRAC in Sri Lanka.
June 13, 2012
Published by BRAC at Jun 13 2012
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During the Social Innovation Lab’s last field trip to Hazaribag – a very poor area on the edge of West Dhaka– the team met Feroz (on the far left of the picture, wearing an orange lungi) a rickshaw-puller in his early thirties.His wife and three children are still in their home district of Rongpur.
April 26, 2012
Published by BRAC at Apr 26 2012
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About one third of the population of Bangladesh belongs to the young generation and there is no doubt about the increasing number. We are also aware of the fact that about 40% of the population is underemployed, many participants in the labor force work only a few hours a week, at low wages.
April 12, 2012
An interesting fact; more than half the world’s population – over three billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day. What this means is that three billion people are currently left out of the formal economy! Despite public and private efforts, many fundamental needs are unmet.
April 9, 2012
Published by BRAC at Apr 09 2012
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On April 4, one of the largest forceful slum evictions in Dhaka’s history took place in Korail bustee, located near BRAC’s head office. Households and shops within twenty meters of the road were bulldozed, with approximately 2,000 structures affected.
April 5, 2012
BRAC’s first-ever Facebook competition is officially over! Congratulations to our winner, Daniel Ng from the University of Virginia on his ‘Play’ Project– a community playground project with the objective of creating safe accessible spaces for underprivileged children to play.