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BRAC (NGO)
BRAC, an international development organisation based in Bangladesh, is the largest non-governmental development organisation in the world, in terms of number of employees as of June 2015.[3][4][5][6] Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh as well as other countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
BRAC employs over 100,000 people, roughly 70 percent of whom are women, reaching more than 126 million people[citation needed]. The organisation is 70-80% self-funded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a dairy and food project and a chain of retail handicraft stores called Aarong. BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK.[citation needed]
BRAC considers itself to have a unique philosophy towards eradicating poverty. As one author has said, "BRAC's idea was simple yet radical: bring together the poorest people in the poorest countries and teach them to read, think for themselves, pool their resources, and start their own businesses".[7] Sir Fazle Hasan Abed strongly believed that poverty alleviation could be achieved only through an improvement to multiple issues plaguing a country, which explains the vast range of programmes that BRAC is involved in. Furthermore, his conviction that poverty amelioration could only be sustained through greater equality in gender roles led BRAC to heavily advocate women’s rights and the improvement of women's welfare.
In April 2009, Freedom from Want, a book that traces the evolution of BRAC by author Ian Smillie, was published byKumarian Press.
HISTORY OF THE BRAC
Known formerly as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and then as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (currently, BRAC does not represent an acronym), BRAC was initiated in 1972 by Sir Fazlé Hasan Abed at Shallah Upazillahin the district of Sunamganj as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to help returning war refugees after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. In nine months, 14 thousand homes were rebuilt as part of the relief effort and several hundred boats were built for the fishermen. Medical centres were opened and other essential services were ensured.[8] At the end of 1972, when the first phase of relief work was over, BRAC turned towards long-term development needs and re-organised itself to focus on the empowerment of the poor and landless, particularly women and children.
By 1974, BRAC had started providing micro credit and had started analysing the usefulness of credit inputs in the lives of the poor. Until the mid-1970s, BRAC concentrated on community development through village development programmes that included agriculture, fisheries, cooperatives, rural crafts, adult literacy, health and family planning, vocational training for women and construction of community centres. A Research and Evaluation Division (RED) was set up by Dr. Mushtaque Chowdhury in 1975 to analyse and evaluate its activities and provide direction for the organisation to evolve. In 1977, BRAC shifted from community development towards a more targeted approach by organising village groups called Village Organisations (VO). This approach targeted the poorest of the poor – the landless, small farmers, artisans, and vulnerable women. Those who own less than half an acre of land and survive by selling manual labour were regarded as BRAC's target group. That same year BRAC set up a commercial printing press to help finance its activities. The handicraft retail chain called Aarong, was established the following year.
In 1979, BRAC entered the health field by establishing a nationwide Oral Therapy Extension Programme (OTEP), a campaign to combat diarrhoea, the leading cause of the high child mortality rate in Bangladesh. Over a ten-year period 1,200 BRAC workers went door-to-door to teach 12 million mothers the preparation of home-made oral saline. Bangladesh today has one of the highest rates of usage of oral rehydration, and BRAC's campaign cut down child and infant mortality from 285 per thousand to 75 per thousand.[9][page needed] This initial success in scaling up propelled rapid expansion of other BRAC programmes such as Non Formal Primary Education which BRAC started in 1985 – a model that has been replicated in about a dozen countries.
In 1986 BRAC started its Rural Development Programme that incorporated four major activities – institution building including functional education and training, credit operation, income and employment generation and support service programmes. In 1991 the Women's Health Development program commenced. The following year BRAC established a Centre for Development Management (CDM) in Rajendrapur. Its Social Development, Human Rights and Legal Services programme was launched in 1996 with the aim to empower women with legal rights and assist them in becoming involved with community and ward level organisations. In 1998, BRAC's Dairy and Food project was commissioned. BRAC launched an Information Technology Institute the following year. In 2001, BRAC established a university called BRAC University with the aim to create future leaders and the BRAC Bank was started to cater primarily to small and medium entreprises.
In 2002 BRAC launched a programme called Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction – Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR-TUP) designed specifically for those that BRAC defines as the ultra poor - the extreme poor who cannot access conventional microfinance. The same year BRAC also went into Afghanistan with relief and rehabilitation programmes. It was the first organisation in Bangladesh to establish, in 2004, the office of an Ombudsperson.
OBJECTIVES
Economic development[edit]
BRAC's Economic Development programme includes microcredit. It provides collateral-free credit using a solidarity lending methodology, as well as obligatory savings schemes through its Village Organisations. Reaching nearly 4 million borrowers, Village Organisations provide loans to poverty groups. BRAC has reached out to those who, due to extreme poverty, cannot access microfinance. BRAC defines such people suffering from extreme poverty as the 'ultra poor', and has designed a programme customised for this group that combines subsidy with enterprise development training, healthcare, social development and asset transfer, eventually pulling the ultra poor into its mainstream microfinance programme.
Microfinance, introduced in 1974, is BRAC's oldest programme. It spans all districts of Bangladesh,[10] and is the largest microlending operation in the country, the renowned Grameen Bank being a close second.[7] It provides collateral-free loans to mostly poor, landless, rural women, enabling them to generate income and improve their standards of living.[10] A typical BRAC loan is to buy chickens to raise for eggs and meat. In addition to the loan, BRAC teaches the borrower how to care for and raise the chickens, and provides access to low-cost, high-quality inputs. The emphasis is on self-empowerment.[7] BRAC's microcredit program has funded over $1.9 billion in loans in its first 40 years. 95% of BRACs microloan customers are women.[1] According to BRAC, the repayment rate is over 98%.[11]
In addition to microfinance, BRAC provides enterprise training and support to its member borrowers in poultry and livestock, fisheries, social forestry, agriculture and sericulture. It provides inputs essential for some enterprises through its 'Programme Support Enterprises' that include Poultry farm and disease diagnostic laboratory, Bull Station, Feed Mill, Broiler Production and Marketing, Seed Production, Processing, Marketing and Soil Testing, BRAC Nursery, and Fish and Prawn Hatchery. BRAC's Vegetable Export programme started in 1998 is a venture that is aimed at bridging the gap between local producers and international markets.[12] BRAC also focuses on the problem of youth employment, providing assistance for young men and especially women to join the workforce, for example, with programs like the Adolescent Development Program.[13] BRAC also has a number of commercial programmes that contribute to the sustainability of BRAC's development programmes since returns from the commercial programmes are channelled back into BRAC's development activities. These programmes include Aarong, a retail handicraft chain, BRAC Dairy and Food Project, and BRAC Salt.
BRAC founded its retail outlet, Aarong (Bengali for "village fair") in 1978 to market and distribute products made by indigenous peoples. Aarong services about 65,000 artisans, and sells gold and silver jewellery, handloom, leather crafts, etc.
Education[edit]
BRAC is one of the largest NGOs involved in primary education in Bangladesh.[14] As of the end of 2012, it had more than 22,700 non-formal primary schools with a combined enrolment of 670,000 children.[11] Its schools constitute three-quarters of all NGO non-formal primary schools in the country.[14]
BRAC's education programme provides non-formal primary education to those left out of the formal education system, especially poor, rural, or disadvantaged children, and drop-outs.[1] Its schools are typically one room with one teacher and no more than 33 students. Core subjects include mathematics, social studies and English. The schools also offer extracurricular activities.[14] They incentivise schooling by providing food, allowing flexible learning hours, and conferring scholarships contingent on academic performance.[15]
Bangladesh has reduced the gap between male and female attendance in schools.[15] The improvement in female enrolment, which has largely been at the primary level, is in part attributable to BRAC.[14] Roughly 60% of the students in their schools are girls.[1]
BRAC has set up centres for adolescents called Kishori Kendra that provide reading material and serve as a gathering place for adolescents where they are educated about issues sensitive to the Bangladeshi society like reproductive health, early marriage, women's legal rights etc. BRAC has also set up community libraries, 185 out of 964 of which are equipped with computers.[12]
Public health[edit]
BRAC started providing public healthcare in 1972 with an initial focus on curative care through paramedics and a self-financing health insurance scheme. The programme went on to offer integrated health care services, its key achievements including the reduction of child mortality rates through campaign for oral rehydration in the 80s and taking immunisation from 2% to 70% in Bangladesh. BRAC, in 1980, trained 10,000 women to teach Bangladeshi families how to make their own oral rehydration solution; to date 75% of families in Bangladesh use oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhoea, 13 million homes have been reached by BRAC trainers, and estimates of lives saved by oral rehydration therapy reach 10s of millions.[citation needed]
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As of December 2012, 105,000 community health workers had been trained and mobilised by BRAC to deliver door-to-door health care services to the rural poor in Bangladesh. BRAC has established 30 static health centres and two Limb and Brace Centres that provide low cost devices and services for the physically disabled.[11] BRAC has been working closely with the government as part of National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) to combat tuberculosis, covering 93 million people in 42 districts.[16] BRAC has also been working in National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) in partnership with government and 20 other NGOs in 13 endemic districts of Bangladesh covering almost 15 million people.[17]
In 2007, BRAC launched two projects focused on bettering maternal, neonatal, and child mortality, namely, Manoshi in certain urban regions and Improving Maternal, Neonatal and Child Survival (IMNCS) in certain rural regions.[18] The programmes cover Dhaka, 7 other city corporations, and 14 of Bangladesh's 64 districts.[19][20] From 2007–10, Manoshi's operations led to a decline in home deliveries from 86% to 25%, and a maternal mortality ratio of 141 (per 100,000 births) compared to the national average of 194. Similarly, in IMNCS areas, hospital delivery doubled to 30% from 15%, and maternal mortality declined to 157 (per 100,000 births).[18] In 2014 BRAC's community healthcare workers reached 1.6 million women with between one and four prenatal care check ups. They also attended deliveries, and provided birthing huts as an alternative to childbirth at home.[1]
Promoting gender equality and empowering women[edit]
BRAC organises and mobilises poor rural women in Bangladesh to speak up and take collective action against discrimination and exploitation. It provides training to local administrators on issues important to the poor, particularly women, and seeks to increase the accessibility, transparency, and accountability of local government. It disseminates information about citizens' legal rights and laws concerning marriage, family and inheritance through popular theatre, community radio, and legal aid clinics. It addresses forms of gender inequality and violence against women such as child marriage, dowry, polygamy, oral divorce, acid throwing, domestic violence, and rape.[1]
BRAC's 2007 impact assessment of its North West Microfinance Expansion Project testified to increased awareness of legal issues, including those of marriage and divorce, among women participants in BRAC programs. Furthermore, women participants' self-confidence was boosted and incidence of domestic violence were found to have declined.[21] One of the most prominent forms of violence against women, acid throwing, has been decreasing by 15-20% annually since the enactment in 2002 of legislation specifically targeting acid violence.[22]
53,358,527,594 
41,915,645,023 taka (US$537M)