Meet Eva, Community Health Promoter

Women in Tanzania are educated about health issues by BRAC Community Health Promoters.

(Photo by: BRAC/Shehzad Noorani)

Meet Eva, Community Health Promoter...

from Dar es Salaam. Eva is one of 1,716 BRAC Community Health Promoters (CHPs) in Tanzania who provides basic health care services to their communities. Like other CHPs, Eva is responsible for 150 to 200 households, all within one kilometer of her home.

During each visit...

Eva checks on the health of household members, offers treatment for basic illnesses and checks to see if there are any pregnant women in the house that need to be referred for antenatal check-ups.

Eva earns a small income...

from selling health-care products, such as insecticide-treated bed nets, contraception and some over-the-counter medicines. For serious cases, she refers patients to health facilities.

Eva has had a profound impact on members of her surrounding community, including...

fifty-two year old Darini Saleha from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who has suffered from a relentless case of Tuberculosis since 2008. Saleha attempted to cure the disease with a 6-month course of medicine to no avail. Then BRAC CHP, Eva, came to visit her. “Eva visited my house and I told her everything about my health condition - that I am suffering from cough, body pain, lack of appetite, fever and weight loss. She advised me to get my blood tested at the hospital”, Saleha said. She was found positive for HIV. Now Eva visits her every day and supervises her medicine intake. “I am happy to see Eva visit my house and I also appreciate how she is raising awareness in the community regarding HIV”, Saleha said.

Thanks to a collection of CHPs like Eva...

BRAC Tanzania has made significant achievements in the health sector in 2010, including:

• 479,473 people, mainly in rural areas, attended 41,578 health forums and meetings;
• 63,264 suspected malaria cases and 3,127 suspected TB cases were successfully referred to hospitals for treatment; and
• 1.5 million Tanzanian men, women, and children were served by 1,716 Community Health Promoters, 587 of whom were trained in 2010.

BRAC USA Welcomes New Additions to the Team

This summer, BRAC USA is fortunate to welcome new hire Alissa Vladimir, who will be acting as Program Associate. BRAC also welcomes two summer interns to the BRAC family, including Ratna Noteman, a recent graduate of NYU Wagner, as well as Alyssa Petersel, a student at Northwestern.

Alissa Vladimir is a recent graduate of NYU Wagner with a focus on public policy analysis and global health.

After completing my undergraduate degree at Temple University in Philadelphia, I began working for a small, for-profit public relations

firm. It was here I realized that my inspiration and motivation did not come from the monetary 'bottom line,' but from working on behalf of organizations that are making a lasting difference in the lives of individuals.

After two years in PR I left my job in Philadelphia to pursue a Masters of Public Administration degree at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU. During my time there I studied many aspects of international development, focusing on global health and maternal health. I was able to intern with a number of organizations working on behalf of women including MADRE, the National Council for Research on Women, The White House Project, and the Daily Beast's Women in the World Summit.

I became familiar with BRAC while working on a documentary series produced by Vital Voices Global Partnership. I decided to apply for the Program Associate position at BRAC USA because I wanted to be part of an organization that is empowering both women and men to create lasting, positive change in their own lives. I am looking forward to working with such a talented and passionate group of people, and I am excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.

Ratna Noteman graduated from NYU Wagner in May 2011 where she received a Master in Public Administration with a specialization in international policy and management.

My name is Ratna Noteman, and I am thrilled to join BRAC USA’s team as a graduate intern for the summer. I first learned about BRAC more than a decade ago while living with my family in Bangladesh. Through my mother and father's involvement with the organization, I was privileged to witness the positive impact it has had on alleviating poverty. The USAID-funded project for which my father worked, for example, partnered with BRAC to provide much needed technical support to poultry farmers. In addition, my mother regularly shopped at Aarang, a BRAC social enterprise that sells Bangladeshi handicrafts and provides gainful employment for thousands of artisans and small entrepreneurs. These early experiences with BRAC exposed me to examples of successful development projects that help the poor and served to inspire my passion to work alongside marginalized communities to combat poverty.

Since I left Bangladesh in 1999, BRAC’s impact has grown exponentially, transforming into the world’s largest international development organization and serving over 138 million people in impoverished communities in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Its holistic approach toward poverty alleviation is regularly hailed as a successful model by international development practitioners. As someone who is passionately dedicated to advancing social and economic justice, I cannot imagine a better place than BRAC to begin my career. I look forward to contributing to BRAC’s mission of empowering the poor and learning from the organization’s impressive staff members and beneficiaries.

Alyssa Petersel is a rising third year undergraduate student at Northwestern University.

As I continue to read about BRAC's history, foundation and the broad extent of its development projects, I become increasingly awed by BRAC's outstanding global impact. I look forward to engaging in BRAC USA's remarkable involvement in such success and in this way hope to gain a thorough understanding of the nuts and bolts of this nonprofit organization.

After many years of traveling around the world, being exposed to distinct perspectives and environments, and actively participating in a number of volunteer projects, I have strengthened an innate passion for global consciousness and community. This very passion has motivated me to dedicate my future to the ideal of global safety and prosperity. Through a variety of classes at Northwestern I have merely touched the surface of learning about the world's persistent struggles and attempts at alleviating such ominous obstacles as poverty and education inequality. I sincerely believe that there is no better place to further my education in innovative world-betterment projects than at BRAC USA, an office close to home with a world-ecompassing vision. I am particularly excited about BRAC's holistic approach to empowerment, as this nonprofit organization incorporates various approaches to broadening an individual's perspective and increasing an individual's self-worth. This then encourages individuals to craft their own uniquely effective paths to a brighter future, speaking to my double major in psychology and international studies. By working closely with experienced individuals I hope to deepen my commitment to BRAC's mission as well as to contribute as much as possible to this exceptionally meaningful cause.

From Amputee to Soccer Star!

This is Herve Celestin, one of the patients at BRAC's Limb and Brace Center in Haiti. Herve lost his home, two friends, and both his legs during last year's earthquake. He now lives in a tent with his parents in one of the camps in Port-au-Prince. Herve is an independent 17-year-old who was ready to work and help his family put their lives back together, but without legs, he was dependent on others to get around. He came to BRAC's Center with the help of two UN soldiers, and we made him two prosthetic legs. We have a few more final touches - so the artificial legs will look more like his own - but he's already making good use of them!

Launch of Bkash marks a new era on financial inclusion

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime” is an old saying. Let me extend this old saying this evening by adding – “Give a man a mobile phone and you have changed his life.”

Jokes aside, let me start with a bit of a background on financial inclusion.

From the very beginning of BRAC, we have talked about financial inclusion as being a very important entry point for any development activities involving the poor and the marginalized. It is the most important access people need to have any chance of moving out of poverty. For the past four decades, Microfinance has been playing a very important role in that aspect by giving people access to credit.

However, in an ideal world, they should be getting these credits from formal banks -- just like they should be having access to formal banking services. But we do not live in an ideal world. Not seeing enough financial profits, the banks do not reach out to these people.

As a result, 7 out of 8 people in Bangladesh remains out of formal banking service. When these people remain out of banking service, they lose out not only from not having increased access to financial and savings instruments; the safety of their savings is often compromised.

To address that issue, BRAC has built savings mechanism in microfinance. However, when they save through Microfinance institutes, they do not always have immediate access to these savings.

Technology here can play a wonderful role to solve this problem. In terms of access to technology, something wonderful happened during the last decade in Bangladesh. Mobile phones took off like wild fire. It spread tremendously among the mass, penetrating even the most remote areas of Bangladesh. Access to mobile phone means access to technology, access to information and access to new services at people’s doorsteps.

In Bangladesh for every 2 people now, there is 1 mobile phone. So, while 7 out of 8 people remain out of banking service, half of those people, interestingly, have access to mobile phone.

Bkash makes this connection.

Bkash will make it possible for the unbanked people to have access to banking services using their mobile phones. Not only banking services which will be enable them to deposit and remit, all kinds of financial services including payments, salaries, social safety net allowances, domestic transfers etc will be possible through this system. This will then make the lives easier for those who are already banked too.

I have no doubt in my mind that these services will provide enormous social value for our under-served people. Beyond the direct benefits, the opportunity cost saved by the convenience of Bkash’s mobile banking, should be tremendous.

For BRAC Bank, Bkash’s parent company, which also has to make financial return for their shareholders, this is a new territory – a new opportunity. I am sure they will find innovative ways to serve what is otherwise known as the BOP or (Bottom of the pyramid) market.

At its 10th anniversary, BRAC bank, is continuing to evolve with time and all along has kept its, and to a large extent, BRAC’s original mission and vision of serving the underserved.

Bangladesh turns 40 this year. So does BRAC in the coming year.

While it’s important to celebrate the progress we have made as a nation and as an organization, it’s also important to be forward looking. As technology is evolving, more people, including our government, are thinking about how to use technology for the benefit of the ordinary citizens in providing basic services in a cost effective way. BRAC and all its subsidiaries and investments would like to play a key role on that.

The launch of Bkash is an important step towards that goal.

Congratulations to everyone in Bkash and BRAC bank who has made the path setting launch possible and we look forward to its success. Just like we celebrated 10 years of BRAC bank and BRAC university this year with a great sense of pride, 10 years down the road, we would like to look back to this day and remember that this is where it all started when we took the definitive step towards financial inclusion for ALL.


By Asif Saleh – BRAC, Director Communications, BRAC and BRAC International and former policy specialist with the Prime Minister’s office on mobile banking.

The Story of Miss Lalbanu

The following was originally posted by Alison Horton on America's Unofficial Ambassadors. Alison is a recipient of the AUA Mosaic Scholarship and is currently volunteering with BRAC in Bangladesh.

Meet Lalbanu, a feisty, humorous, spitfire of a Bangladeshi woman whom I had the honor of befriending on my first day “in the field.” Although she didn’t speak a word of English, and my Bangla was quite minimal, I felt comfortable with her right away. We smiled largely at each other, and she immediately handed me the baby she had been holding in her arms. Later that day I would hear her story, a triumphant one that I will never forget

This first trip was to Mymensingh, a rural district about a two to ten hour bus ride from Dhaka, depending on traffic. Yes, the traffic in and around Dhaka city can be that crazy. Bright and early my first morning in Mymensingh, we headed out on rickshaws to a nearby village. We were to attend the Village Organization (VO) meeting. The VO is a creation of BRAC, and is the backbone of their many programs. Each VO is composed of only women, an approach BRAC has taken in recognition of both the great need for women’s empowerment and their amazing potential to impact village-wide changes. Recent statistics count 303,616 BRAC VOs throughout Bangladesh—wow.

As soon as I entered the village and approached the VO circle, I was warmly welcomed and included. Thirty beautiful Muslim women dressed in traditional sari dresses, smiling at me. Lalbanu stood up and directed the other women to do the same, a sign of respect and hospitality. Lalbanu shined as the clear leader of the group. As I sat down next to her, she placed the baby in my lap and the meeting continued. We were off to a great start.

I noticed just one man in the circle: the BRAC program officer. He attends the weekly meetings, where he takes attendance, recites the “18 Promises” with the women, and receives their weekly loan repayments. The “18 Promises” are an ingenious aspect of these meetings, and serve to spread awareness regarding a variety of healthy practices. So, the women of the villages who have joined the VO for the purpose of receiving a small loan end up learning and spreading much needed lessons well beyond just finances. These promises include “We will send all our children to school,” “We will adopt family planning,” “We will treat our boys and girls equally,” and “We will always drink clean water.” Such statements address the needs and social injustices most common to the rural areas, and the women have become pioneers sparking great changes.

After the promises, loan repayment collection, and discussion of any current issues, the women look towards me, eager to ask me questions and happy to answer mine. I am undoubtedly the whitest person they have ever seen, but to be fair, I am very pale and often whitest person in any setting. The first question is always whether or not I am married, so I quickly learned to respond, “Ami bibohita na” (I am not married). Most village women are accustomed to the practice of marrying very young, often in an arranged marriage. BRAC and other organizations have done great work in shifting respect and prestige for women away from early marriage and onto continued education. This recent effort to curb early marriage and dowry practice has successfully contributed to a nationwide trend towards further education for girls (more on that in a future blog!). Regardless, I greatly enjoyed having my translator explain that I am 26, very happily unmarried, and plan to continue my studies until I am 30. The women always found this quite hysterical.

Lalbanu was especially amused by my ramblings and we planned to meet back up in the afternoon to talk more. She had been involved with BRAC for over 20 years, and she happily agreed to share her story with us. We learned that like many women of her generation, she was married off at a very young age (13, she believes) to a much older man. As is still the practice for most Bangladeshi marriages of all socio-economic strata, she moved in with her new husband and in-laws. Though unsure of the reasons, she recalls being harassed and beaten by her new “family.” At some point she realized that she was the man’s second wife. When they realized that Lalbanu was unable to bear children, the abuse worsened. She remembers the entire village calling her names and continually disrespecting her. When things were at their worst, she found the courage to do the unthinkable and leave her in-laws home. Her husband chose to stand by her and come along. Though culturally discouraged, they moved elsewhere on their village and tried to make it on their own. This is when she found BRAC.

Lalbanu’s first involvement with BRAC was in microfinance. She chose to take a small loan, and thereby joined the VO. Her husband supported this decision, and they decided to use the 900 taka loan ($12 USD) to buy poultry. BRAC then gave them free training on raising these chickens and hens, including how to check their health and keep them productive. They also received training on planting and raising healthy plants on their small property. Later, BRAC began a program that gives day-old chicks to poor families, and Lalbanu and her husband received these as well.

Lalbanu had managed to escape a horrible situation and bravely started from scratch. She successfully managed to get herself and her husband on their own feet, but her road to a better life did not stop there. Her village had finally begun to respect her, even though she was a second wife and had no children of her own. About seven years after taking her first loan, BRAC officers had become well aware of her noteworthy strength and feisty spirit. BRAC chose her to become a “Shasta shebeika”– a health volunteer. She accepted this challenge and honor, and began receiving trainings from BRAC on veterinary skills, midwifery, infant care, sanitation, and curable disease detection and treatment. She has now been working as a shasta shebeika for her village for over 12 years.

So, in addition to raising her livestock for food and income, she dedicates her time to the health of her fellow villagers. She explained that yes, some of her village members are the same who tormented her years ago, but she is a woman of forgiveness and love. With this health position, she makes a very meager income (300 taka ($4 US) per month) from the medicines she sells. Moreover, she is a true saint of a volunteer, visiting households for four hours, six days a week. In total, she covers 176 households. The seventh day each week she travels to town to collect medicines to bring back and distribute. She regularly diagnoses and treats TB, a once common cause of death in her village. She teaches mothers a simple oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhea, a condition that previously took the lives of over half the village’s babies.

Her work has not gone unnoticed. Her dedication has earned her adoration, respect, and appreciation from the very same village that once tormented her. When she speaks of the work she does as a health volunteer, she completely lights up. It is clear that this woman has truly found empowerment, confidence, and esteem though this work. She proudly notes that whenever anyone has a problem, she is the first person they call. Hard to believe this is the same timid 13 year old girl married off, shunned by her family, and disrespected by her neighbors. She rocks.

She tells us (and our video camera) her story with confidence and pizzazz, completely comfortable in the large crowd that has gathered around her in adoration and curiosity. We ask Lalbanu how many babies she has delivered, and she says too many to count, but at least seventy. Wow, we think, what an amazing accomplishment. Previously, due to very treatable but undetected and misunderstood birth complications, an absurd amount of mothers and babies were dying in childbirth in her village. As I sit listening in amazement, with this content and chubby (healthy!) baby in my lap, I wonder, did Lalbanu help deliver this baby?

So we have our translator ask: did she help deliver this baby? Yes, she casually replies, and that one, that one, that one…and so on. She points to over twenty babies and children, newborns to teenagers, in the crowd who she helped bring into this world. The mothers beam with pride for their children, and obvious affection and appreciation for Lalbanu’s amazing service. We ask to take a picture of Lalbanu with the children she has delivered, and she efficiently starts organizing the crowd. She takes our request very seriously and does not allow any child in the picture that does not belong! None of these kids have ever had their photo taken, so naturally we promise a long, fun photo shoot for all after our official Lalbanu-and-her-babies-only shot has been captured.

By now we are all in love with Lalbanu, her village, and her story. At a time and place when women had little say in the direction and quality of their lives, she dictated her own path and has become a heroine in her own time. She may have a dirt floor, just barely enough food to eat, and only a handful of possessions, but she is happy.

When we ask her what she is most proud of, she casually and quickly mentions the changes her work has brought to her village, the health of the children, the empowerment she feels, blah, blah, blah, and then proudly and slowly announces that BRAC once “picked her up in a car!” The crowd behind her beams with pride at their feisty and dynamic leader: so amazing she has even been given a ride in a car. And she is that amazing.

Popular Theater for Social Change

Utilizing a grassroots approach to development is something that BRAC does incredibly well. Given the breadth of BRAC’s reach, undertaking grassroots best practices has proven to be a cost effective way of spreading the messages BRAC desires to send its constituents worldwide. During our field trip to Rangpur, Bangladesh we were able to witness an excellent example of grassroots engagement: Popular Theater.

Popular Theater is a simple and live theater production put on by several members of the village who have been handpicked by BRAC area staff to act out short skits and plays. Each skit provides specific commentary on common social issues such as healthy parenting, the environment, hygienic practices and gender-based violence, to name a few. The theater group is able to rotate through a number of these topics by performing once or twice a month. Popular Theater is one of the many effective and cost efficient ways BRAC disseminates important information to remote rural communities.

In the evening, our van took us down a long winding dirty road to a tiny village where the show was performed. When we arrived, we saw a mass of people; women, men and children of all ages gathered around a makeshift stage with BRAC messaging on a sheet hanging in the background. In the middle of the stage we heard singing and instruments playing as a musical prologue to the show.

We were told that the topic of the night's Popular Theater was ‘eve-teasing’, a term which several of us foreign interns did not understand. Succinctly, eve teasing is sexual harassment; boys persistently giving unwanted attention to girls. This is a prevalent issue in many rural and urban areas of Bangladesh and one that only furthers tolerance for violence against women. It manifests itself as both physical or emotional abuse, ranging anywhere from verbal harassment to rape. Victims of ‘eve teasting’ often suffer life long effects such as social stigma, community ostracism and in some severe cases it can lead to suicide. I should mention here that, working together with other NGOs and international organizations, BRAC has successfully lobbied the Bangladesh government to change the euphemistic language of ‘eve teasing’ to sexual harassment. Additional efforts have included the establishment of Kishori Clubs where adolescent boys and girls have a safe space to practice positive interaction. Eliminating such forms of sexual harassment appears to be one of the many ways BRAC is contributing to gender parity in Bangladesh.

The skit begins with an finely crafted song about ‘eve teasing’ and foreshadows what is to come. The production depicts a teenage girl who is badgered by a boy and how each member of the community, from friends to police officers, can play their role to decrease the prevalence of such harassment. They tackled the topic beautifully; covering what this form of sexual harassment looks like and what can be done as the victim, bystander and parents. The skit also covered the repercussions and in the ending scene, the community members organized a rally and a community group to raise awareness on this issue. The entire production was exceptionally executed for low budget theater and we were all truly impressed by the passion and talent of the actors and actresses.

Throughout the duration of the program the crowd was engaged. Children laughed, adults yelled commentary and the actors and actresses solicited responses to questions or opinions on what to do next. Every member of the audience was impacted in some way by the performance.

Additionally, the educational component of the popular theater targeted all age groups. It provided easy steps with likable characters with whom each audience member could identify. Young children were introduced to the concept and shown healthy behaviors. Teens learned the repercussions of engaging in such practices and how to be a helpful bystander. Finally, adults learned how to support their children and also ideas for social change. It was clear to us that the plot and acting of the skit was specifically designed to impact each demographic present.

As always, one cannot be sure if the people in the audience will actually take the knowledge they have learned from the skit and apply it in their everyday lives. In fact, we might not see the true impact of these Popular Theater productions for a few more years. Despite that inevitable challenge, we anticipate that the skits plant the proverbial seed of healthy behaviors into the minds of the audience so that they carry it with them into their future endeavors. Over time, thanks in part to Popular Theater, general sentiment and actions towards sexual harassment will hopefully change. Girls will find the confidence to tell an adult when they're being harassed. Parents will believe and support their daughters and finally, communities will become less tolerant of harassing behaviors. The battle for gender equity is an uphill struggle but we can guarantee that the Popular Theater productions are helping to bridge the divide between men and women in rural Bangladesh.

Not only did this experience provide us with information on one issue impacting Bengali culture, it also introduced us to an efficient, effective and sustainable awareness raising activity that anyone can do. It appears that approaches as simple as Popular Theater seem to have just as much importance as the more complex programs that BRAC employs in order to educate and develop rural communities worldwide.

By Cori Fleser

Cori Fleser is from Austin, Texas. She is currently interning at BRAC Bangladesh and will be pursuing her Master’s degree in Sustainable Development at the SIT Graduate Institute this fall.

Sources: http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/media_6391.htm

“Breaking the mold: The success stories of Bangladeshi farmers!”

Newspaper headlines have become something we do not look forward to anymore. It reads mostly on the lines of corruption, crime, tragedies and conflicts. Some of us are frustrated and have stopped reading the papers. Good news is somewhat hard to find it seems. Or maybe we just miss out on it because we don’t really read through. So when there is a series of positive news being reported it is bound to catch the eye. It speaks of all the good work that is being done all around us. In recent times, one such continuous stream of positive news I have read is about farmers with photographs of them smiling with their healthy crops. This is indeed good news for Bangladesh. In an industry as labour intensive as the agriculture sector of our country, it means that the conditions are improving for a large number of people. The news is about the lives of Jamir, Rafiq, Hossain, Rashida and many more. These are the stories of BRAC’s agriculture and food security programme which has gained coverage in The Daily Star, The Daily Sun, The Janakantha, Naya Diganta after its success in the fields of maize and sunflower.

Bangladesh has traditionally followed a single cropping strategy growing rice. But with the increased demand for food security, the Ministry of Agriculture has focused in multiple cropping as we have idle land when rice is not being grown. In line, BRAC has promoted maize and sunflower among farmers in the middle of the rice season, which has a dual positive impact – attaining food security and improving farmer's economic condition. Planting sunflower has also helped to utilise the coastal regions of the country.

The Daily Janakantha highlights the success of maize and sunflower cultivation. After the Aman season, the farming land is generally left unused. BRAC has encouraged farming of sunflower and maize and with the help of funds from the European Union is giving financial assistance to farmers. Under this programme called: 'Crop Intensification for Achieving Food Sufficiency in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh' in Khulna 1,346 acres of land is being used for maize cultivation and 130 acre of land is being used for sunflower cultivation. The farmers are already experiencing success. Once such farmer is Jamir Hossain, He is cultivating sunflower in 1 acre of land. He is expecting a harvest of 35 maunds which will give him 15 maunds of oil valued over 75 thousand taka. After a total cost of 15 thousand taka, he is expecting a net profit of 55 thousand taka.

Read more at the Janakantha report (in Bangla)

Maize has also seen a very good harvest. The Ittefaq reports, “In Amtoli village, you see maize wherever you look”. A maize famer, Rafiq says he has harvested 90 maunds of maize from 1 acre of land. Rafiq is one of fifty farmers who share the same story. Another farmer, Md Hossain Ali said he worked according to the advice of BRAC officers and now he has a bumper harvest and does not need to worry about what his family will eat and he feels secure with the extra profit.

Read more from Ittefaq (Bangla)

The Ittefaq highlights the success of sunflower. "I cultivated sunflower on 0.50 acres of land. I hope to get 8 to 10 maunds (a maund is equal to around 44 kg in local measure) of seeds that will bring me 190 to 200 litres of oil. It is sufficient to meet my family's yearly demand," said Rashida Begum, 45, a farmer of Shially village under Sadar upazila.

The Daily Star mentions the success of sunflower cultivation and BRAC’s role. It says BRAC has brought 180 acres of lands under sunflower cultivation in Sadar, Kalapara and Mirzaganj upazilas of Patuakhali district.

"Sunflower cultivation is easier, cheaper and more profitable. It requires very little irrigation and small amounts of fertilisers and insecticides. A kg of sunflower seeds brings 500 to 600 grams of oil, an amount more than that from any other oil seeds," said Abdul Awal, deputy assistant agriculture officer of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

This is just one example of many innovations BRAC is bringing in the field of agriculture. Its agricultural programme is working through the whole chain of agriculture development and playing a catalytic role in attaining self-sufficiency in food production for Bangladesh. The goal of this programme is to contribute to achieving food security and reducing hunger and malnutrition through increased environmentally sustainable agricultural production. Recently minister of agriculture of Bangladesh came to visit BRAC’s agro research centre and stressed on public-private partnership in attaining food security of the growing population in the limited land. As the country faces the threats of climate change, increased focus has also been given by BRAC on submergence tolerant rice varieties for the coastal regions of Bangladesh, an large area with farming potential but not used for traditional farming.

Bangladesh is continuing to meet the increasing challenges of food security and climate change with resolve and innovation in agriculture.

The trend of good news is has been flowing in. It is only the beginning and we can sincerely hope for a regular stream of good news will lead to mass scaling up of such initiatives in other areas.

By Faisal Rezwan

BRAC Communcations

Letter from South Sudan

The world has just witnessed the birth of South Sudan. During this historic time, we thought we would share this letter from our colleagues Nicola Banks and Munshi Sulaiman working at BRAC, the world’s largest development organization which has been working in South Sudan for the past three years.

“I will start a new life in a new country” was the first response we heard from the people of South Sudan in Juba after our arrival. We are here to share in the celebrations for the birth of the world’s newest nation, and to see how our organization BRAC can contribute to meet the challenges of this war ravaged country. These words are illustrative of the hopes of a new beginning that the dawn of Independence will bring to the South Sudan on 9th July, making it the 54th country in Africa, and the 6th member of East Africa.

“It was through a mixture of ballots and bullets that we have attained our hard-earned independence” reads one of the many banners hoisted around the capital city, Juba, in preparation for the 9th July. The recent conflict, even with the six years of relative peace and development since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, remains at the forefront of Independence, The country and its people have paid a heavy toll. The war and underinvestment in public services is ensuring that the country will start its new beginnings under trying conditions. South Sudan will be one of the poorest countries in the world, with around 90 percent of its population living under $1 a day. Jobs are few, and skills and qualifications are fewer, making it extremely difficult for the huge majority to etch out a living.

Regardless of these challenges, the unbridled optimism of this new beginning was striking as we took to the streets of Juba to ask the citizens of this new nation what Independence meant to them. “Everything will change now”, explained one university student, and these sentiments were common to many. While the old country was associated with struggle and suffering, many spoke to their belief that their new-found freedom would bring investments in infrastructure, education, health, and industry, and that this would bring jobs – and therefore livelihoods – to the citizens of the new South Sudan.

While there are excitements all around, there are also important differences in anticipations between the few educated and vast majority of the poor. The unadulterated joy at Independence apparent amongst the educated citizens of Juba was not matched among the poorer and less educated BRAC beneficiaries whom we asked similar questions. Their joy was accompanied with some level of apprehension about the tangible improvements they would see in their lives. Education, employment, and security were the three key priorities that everyone talked about. These remain a momentous challenge for any government, especially in one where spending on army and government salaries takes the lion’s share of government expenditure.

As well as a lack of formal education, the decades of conflict meant that all jobs were impossible and that skills have been out of use and forgotten. Under the shade of a mango tree in Juba University, Mayai, a university student there, explained that the extent and depth of poverty in his country was due to the fact that all forms of employment opportunity were wiped out during the war. People could not invest time or income in agriculture, and opportunities for business were impossible - it was impossible to move freely and safely even within the country, let alone travel outside to Kenya and Uganda in order to source goods for sale. Even if you had skills, therefore, there were no options through which to use them, and this has meant that after more than two decades, skills and knowledge are lacking.

More alarmingly there is an entire missing generation of youth that have been left without education or skills. Providing skills training and employment opportunities for them will be key to escaping poverty. As Pastor Gabriel of the Episcopal Church of Sudan explained to us, “The eldest people are now leaders and now the younger at school, but there is a big gap in the middle. How can these people use the free environment to their benefit?” For the people of South Sudan to be able to fill this gap will require a mix both of skills development alongside job creation if the people of South Sudan are to be able to take advantage of the new nation and its benefits.

People also spoke of their fear of the relative unknowns that may make their lives more vulnerable after Independence. Businesswomen spoke of their worries of increased prices due to restricted exports from the North, and adolescent girls from one of BRAC’s Adolescent Girl Initiative clubs were also worried about security, perhaps these apprehensions are a good thing. If Independence was accompanied only by expectations of an overnight transformation, this could well lead to greater disillusionment when hopes are not immediately met. But one thing everybody hopes, will change is that they will now have a voice. As female entrepreneurs from BRAC’s microfinance programme highlighted, after decades of rule without a voice, the birth of a new nation will also usher in a new form of rule in which the citizens count – “We will see who is bad and who is good”, they explained, “If someone is not good, we have the power to change them”. This level of optimism is striking considering the trauma of the war is still so fresh.

We went to visit one of the 245 non formal primary schools BRAC South Sudan now operates. The children are too young to understand or remember the causes of the war, but the implications of the war and independence were etched strongly in some of their minds. To one small boy, the war is represented as the day his parents forgot him: when his village was raided, many were killed and the rest fled. In the chaos, his parents left him behind. Another girl explained that she had only learnt she was living in Uganda when some LRA fighters attacked their refugee camp – after that her mother told her the history of the fighting, but she did not understand what people were fighting over. They all said that they will be very happy on the 9th of July, because they can raise the flag up. When we ask them what Alfa Alum (Raising the flag) means to them, several groups said that this means there will be no more killing of civilians, while another two groups talked about separation and the fact that this means that the people of South Sudan will now be recognised.

While independence won’t take away these challenges and trauma easily, it will at least partially ensure safety, peace, mobility and citizenship. “Even though I may sleep on the road, I will still be free”, explained Justin, a 36 year old farmer from BRAC’s collective farm just outside Juba, “And we can sleep comfortably --- although we have hunger, we will still be free, without gunshots and people to kidnap our children”. The most striking illustration of independence, however, came from Bul, a 31 year old university student. ‘Why are you excited about independence?’ I asked. His response was simple, “You are from a free country. Well let me tell you this way”, he started explaining. ”Soon my smile will be like yours”.

Read more about BRAC's work in South Sudan.

Expanding Access to Microfinance in Uganda

It was 7:30 in the morning the members of Kiwafu (A) microfinance group were gathering for their first group meeting. The group was officially formed two days ago, on the 16th of July 2011. 21 women who lived in the surrounding areas were sitting neatly in a courtyard. For the next four weeks, they will be going through an orientation programme. After the orientation, they will become the newest borrowers under BRAC’s microfinance programme.

This group was formed under the newly established BRAC branch in Entebbe. This newly established branch is one of 20 new branches, being set-up as a part of BRAC’s ground-breaking partnership with the MasterCard Foundation in Uganda.

Before setting up the new branches, BRAC staff began conducting a comprehensive survey of selected areas where the branches are located. Its through these surveys, the members of the Kiwafu (A) group learned about BRAC and the services offered by the organization.

There was a lot of enthusiasm among these new members. ‘There have been no other organisations who have come to this area with a package like this’ said one member. Another said, ‘We don’t have to save huge amounts before getting loans’. ‘The group is close to our homes and we don’t need to spend money on transportation’ said another. When asked what they are most excited about, almost all members said ‘This is a chance to expand our businesses’.

The members of the group own a variety of businesses. The group leader, Betty has two businesses; a restaurant and a retail store. She knows all too well the need for capital. To set up her restaurant, she had to work hard as a waitress, saving every penny she earned. That was 10 years ago and now that she already has her dream restaurant, she wants to expand it. She has three children and expanding her businesses would help to keep them in school.

‘I also like that they have put their trust in me as a Chairperson’ said Betty as she enjoyed her first day as Chairperson, working together with Prize Niwagaba, a newly recruited BRAC Credit Officer. Prize is learning all her skills from Branch Manager Sylvia Nakaziwe. Sylvia has been working for BRAC for two years now. She was a Credit Officer and the expansion of branches has meant that she, along with other high performing Credit Officers are given the chance to manage new Branches. Throughout the meeting, Sylvia shared her knowledge of BRAC and microfinance with the members. As one of the new members said that she was a qualified nurse, Sylvia was quick to tell her about BRAC’s health programmes. The partnership with MasterCard Foundation will also mean an expansion of other BRAC programmes in health, agriculture, poultry, livestock as well as BRAC’s work with young people, especially girls.

All in all there was a sense of excitement in the air. For all there were new opportunities in the horizon. Particularly for Agnes, one of the youngest members of the group, Agnes had started a business selling cassava. Her husband who is a boda (motor cycle taxi) driver gave her the initial capital. But Anges’s dream is to start a saloon. She has already enrolled herself for training and has one month left. With the loan from BRAC, her dream of setting up a salon will finally come true.

BRAC is playing a critical role in expanding access to financial services in Uganda. BRAC is already the largest microfinance provider in the country and through its partnership with the MasterCard Foundation, the organization is taking its services to unreached poor and marginalized communities across the country.

Independent Review Attributes Achievements of AusAID-Bangladesh to Partnership with BRAC

Last year, the Australian Government commissioned an indpendent review of its overeseas aid program, AusAID, to examine the effectiveness of the current program and recomend improvements. The study's findings, which were published in an April 2011 report, found that AusAID's overall performance was effective, particularly in Bangladesh where it has delivered key improvements in education, health, and reducing extreme poverty. The review cites that these results have been achieved through a range of partnerships with NGOs, most notably BRAC. In a resounding endorsement, the review panel argued that "BRAC is a good example of an effective local NGO that Australia can confidently support."

Key achievements from the Australian-BRAC parternship in Bangladesh include:

• Reduced maternal mortality rates of 15 percent across 11 districts, by improving skills and support for 16,200 commuinty workers and volunteers to care for women during childbirth.
  


• Better access to primary and pre-primary school for 1.5million children who otherwise would not have attended school--65% of these were girls.


• 2.4 million people (mainly women and chlidren) lifed out of extreme poverty through complementary health skills training and livelihood support activities.

BRAC received $30.4 million in funding from the Australian government in 2009-2010. As the review extolled,"BRAC's success has been built on its knowledge and understanding of poverty, and its strong focus on women and girls. Its effort in microfinance have helped more than four million people access credit."

Following the positive results of the review panel, Australia increased its aid to Asia and Africa. Overall, the government plans on increasing aid by o.5% of GNI in 2015-2016, in line with its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

BRAC at International Conference on Framework for Economic Growth in Pakistan

BRAC at International Conference on Framework for Economic Growth in Pakistan

Starting today, the Government of Pakistan and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are co-hosting a 2-day conference in Islamabad titled “A Policy Dialog on the New Growth Strategy of Pakistan Moving Forward”.

The UNDP has invited Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director of BRAC, (pictured above) to be the lead speaker for the conference’s session on “Connecting to the Community Engagement.” The roundtable will cover community engagement, market reforms, innovation, among other topics.

At the invitation of the government of Pakistan, BRAC launched poverty alleviation work in Pakistan in 2007, starting with microfinance in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. Currently BRAC operates 94 branches total in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The current portfolio of programs in the country include microfinance, health, and education. BRAC has also launched a “Target Ultra-Poor” program which targets those who are too poor for microfinance with livelihood development support, asset transfer, and enterprise training, with the goal of graduating them out of the lowest rungs of poverty in about 2 years.

Susan Davis writes on South Sudan's independence in Huffpost World

In January, 2011, a referendum was held under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, during which an overwhelming 99% of voters voiced preference for separation from the rest of Sudan.

Following this referendum, the Sudanese government officially announced its recognition of South Sudan as an independent state at 12:01 am on Friday, July 9, 2011.

Susan Davis' article, "Republic of South Sudan: Dreams of a New Nation" appeared in Huffpost World the day of this magnificent event. Susan emphasizes that "the South Sudanese are survivors and resilient." They are capable of becoming "engines of economic growth and citizens of a vibrant democracy." Upon embracing the potential of its people, South Sudan will realize the national dreams of peace and a better future that accompany its independence.

Members of BRAC on the ground in South Sudan were able to capture this momentous occasion. Click here to view a picture slideshow of South Sudan's independence celebrations on July 9, 2011.

Join the celebrations for the South Sudan Independence by visiting www.welcome193.org and tweeting with #Welcome193

Minister of Agriculture visits BRAC's Agriculture Research Centre

The Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Begum Matia Chowdhury MP visited the BRAC Agriculture and Research Development Centre (BARDC) on the 8th of July 2011. She was accompanied by the Executive Director of BRAC, Mr Mahabub Hossain. C Q K Mustaq Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture also accompanied the minister during the visit. She observed our research initiatives inside our laboratory and the end results in the trial fields.

The Honourable Minister talked about the problem Bangladesh faces in attaining self-sufficiency in food production - a gradual decrease of agricultural land coupled with an increase in population. It has led us towards vertical expansion– producing more food with the same area of land.

The minister stressed the importance of public private partnerships. The government has a strong drive toward food security but complementary efforts in the fields of research, production of quality seed is an integral and important part for Bangladesh to move forward in its drive towards self-sufficiency in food production. BRAC researches innovative solutions towards food security, resulting in hybrid crops which give higher yield resulting in more food and more profits for marginalised farmers. The development of successful hybrid varieties is an important step on a national scale and a major effort in complementing government efforts.

The Honourable Minister talked about developing multiple cropping short maturing crop varieties – rice seeds which matures in a shorter time, and can be harvested and cropped twice or thrice instead of the traditional approach of single cropping. In line with Government strategy, 2010 saw the introduction of three new short maturing varieties, the result of the research efforts of BRAC’s scientists.

Climate change with rising temperatures and rising water levels threatens our food production levels as we move ahead into the future. Frequent flooding has posed a major threat to destroy our crops. Begum Matia Chowdhury talked about facing these challenges. She was introduced to our work with submergence tolerant rice varieties for the coastal regions of Bangladesh, an area with potential but not used for traditional farming.

In her speech, the Honourable Minister appreciated BRAC’s efforts in alleviating poverty and hunger in the country, and especially in the agricultural sector.

By Faisal Rezwan, BRAC Communications

Carnegie Council interviews BRAC USA's President & CEO

Policy Innovations for a Fairer Globalization, a publication of the Carnegie Council, recently hosted a conversation between Julia Taylor Kennedy and Susan Davis, President and CEO of BRAC USA. The goal of the conversation was to explore the topic of ethics and how this has shaped Susan's career.

The transcript of the interview and the podcast recording can be found here.

Christy Turlington: Back to Bangladesh - Day 3

Below is post from Christy Turlington Burns, founder of the non-profit organization, Every Mother Counts and Director/Producer of the documentary film "No Woman, No Cry". In this article, originally published on Huffington Post, Christy Turlington Burns writes about her experience of returning to Bangladesh for the first time since filming the segment on BRAC's Manoshi project aimed at improving maternal health in the slums of Dhaka.

We started our day at Dhaka Medical College's teaching hospital where we learned more about one of the most common pregnancy-related morbidities (or disabilities) that poor women endure in childbirth; obstetric fistula. An obstetric fistula is when a woman suffers an obstructed labor, ultimately tearing a hole in her birth canal. Fistulas lead to incontinence of urine, feces and often cause infertility. Equally as devastating is that most women with fistulas are ostracized by their families and communities.

The good news is that there is a surgical procedure to treat fistula and 90 percent of fistula cases can be repaired. Yet still, many women who suffer are not aware that this surgery may be available to them and as a result they can endure lifelong emotional trauma. Obstetric fistula is a condition that is simply hard to ignore once you understand its implications.

In the summer of 2009 when filming, No Woman, No Cry in Tanzania, we met Agnes in the Ol Danyo Sambo clinic and learned through talking to her that she'd been suffering from fistula for 11 years. While Agnes's story did not make it into the film, we knew her story was too important to not share. We recently created an education module about fistula that features her story in an effort to educate American moms about the issue. The short film begins though with footage shot in this very hospital in Dhaka. (Visit everymothercounts.org to watch the film.)

Awareness is increasing because of the advocacy efforts of many organizations and fistula campaigns around the world. Those efforts have been strongly led by UNFPA along with their former Executive Director, Thoraya Obaid. Thoraya has been a true leader in advocating to increase the profile of this preventable pregnancy-related tragedy. It is important to keep in mind that globally, for every single maternal death, there are at least 20 morbidities.

Our friends at UNFPA showed us around the National Fistula Center at the Dhaka Medical College and their nearby Fistula Rehabilitation Center. Dr. Ferdousi Islam, the head of the OB/GYN department told us that an estimated 71,000 women suffer with an obstetric fistula in the country and every year there are another 3,000 to 4,000 cases. The National Fistula Center, established in 2003, provides surgeries to women who need it (free of charge) and can then refer them to the rehabilitation center to get re-acclimated to living in their communities once rehabilitated.

We met with patients in the pre-operative room who were waiting their turn -- one of whom was 45 years old and had been suffering from a fistula for 12 years. In the next bed was a girl who looked to be no older than 15 or 16 years old. Both women had lost their babies during their deliveries. Adolescent girls are especially at risk and are five times as likely to die or be injured in childbirth. The issue is a real problem in Bangladesh due to high rates of child marriage. When a girl's body is not yet fully matured, she is more likely to experience prolonged labor, which, in the worst-case scenario, can lead to death for both mother and baby. Like so many development issues, this is one that requires a holistic approach. Prevention is as important as treatment to prevent fistulas and maternal mortality. But rehabilitation is also paramount for full recovery for those who have received treatment so that these women can reenter society.

It is important to focus on adolescent girls when we are addressing prevention of maternal mortalities and morbidities. That's why we were so incredibly energized by our next stop where we traveled outside the city center with BRAC to visit their SoFEA program (Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents). While still a pilot program for BRAC, it is already making a tremendous impact for the 12,500 girls they have reached so far. The 15-20 girls we met with all between the ages of 11-18 years old were bright, energetic, and confident and what was most encouraging, they were hopeful about their futures. Today in Bangladesh, it is estimated that 65 percent of girls under the age of 18 are married. But SoFEA is setting out to provide girls with options and education so that they're better positioned to delay marriage. With support from the Nike Foundation, these girls gathered together to support each other, to learn life skills and some vocational skills that could position them to get jobs. The club even had a laptop they use to learn basic computer skills (which they also used to take our picture and play music for dancing.)

If girls are given tools to provide for themselves they can continue their studies longer, which will help to delay early marriage and first births which will keep them healthier. These girls are the key and we were reminded that future mothers count too. It was an incredible visit and we were sorry to peel away but we had a premiere to get back to in Dhaka.

The Bangladesh premiere of, "No Woman, No Cry" was really the anchor for this trip and the final country profiled that I have returned to in order to screen the film. DFID, the UK's aid agency, helped to translate the film into the local language of Bangla so that we'd be able to take it to the communities here. ICDDR,B, CARE, DFID and BRAC all joined forces to put on a fantastic event. After the screening, I was joined on a panel moderated by Tim Evans, Dean at the James P. Grant school of Public Health at BRAC University and ICDDR,B, Birthe Locatelli-Rossi, Chief, Health and Nutrition Section UNICEF) and Dr. Faruque Ahmed, Director of the BRAC Health Program. The portion of the film that focused on Bangladesh centered on BRAC's Manoshi program, which we had revisited on day one. It was great to be part of a discussion where we could celebrate the progress made as recently as our first trip to film, while still having a real conversation on what else needs to happen to achieve the 2015 MDG targets.

The event brought together members of the MNCH community in an informal setting to take a hard look at some of the gaps highlighted in the film but in a setting/institution that is all about analyzing data for the community at large in an attempt to find life saving solutions.