Graduating the poor out of poverty in Ethiopia

The below article was originally posted by Sandeep Kaur, a Communications Officer at BRAC Development Institute (BDI) on the CGAP-Ford Graduation Program blog.


Currently, BDI, BRAC USA and The MasterCard Foundation are researching the outcomes of several pilots of the CGAP-Ford Graduation Program, which adapts and replicates BRAC's Ultra Poor program in seven countries

In recent news, the devastating famine in East Africa has highlighted Ethiopia’s chronic food insecurity and vulnerability to drought.  Yet despite the recent food crisis that has affected millions, there is a positive story from Tigray, northern Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia Graduation Pilot was the first of the CGAP- Ford Foundation Graduation Pilots launched in 2010 in the African sub-continent.  Implemented by the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in Northern Ethiopia the program builds upon the Government of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). Through this pilot, REST is working with 500 of the poorest PSNP beneficiaries.

Program participants have been engaged in cattle fattening, sheep and goat fattening, honey production and petty trade since summer 2010.  According to DECSI, the microfinance institutions providing financial services to participants, people are already saving regularly, probably indicating that they are starting to generate income from their small enterprises. REST has also noted that participants’ housing conditions have improved.

Although, impact results from the program are not due out until one year after the pilot’s end, the pilot is eager to share its experience and lessons from implementation. In October 2012, REST, The MasterCard Foundation and BRAC Development Institute (BDI) convened a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring together donors, policy makers and practitioners working on issues of extreme poverty and food insecurity in Ethiopia.

Teklewoini Assefa, Director, REST
giving the welcome speech at the workshop

The workshop provided an opportunity for REST to share lessons and discuss important issues with donors, policy makers and practitioners including representatives from The MasterCard Foundation, USAID and CARE Ethiopia to name a few.  During the workshop, Dr Mulugeta, REST, gave an overview of the Ethiopia Graduation Pilot. Sana Khan, from IPA, presented on the baseline survey findings, thus painting a detailed picture of extreme poverty in the pilot area. A dynamic exchange followed with questions such as: How do you develop public-private partnerships to build-up markets? What are appropriate financial services in high inflation environments? Are asset transfers always needed or can the poorest make good use of small loans such as tested with the “Household Asset Building Program” and “Productive Safety Net Program Plus”?

In the next two weeks, we will be featuring a new blog series on the Ethiopia Graduation Pilot, with contributions from The MasterCard Foundation, BRAC USA, BDI and others.

Mobile Health Services: Innovating the way we serve the underprivileged

Initiated in January 2007, BRAC’s Manoshi programme was launched to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality rates in urban slums. It is one of the biggest interventions, with a strongly monitored and efficient health service delivery system. Approximately 8,000 community health workers are providing maternal, neonatal and child health services at the doorstep, providing supportive skilled birth attendance and arranging timely referral of complications to hospitals. Nevertheless, there are still scopes for improvement in several key areas, including preventive care, emergency management and resource optimization.

Considering the availability of telecommunication network and services in Bangladesh, BRAC along with ClickDiagnostics (a pioneering US-based m-Health company) has jointly designed a mobile health service model for Manoshi, with the aim to improve maternal, newborn and child health with enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. Addressing the issue of targeted preventive care, this mobile-based platform is used by the community health workers to collect data through a step-by-step decision tree (Bangla), eliminating unnecessary processes such as the need to decide when and which data to collect, and converting those into useful information.
Ensuring real time electronic patient record generation and transmission through General Packet Radio Services (GPRS - a packet-based wireless communication service), automated medical response and automatic risk categorization and assessment, targeted and prioritized medical response, scheduling work, referral monitoring and real time work alerts are key features which make m-Health a more efficient service.

In this automated system, emergency management is driven centrally by a hotline centre with an easy-to-remember short-code, ensuring single point contact for all emergency cases. Once that is completed, arranging the ambulance and informing nearby hospitals can be done on time. Instant digitalization of all data entered using this system can enhance managerial functions automatically in a much easier and more efficient manner.

In July 2009, a pilot mobile based data collection and service delivery system was developed for the health workers, which covered approximately 18,000 households and 2,000 pregnant women. The pilot provided evidences of a very user-friendly system, reduced data collection time and error in data recording, instantaneous reporting, and efficient program management through sophisticated supervision and monitoring.

After the successful completion of the pilot and observation of the positive results, Manoshi is expanding the BRAC-Click m-Health model to all of the six city corporations. Concurrent with the deployment in the urban areas under Manoshi, the BRAC-Click m-Health model will also be replicated in the rural areas of BRAC Maternal Neonatal and Child Health Programme. It will be the first of its kind for any m-Health model in remote locations with widely dispersed and disadvantaged populations.

Implementation of m-Health in this field is unique, as the first large scale deployment in the world. The incorporation and seamless integration of m-Health technologies in BRAC's proven delivery model can present a novel scope for reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality in its vast coverage areas, and generate research based evidence on the success of m-Health services.

Field Trip to Noakhali: learning more about the lives of char settlers

Last week, I was part of an interdisciplinary team that traveled to Noakhali. Our task: to understand the unique challenges facing the villagers living in Bangladesh’s chars and envision how BRAC could create an integrated program tailored to their needs. Chars are newly formed land masses as a result of gradual deposit of silt carried down by major rivers. In addition to natural hardships like frequent flooding and lack of fresh water due to salinity, in many cases chars fall between administration areas and lack formal government and basic services. Drawn by the opportunity to claim and own land, an estimated 6.5 million Bangladeshis live on chars (that’s about 5% of the population), many in dire poverty.

In 1994, the Government of Bangladesh established the Char Development and Settlement Program (CDSP) to bring together multiple ministries and non-governmental organizations to develop infrastructure and build social capital on the chars. Now entering its fourth phase, the program has reached almost 900,000 char-dwellers with services ranging from microfinance to schools to reforestation. BRAC joined the efforts in 2005 mainly to coordinate and support the activities of five NGOs working in Boyer Char, the designated area of the third phase of CDSP. Though a recent BRAC study showed some significant improvement in livelihoods of the participant households, the authors mention that only a modest impact on education has been achieved.

When the third phase came to a close in 2010, funding for all activities in Boyer Char ended. Some initiatives, such as a new elementary school, continued through community financing. Many programs were unable to sustain themselves, despite great need. As BRAC was already in the process of applying to implement programs in the chars chosen for the fourth phase, several BRAC staff suggested that we consider establishing programs in Boyer Char as well. With me on this field visit were a diverse group of colleagues, representing programs including Human Rights & Legal Aid Services, Community Empowerment, Gender Justice & Diversity, Microfinance, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene.

We drove onto the char using a new road with a sturdy bridge that crossed the channel. As we’re entering the dry winter season, we were spared the threat of flood. Waiting for us was a group of women who had participated in the microfinance activities. From their comments, it quickly became apparent that the issues were numerous. Many did not own their land and have a cut of their harvest extorted by self-appointed “landlords” in the area. There is only one public toilet in the area, and many of the households do not have sanitary latrines. Unavailability of water during the dry season is a major issue as well both for crops and drinking water. Access to primary education expanded greatly over the last few years. However, those who wish to enroll in post-primary school must travel by rickshaw to the nearby town. The transport costs and the distance preclude many students, particularly girls, from attending. No local options for formal health services exist. Locals rely on quacks (local ‘healers’ practicing without formal training), particularly now that most of the community health workers trained during the project period have become inactive. Most women must rely on their husbands to collect health products from the nearby market, as they themselves rarely leave the village.

We also spoke with women who formerly comprised a Polli-Shomaj (village-society), through which they had learned about their rights, social services and local government to better empower them for community advocacy. Having had their last formal class over a year ago, these women are feeling increasingly disempowered as the group disintegrates and their knowledge fades. Many also voiced a sense of frustration because although they know how to take legal actions, they lack the necessary support and resources to realize them when for example, land or a harvest is usurped, a husband abuses a wife, or when their daughters are harassed.

One woman in the Polli-Shomaj was trained as a community health volunteer. When the program ended, she found a different channel to procure medical products and continued to sell them locally. Her family has also installed a solar panel and offers neighbors the option to charge their phone there for a small fee, saving them a trip into town where the nearest electricity is available. Informal household visits yielded other innovations. Many men leave Boyer Char to seek employment as day laborers and brick-field workers, and they have learned to send remittances using not the nascent bKash mobile banking service, but cell phone credit!

Talking to these people, I was amazed by how resilient, optimistic and resourceful many are. A testament to their potential was the transformation of the char from one big sandy stretch of land to a green and bountiful area in just a few years. With the improvements in communications and forestry, the casual observer likely would not even realize where the mainland ends and the char begins! It’s exciting to hope that BRAC can build on these accomplishments to empower communities to further move out of poverty and thrive.

By Ishtiaque Hussain, BRAC Social Innovation Lab

Two sides of the same coin: how the UNDP and BRAC identify challenges to poverty differently

A few weeks ago the UNDP launched its 2011 Human Development Report titled "Sustainability and Equity: a Better Future for All", and as a part of the research team, I was proud to see my name on it. The report had long been in preparation and I had almost forgotten about it, as since September I have been contributing to another major development organization, BRAC. My involvement with these two organizations has been similar, in that they share a common mission and have many overlapping goals. But my exposure to both worlds has made me recognize how greatly their approaches to identifying solutions to poverty differ, even when they have independently identified the same problems.

The UNDP’s Report has indicated that the Human Development Index (HDI) has risen globally in the last 20 years, which means that as a whole, quality of life and access to resources have generally improved across the board. But we are now faced with another obstacle in the path to building sustainable livelihoods: the degradation of our environment.

Although this problem affects people of all nations and socioeconomic backgrounds, the bottom billion of our society bears the largest burden. Environmental concerns make the already complex problem of poverty even more complicated. In order to identify solutions, we need to understand how the problem is exacerbated on a policy level, a societal level, and a human level.

BRAC is the world’s largest development organization in both manpower and scale focused on empowering poor populations by providing them access to resources, capital, and education. In contrast to the UNDP’s report, that is generated by academicians and researchers, BRAC collects its data at a grassroots level, working directly with communities and learning from its experience on the ground. Despite the different approaches, both organizations are focused on a common mission: to find the most effective and sustainable solutions to systemic poverty.

Both organizations have recognized this new challenge of environmental degradation, which forces countries with a low HDI to adapt their development strategy to conserve depleting resources or to refashion or eliminate industries that are no longer sustainable in a degraded environment. By default, the most vulnerable populations are unjustly affected by these changes in strategy. Poor populations and particularly women and children are relegated to geographic areas that are susceptible to natural disasters and are not viable locations for adequate economic activity. One strategy proposed by the HDR 2011 suggests that policy makers need to re-think the development model and integrate equity concerns in development policies. It underlines the need for policy makers to “avert environment degradation” with measures such as adaptive disaster responses.

At BRAC, this is already in practice. BRAC's program on Disaster, Environment and Climate Change, for instance, integrates disasters preparedness into their community empowerment programs. With projects such as the Microclimatic Weather Stations and the Geographical Information System, BRAC helps its clients decrease their vulnerability to environmental challenges. This results in a less unequal development policy, making the poor an active development partner.

Another way BRAC helps redress inequities in development is by working directly with the communities, training them and gathering information from indigenous people for disaster risk reduction. BRAC has long understood that an empowered community will have more tools to face environmental degradation and understand the need to lessen their adverse impact on the environment.

I have been fortunate to have exposure to both approaches, BRAC’s grassroots approach on one side and UNDP’s academic approach on the other, and understand that they are equally important methods to identify and eliminate sources of inequity.

By Shital Beejadhur-Rathod, BRAC USA Contributor

Students from all over the world interview BRAC founder

After winning the WISE Prize for Innovation in Education, BRAC Founder and Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed meets with students from countries including Haiti and Sierra Leone, who interview him about BRAC's education initiatives.

Microfinance Pioneer Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder of BRAC, Advances “Business in a Box” Strategy

The world's largest antipoverty organization advocates a market-oriented approach to job creation and poverty alleviation, putting poor borrowers on a path to prosperity by giving them a “business in box.”

BRAC, the world’s largest development organization, lays out its “microfinance plus” approach to defeating global poverty at the Global Microcredit Summit 2011 in Valladolid, Spain, this week. Presenting BRAC’s strategy to over 2,000 delegates at the annual microfinance conference, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder and chairperson, advocates a market-oriented approach to job creation and poverty alleviation that puts poor borrowers on a path to prosperity by giving them a “business in box.”

It’s an approach that development experts call “micro-franchising.” Working in poor communities, BRAC develops sustainable business models that can be easily replicated, creating networks of self-employed micro-entrepreneurs who earn extra income by delivering vital services that achieve a social good.

More than 137.5 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan in 2010, an all-time high, according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign. BRAC itself reaches over 8 million borrowers, a number rising steadily thanks in part to this year’s launch of bKash Limited, a mobile financial service provider in Bangladesh and a subsidiary of BRAC Bank, the organization’s bank targeting small businesses.

But development organizations should think beyond microfinance to make strides against poverty, BRAC’s founder says. “Financial services alone are not sufficient to break the bonds of poverty,” says Abed, who launched BRAC in Bangladesh in 1972. In a paper presented at the conference, Abed explains how BRAC has combined microfinance with agricultural services to improve rural livelihoods and food security in Bangladesh and around the world.

Now in 10 countries, BRAC has built a global network of 150,000 micro-franchised entrepreneurs providing services in agriculture, poultry, livestock and health. Abed calls it a “holistic, sustainable, market oriented approach” to poverty alleviation that uses microloans, training and branding, while offering borrowers low-cost access to inventory, efficient distribution systems and continuous support.
“BRAC provides the branding, inventory and training to the micro-entrepreneurs, who in turn provide training and product to BRAC microfinance clients and others in the villages where BRAC operates,” writes Abed and co-authors Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Susan Davis, and Rod Dubitsky in the paper, “Using Microfinance Plus Agricultural Services to Improve Rural Livelihoods and Food Security,” which will appear in the forthcoming volume New Pathways out of Poverty (Sterling, Va.: Kumarian Press).

“The entrepreneurs, in turn, earn income by selling the goods BRAC provides at a mark-up. For example, BRAC entrepreneurs earn between $15 and $20 per month in the provision of poultry vaccination services. Farmers in turn get a valuable service and expect to benefit by enjoying a material drop in poultry mortality. Such a ‘Business in a Box’ not only provides a valuable service and income, it is a more sustainable model than other programs that provide vaccines free (which may not be available to all farmers and may not be reliably available).”

Micro-franchising has proved useful in bridging the last mile in the delivery of vital goods and services, says Susan Davis, the president and CEO of BRAC USA and one of the paper’s co-authors. “A poor person can find a bottle of Coca-Cola today anywhere in rural Africa – but not mosquito bed nets and condoms,” says Davis. “Distribution is a real challenge that organizations never speak about, but it is one of the most critical hurdles in reaching the poor. Microfinance institutions can effectively bridge this gap. For instance, BRAC reaches more than 8 million women, every week – at their doorstep, in providing credit and financial services. Can you imagine the potential of a sustainable distribution model like this?”

BRAC began its experiments with micro-franchising decades ago when it realized that merely lending to the poor would not be enough to lift them out of poverty. Dramatic improvement would come, however, with better access to markets, fairer prices, knowledge transfer and higher quality inputs like high-yield seeds and new breeds of chickens. BRAC created agricultural enterprises and services to enhance the business prospects of its microfinance borrowers and other members of poor communities. It used the same approach in providing health care, raising an army of “community health promoters” to provide simple but vital services in slums and villages, like de-worming medication and oral rehydration solution to treat diarrhea in young children.

Though largely unknown outside the international development community, experts have long noted the size and scope of BRAC’s success in Bangladesh. Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion, has called BRAC “the most astounding social enterprise in the world.” The Economist called it not only the largest but “one of the most businesslike” nongovernmental organizations in the world.

Today, BRAC is scaling up its micro-franchising approach outside its native Bangladesh. Through a ground-breaking $45 million partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, BRAC has built a network of 3,500 micro-franchised entrepreneurs in Uganda providing critical livelihood and health services to the poor. It currently operates in ten countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Liberia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda.

About BRAC
BRAC, formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, is a global development organization dedicated to alleviating poverty by empowering the poor to bring about change in their own lives. BRAC’s holistic approach aims to achieve large scale, positive changes through economic and social programs that enable women and men to realize their potential. BRAC was launched in Bangladesh in 1972 and today reaches more than 138 million people in Africa and Asia through its programs that address poverty by providing micro-loans, self-employment opportunities, health services, education and legal and human rights services. Learn more at http://www.bracusa.org.

About the Microcredit Summit Campaign
The Microcredit Summit Campaign is a project of RESULTS Educational Fund, a U.S.-based advocacy organization committed to creating the will to eliminate poverty. The Campaign was launched in 1997 and, in 2007, surpassed its original goal of reaching 100 million of the poorest families, providing credit for self-employment and other financial and business services. The Global Microcredit Summit 2011 is held November 14-17 in Valladolid, Spain. http://www.globalmicrocreditsummit2011.org.

Letter from Tanzania: Reaching the Unreached

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Mbeya, the southernmost region of Tanzania. It's not an easy task to get here, for Mbeya lies some 800 kilometers from the capital, Dar-es-Salam, near the borders of Zambia and Malawi. I was travelling with a representative from the Whole Planet Foundation to see BRAC's microfinance and livelihood programs in action, curious to see how BRAC Tanzania was making it all work, providing affordable financial services to the poor in one of the most remote parts of the country.

On this particular morning, we pay a visit the town of Uyole and the surrounding villages. After a quick pit-stop at the BRAC branch, where we meet the Branch Manager, Roda Hassan, we head out to participate in a microfinance group meeting and hear from BRAC's borrowers directly. It was still early, and the credit officers were out making the rounds. Each BRAC credit officer attends at least three group meetings every morning, a ritual that happens all across Tanzania, where on any given day 600-odd credit officers head out in the early hours to meet thousands of clients right at their doorsteps.

The group we're meeting today is called Mapya, after the village of the same name outside Uyole. The borrowers take turns introducing themselves. The Mapya group consists of about 30 members, most of them in their third or fourth loans. About four to five members are first-time borrowers.

At this point, I'm curious to learn how the borrowers' lives have changed after taking three, four and sometimes even five loans from BRAC. So I ask the question. Their eagerness to answer overwhelms me.

"I was able to get electricity in my house two months ago," says Ameena. The money she's saved through extra income helped pay for the connection; it all started with a loan from BRAC.

Salima, meanwhile, tells me that she's actually building a new house. Roida almost had tears in her eyes when she shared the story of sending her kids to school.

There is no doubt in the minds of these women that their lives have changed since they became BRAC clients. I soon realize I'm the one who'd been harboring doubts.

BRAC staff from the Uyole Branch, with Brian Doe from the Whole Planet Foundation and BRAC's Country Representative Gunendu Roy

Over lunch, I have a chance to chat with BRAC Tanzania's Country Representative, Gunendu Roy, and the Regional Manager, Rabiul Hassan, who oversees the Mbeya region. I share with them my amazement at seeing our programs working seamlessly in a remote place like Mbeya. I realize during my conversations what a significant part of BRAC's success is due to the commitment, dedication, patience and agility of our staff -- people like Gunendu, Rabiul and Roda.

Take Rabiul, for instance. Originally from Bangladesh, he amazes me with his fluency in Swahili. He has overseen the opening of every single branch office in the Mbeya region and two other districts nearby. He probably knows the names and businesses of most of the borrowers in the area. This is a person who oversees lending to 15,000 clients across 15 branches.

With staff like him and such great leadership from the Country Representative, it's no wonder BRAC is able to make things work -- even in the most remote corners of Africa.

BRAC and Gates Foundation, tackling toilet trouble together

Great news from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation today. The foundation has announced a grant for BRAC to develop sustainable sanitation delivery models, improving living conditions for over a million of Bangladesh's poorest while raising school attendance levels for girls especially.

What's the connection between toilets and girls' education? This video explains:



The Gates-BRAC partnership shows the alignment of BRAC's broad antipoverty approach, which includes access to proper sanitation and hygiene, with the foundation's campaign to "reinvent the toilet."

Here's what Susan Davis, president and CEO of BRAC USA, has to say about our efforts to delivery clean water and sanitation to everybody, regardless of their economic circumstances:

BRAC has found that the poorest of the poor will lift themselves out of poverty if they are given the right package of opportunities and an enabling environment. One of the basic constraints for people at the bottom 10 percent of the economic pyramid, especially women and girls, is lack of access to proper sanitation. We need to start treating access to sanitation as a basic human right, to break the cycle of contamination caused by the use of unclean latrines, contaminated water and unsafe hygiene practices. We need to put an end to open-air defecation to achieve our goal of defeating absolute poverty.

In Bangladesh, BRAC has developed sustainable and cost-effective business models that put us on a path toward universal sanitation coverage. Since 2006, we've helped over 38 million people, especially the poor, get access to sanitation. We build latrines in schools so that girls have privacy, thus raising attendance levels. We encourage bottom-up entrepreneurship among the poor by, for instance, creating micro-franchised "SaniShops," whereby women earn extra income selling sanitary napkins and soap. We build local supply chains for sanitation hardware. We finance entrepreneurs who manufacture and install latrines slabs. And now we are creating systems for reselling latrine compost.

As BRAC expands opportunities for the poor in 10 countries around the world, it's heartening to know that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recognized BRAC's expertise, learned over 40 years of trial and error in Bangladesh. Finding sustainable antipoverty solutions requires innovative thinking -- and strong partnerships like this one.

Make no mistake. The impact of this grant will be huge. The WASH II project, implemented with combined funding from the Government of the Netherlands and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will result in improved sanitation services for over 1.2 million people.

Now we all know the global poop problem is no laughing matter. Still, this animation clip from the Gates Foundation sums it up quite nicely:

And in case we forget on Nov. 19: Happy World Toilet Day.

Tackling Pneumonia Globally: World Pneumonia Day on 12 November – a Reflection

Watch Message from Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC Founder & Chairperson on World Pneumonia Day 2011


Globally, in every 20 second a child dies from pneumonia. This loss of life is even more tragic because nearly all of these deaths are preventable, and more than 98% of childhood pneumonia deaths occur in developing countries. Safe and effective vaccines, inexpensive treatments and preventive measures exist that can save lives. If developing countries had these vaccines and medicines, the lives of almost 1 million children under age 5 could be saved every year. Pneumococcal vaccines to prevent pneumonia are desperately needed in developing countries to save the children dying from pneumonia.

Saving children’s life by tackling pneumonia—Bangladesh perspectives
Recently, Bangladesh has made enormous progress with reducing child mortality rate. Along with few other countries, Bangladesh is in track to reaching towards MDG 4 of reducing two thirds of fewer than five child mortality rate by 2015. The current under five child mortality rate is 54 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the immunization rate is 82%. Pneumonia kills almost one fourth of Bangladeshi children who die under the age of five.

Pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumonae) and Hib (Haemophilus influenza) are two known causes of life-threatening pneumonia and it was found that most strains (72%) of pneumococcus are resistant to coomonly used antibiotic called co-trimoxazole. As a prevention effort, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine would be expected to meaningfully improve child survival in Bangladesh. Since 2009, with the help of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), children of Bangladesh are getting Hib Vaccine as a routine immunization. Yet, pneumococcal vaccine is not in the national EPI schedule so far.

Good news is that, currently GAVI is considering a conditional approval for pneumococcal vaccines as a routine in Bangladesh (Ref: personal contact, Dr. Bari, Deputy Program Manager, EPI, Dhaka; October 2011). Therefore, country readiness including ensuring cold chain facilities at all points of immunization across the country is important for the effective management of new vaccine. The existing vaccine infrastructure, human resources and transport capacities are equally important. Still, this pneumococcal vaccine rolls out needs strong political commitment and guidance from the government through EPI and a mutual collaboration of public and private sector.

Bangladesh could successfully reduce child mortality from pneumococcal infection by introducing affordable pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the EPI schedule once get required support from GAVI. We wish entire nations commitment for an ambition to make our children free from deadly pneumonia.

Community-based Pneumonia Interventions -- Example from BRAC, Bangladesh
Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) or mostly known as ‘Pneumonia’ is one of the main public health problem in Bangladesh. Both the government of Bangladesh and non-government organizations (NGO) have been working together to reduce the prevalence of ARI among under-five children. Since its inception in 1972, BRAC now emerged as the largest NGO in the world. BRAC’s approach to health is built on a partnership with the people, particularly to the poor. Based on sound epidemiology to determine the most important problems for children, BRAC Health Program (BHP) started the community-based ARI control programme in 2007. Initially, from eight districts (8) in two northern divisions of Bangladesh, currently BHP is implementing the ARI control programme in forty (40) districts across the country.

In ARI programme, BRAC Community Health Volunteer or Shasthya Shebika (SS) receives an extensive 3 days training from para-professionals experienced in managing and treating ARI. This basic training follows a monthly refresher training every month to reinforce their knowledge of ARI/pneumonia. The SS regularly visit households in the catchment areas to screen out the under-five children with ARI symptoms. After detection of the disease, the SSs either treat the children with advice and medicine or refer them to hospital if required. They also educate mothers about recognizing the signs and symptoms of ARI including pneumonia and how and where to get the treatment. The community awareness, case identification and management of ARI by Shebikas(SS) are closely monitored by the Shasthya Kormis (SK, the paid health cadre of BRAC). The Program Organizer (PO) and Upazila (sub-district) Managers also monitor the overall activities of SS and document the disease outcomes. Currently, the number of SS in BRAC Health Programme Bangladesh is more than eighty thousand (80,000) who are supervised by more than seven thousand (7,000) SKs.

Recently, the BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED) conducted a research titled “Revisiting the ARI Programme of BRAC: How Well are We Doing?”— in collaboration with BRAC’s Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) program. This study revealed some realities on the ground and learning points for future like mother and SS’s knowledge about pneumonia, care-seeking behavior of mother, barriers of implementing ARI programme etc. The study clearly showed, despite BRAC has taken the noble initiative to prevent and treat pneumonia in the children below five year old, however, the knowledge of BRAC SS and the mothers was not enough to deal with ARI management. Thus it is difficult to expect quick management to save a huge number of children in the community. Many mothers still sought treatment from unqualified providers. May be this is the time to find out innovative ways to save the one quarter children who die from pneumonia every year in Bangladesh before reaching their fifth birthday.

On this 12 November 2011, World pneumonia day is been observed for the third time around the world. GAVI and BRAC are arranging field visits in different locations of Bangladesh to observe activities related to pneumonia awareness.

References:

• Arifeen et al (2009). Invasive Pneumococcal Disease among Children in Rural Bangladesh.
• Results from a Population-based Surveillance. Clinical Infectious Disease , S103-S113.
• Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). (2010). Bangladesh EPI Coverage Evaluation
• Survey. Dhaka: EPI, Directorate General of Health Services.
• Alamgir, N. I., Naheed, A., & Luby, S. P. (2010). Coping strategies for financial burdens in families with childhood pneumonia in Bangladesh. BMC Public Health.
• ICDDR,B. (2008, March). Invasive pneumococcal disease burden and implications for vaccine policy in urban Bangladesh. Health and Science Bulletin , 6 (1).
• GAVI Alliance
• World Health Organisation (WHO)
• BRAC Health Programme, Bangladesh
• Rohde JE. Learning to reach health for all: thirty years of instructive experience at BRAC. Dhaka,The University Press Limited, 2005
• Islam QS, Ahmed SM and Khan MAU. Revisiting the ARI programme of BRAC: how well are we doing? Dhaka: BRAC, 2011 (RED Working Paper No. 23)

By Dr. Sharmin Zahan, M.B.B.S, M.P.H. (Special Advisor to Mr Faruque Ahmed, GAVI CSO Board Member, 2009-2011) Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist BRAC Health Programme

“WE MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR A HEALTHY UGANDA”, said the Hon. Dr. Z. Nyira, Ugandan Minister of State for Agriculture

The Ugandan Minister of State for Agriculture, Dr. Z. Nyira, inaugurated a special consultative workshop organized by BRAC on Nutrient Rich Food Crops. Highlighting the importance of close coordination between government, NGOs and private sector, Dr. Z. Nyira urged all to work together in order to establish the ultimate goal of creating a ‘Healthy Uganda’.

Stressing the urgency of the matter, the minister said that the growth of 38% of Ugandan children was stunted and 16% of them were underweight. He added that this prevalence means that 2.3 million young children in Uganda today are chronically malnourished.

Executive Director of BRAC, Dr. Mahabub Hossain, echoed the danger of the situation and said BRAC is committed towards ensuring food and nutrition security. He said that mal-nutrition is a result of lack of nutrients in the food intake of particularly the poor and bio-fortification in crops in an area Government and Private Sector should seriously focus on to change this situation.

Deputy Executive Director of BRAC, Dr. Imran Matin, stressed the need for stronger cooperation since multi dimensional problem that requires an integrated approach.

The minister praised BRAC’s initiative in Uganda and said its scale showed its efficiency and welcomed the latest advocacy effort on malnutrition.

The day-long workshop, which focused on availability and awareness of nutrient-rich food crops in Uganda, brought together key policy makers and representatives from development partners including donors, civil society and academia working on food security, nutrition and bio-fortification. A number of presentations were given on global initiatives and status of bio-fortification in the world and in Uganda, Uganda nutrition action plan, challenges for future among many. The participants shared knowledge to enhance the extension, awareness and marketability of nutrient-rich food crops among rural farmers.

What poor people need - according to them

Today the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011, which reviews the reach and impact of microfinance, came out.

In light of the difficulties microfinance institutions have faced this past year - from natural disasters to government crackdowns to the collapse of the market in Andhra Pradesh, India - the report stresses the importance of listening to the clients. And from Bangladesh to Uganda, clients of BRAC and many other microfinance institutions have said they want the same three things:

1. Enough food to feed their family,
2. A secure and protective shelter, and
3. Access to education for their children.

Our clients have been telling us this from the beginning, which is why we developed our Microfinance Plus approach. 

We provide livelihood training with an emphasis on creating micro-franchisees in agriculture, poultry and livestock so our clients can have a sustainable source of food while also generating income for their families.

When our clients lose their homes because of natural disasters, we help them build back better, more resilient homes. We're also piloting a land rights initiative in Bangladesh to help our clients legally claim their property.

We've created second-chance primary schools with accelerated learning programs to provide education to children and youth who dropped out or never had the chance to go to school. So far, we've given more than 10 million children and youth access to educational opportunities, which is why our Founder and Chairperson recently won the inaugural WISE Prize for education.

So, from the millions of people we're serving and the millions of other microfinance clients around the world: Poverty is a complicated problem that requires a multi-faceted solution:

Be part of the solutionS

Climbing the Ladder of Prosperity in Uganda

The below post was originally published on The MasterCard Foundation blog by Peggy Woo, CFO of The MasterCard Foundation, after her latest trip to visit BRAC's programs in Uganda.  The MasterCard Foundation partnered with BRAC Uganda in 2008 to scale up our programs to defeat poverty to reach 4.2 million Ugandans.

I met Nambuzo Beatrice this week in Uganda during a visit to BRAC Uganda, one of our partners. Beatrice is a bright, energetic woman with a wide smile who radiates warmth and entrepreneurial zeal. When I gently asked if life was better for her since joining BRAC two and a half years ago, she quickly responded with a loud “Yes, of course!” I was pleased to hear this but the skeptic in me wanted to know more and see some evidence of real progress.

We were sitting in the BRAC microfinance group meeting, observing Beatrice and 24 other women give their weekly loan repayments to the BRAC CO – a Credit Officer who is also a Community Organizer. I have read that sometimes microfinance just pushes women deeper into debt. I wanted to understand how it can help someone climb out of poverty and up the ladder of prosperity.

As we were walking to visit her retail shop, Beatrice later explained, “I used to have a monthly income of 100,000 shillings and now it is 700,000 shillings!” That stopped me in my tracks. “How did you do it?” I asked her as we arrived to her shop. Beatrice said that she started with a small vegetable stand, selling tomatoes, cabbages and beans out of her own garden. She pointed to this small wicker shelf where a couple of cabbages and some eggplants and tomatoes were displayed. I wondered how she could possibly earn enough from this to even call it a business, much less sustain herself. But it was a start and she probably grew these vegetables herself. I asked more questions to get a better understanding.

Beatrice decided to rent a small shop in the village square to sell staples that are in demand: rice, flour, bread, matoke, salt, sugar, and charcoal in addition to her vegetables. She has taken progressively larger loans from BRAC to invest in building the inventory in her shop. She has now taken her fifth loan (20 week loan) for 1,000,000 Ugandan shillings. She said that she is selling 100,000 shillings worth of goods daily and able to earn as much as 30,000 shillings a day. She wants to borrow 1.5 million shillings for her next loan and keep growing and diversifying her business to respond to market demand.

Beatrice is in her late 30s, married and has two children, both girls, who are enrolled in government primary school, class 6 and 7, respectively. She inherited 6 acres of land from her aunt so grows pineapple on 4 acres and maize on 2 acres. She was trained to serve as a “BRAC Model Farmer” which meant that she learned modern agricultural techniques to boost her yields. In exchange, she promised to show other farmers her field and share what she learned with them. When her neighbors saw her healthy fields and larger harvest, they became curious and sought her out. Now, many in the area buy the BRAC-branded maize seed and talk enthusiastically about the excellent yields that it produces: “more than double what we got before.”

A few doors from Beatrice’s shop was another retail shop selling similar goods. This one was run by Sheilat, another BRAC group member who was on her third loan of 400,000 shillings. She rents this dry goods shop and also operated a small drug store next door to the retail store and had five chickens and a backyard garden at home. With the BRAC loan, Sheilat was able to get a government license for her drug store, so she no longer hides her products for fear of confiscation. She now earns a healthy daily margin and estimates that her monthly sales are 450,000 shillings and that she retains 150,000 shillings a month. She also has two children and is married to a farmer who grows pineapple, bananas and raises some cattle. Both Sheilat and Beatrice clearly decided to limit their families to just two children. Both were determined that their daughters would be educated and “have good futures.”

Beatrice will likely become a client of BRAC’s small enterprise program where she can borrow even larger amounts of money to grow her business. Sheilat may follow in her footsteps. Beatrice has already inspired other women in the area to follow her lead. Her enthusiasm is infectious.

And Who Listens to the Poor?

The below video is a presentation given by Karishma Huda, a Research Manager at the BRAC Development Institute (BDI) in BRAC University. The presentation was given at the UN University in The Netherlands on November 3rd.

Currently, BDI, BRAC USA and The MasterCard Foundation are researching the outcomes of several pilots of the CGAP-Ford Graduation Program, which adapts and replicates BRAC's Ultra Poor program in seven countries. In her presentation, Karishma summarizes the findings of the pilots in India and Pakistan.

Global progress on MDGs assessed by Social Watch

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, it is imperative to reflect on the developments of participating nations in the ten years since the goals were established.

Social Watch, an international network of NGOs that monitors the progress made by governments in their MDG commitments, released its critical report: After the Fall: Time for a New Deal on Friday, Sept. 17 at the United Nations.

The MDG targets were established at the Millennium Summit in 2000 to combat poverty and gender inequity. These targets include achieving universal education, adequate and accessible child and maternal healthcare, HIV/AIDS rate reduction, environmental sustainability, and global partnership building.

According to Social Watch, most countries are a long way from attaining these goals in the time frame established. What is more, according to the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) designed by Social Watch to monitor social development in the world, poverty reduction has slowed down since 2000.

“The less privileged in both rich and poor countries are not only suffering the direct consequences of the crisis in that they are losing their jobs, savings and even their homes, they are also being made to pay for the economic rescue and stimulus packages in the form of higher taxes and reduced wages and social benefits... observes Roberto Bissio, Social Watch coordinator. “In this context, to issue a call for ‘more of the same’ is not the solution…”

Different from monetary-based poverty indicators, The BCI measures on a person’s capability of accessing a series of services that are indispensable for survival and human dignity--a far more accurate gauge for assessing MDG progress. Indicators include: 1) mortality among children under five, 2) reproductive or maternal-child health, and 3) education (measured with a combination of enrollment in primary education and the proportion of children reaching fifth grade).

The countries holding the top positions in the list according to BCI values this year are Japan, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland and Iceland. The worst ranked countries are all in Africa: Chad, Sierra Leone, Niger, Somalia and Guinea Bissau.

Before the financial crisis of 2008, gross income was growing fast while progress in education, health and nutrition was advancing slowly. The report acknowledged that if industrialized countries enter into a prolonged period of stagnation or recession, the situation of the most vulnerable sectors at global level can only become worse.

As the world's population continues to increase beyond the 7 billion mark and as the global economy continues to reel from the financial crisis, the need to rethink strategy in order to achieve the MDGs by 2015 is increasingly urgent.

Wise Prize for Education Laureate Speech by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen - Good Afternoon.

It is a matter of great honour and privilege for me to be standing before you today to deliver this address here at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha. Over the ages, the Arabian Peninsula has seen great spiritual and intellectual ferment and served as a vital conduit for the spread of secular knowledge and spiritual values to the wider world, so it is fitting that the WISE summit be held here in Qatar, bringing together experts and decision makers from across the globe towards a collaborative exploration of ways to improve the field of education.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have all gathered here because of a shared belief in the importance of education in addressing the inequities present in our world today. I have discovered time and again in my four decades of work with BRAC that education is the fundamental catalyst for change.

Today, I will talk about how we at BRAC used education as one of the central themes in addressing the issue of inequity over the last four decades. In these difficult financial times, as more and more people rise up to speak for the “99%”, occupying streets across various cities of the world, the issue of inequity has been thrown into the forefront of world politics. How do we begin to address this? We start with education – because education is the great equaliser.

At the time of BRAC’s inception 40 years ago, three quarters of Bangladesh’s population was illiterate. The very first development plan for BRAC aimed to bring 100% literacy to the adult population of the 200 villages in Bangladesh where we were then operating. But the working men and women of these villages saw little utility in literacy and numeracy skills.

We therefore put into practice Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s principles on conscientisation, enunciated in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire believed that the confluence of action and reflection created new knowledge and that, through reflection, learners became actors, not mere observers, and authors of their own decisions. Subsequently, all of BRAC’s community and capacity development activities have been based on these principles.

The progression from adult literacy to education of children occurred naturally in the course of addressing inter-generational poverty. The poor state of primary education in Bangladesh in the 1980s prompted us to start second-chance schools for disadvantaged children. Our pilot began with 22 non-formal primary schools and a design that would address the challenges linked to gender, proximity, affordability and the flexibility that was required for children from poor, illiterate households.

Since the outcome of education is the shaping of minds that ultimately shape society, we thought it necessary first to envision the kind of society that we aspired for. So, before developing our curriculum, we consulted not only with the top education experts from around the world but also with the leading thinkers of the time. Instead of focusing on physical infrastructure, we concentrated our efforts on developing state-of-the-art teaching materials and child-centered learning methodologies.

What emerged was a highly innovative low-cost model in primary education. Our one-room-one-teacher schools each enrolled around thirty children, a majority of them girls. Children were taught the basic primary curriculum and took part in co-curricular activities. The focus was on making the process of learning enjoyable. The teacher was a woman from the local community who had at least graduated from high school. Children from the poorest of families who had either not entered formal schools or had dropped out were enrolled and provided with educational materials free of cost.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Though we are here to celebrate innovation, we must accept that innovation alone is not enough. In a world rife with poverty and deprivation, addressing any wide-spread problem requires reaching significant scale. Once we were convinced of the effectiveness of our school model, we worked to achieve efficiency. Then, having put in place the necessary infrastructure and gathered the required resources, we expanded nationally. Constantly assessing the needs of those left out of mainstream interventions, we also grew vertically, to include children of ethnic minority communities and those with special needs into our schools.

While a large majority of BRAC graduates were transitioning on to secondary schools, many adolescent girls were dropping out before completing secondary education because of social pressures and the fact that their families placed little importance on education for girls. For them, we set up a ‘continuing education’ programme, which eventually became platforms for further functional education and empowerment of adolescent girls.

To address the broader issue of low primary school retention rates, we developed a network of pre-primary schools that familiarised young children from illiterate households with school discipline. Previously a luxury reserved for the elite, the concept of pre-primary education as a tool in improving primary retention and performance has now been adopted into the national education system of Bangladesh.

In order to address high drop-out rates at the secondary level, we began providing support to the weakest performing mainstream schools through training for teachers in English, Mathematics and Science. We also worked to develop the capacity of school administrators and management committees. Innovative concepts such as peer mentoring and tutoring were introduced to motivate poor secondary students and provide them with the extra help they were unable to get at home.

As we continued to approach our work through a life-cycle lens, we realised that many of our BRAC school graduates who had continued onto secondary school and had come of university-going age would be unable to pursue higher education because of financial need. So we began administering scholarships to high performing students from poor families to encourage them to go to university.

However, we found that most universities in Bangladesh were producing graduates who remained largely unaware of the country’s needs and their responsibilities to their society. So in 2001, we set up BRAC University in an attempt to produce leaders who would be sensitive to the needs of the marginalised. The creation of knowledge was prioritised at the university through the setting up of several post-graduate institutes for research in areas critical to Bangladesh’s development. One of these is the Institute of Educational Development, whose broad mandate is to improve the quality of education in the country by developing and improving teaching-learning methods and tools.

Ladies and gentlemen,

These experiences I have just shared with you demonstrate the process of constant innovation which we employed at BRAC to overcoming inequities in Bangladesh’s education sector. Our model was one that could be adapted to the context of any developing country struggling with educational reform. Over the last decade, BRAC itself has expanded beyond Bangladesh to nine countries across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. In four of those countries, we have replicated our education model. I’m proud to state that BRAC is now the largest private, secular education provider in the world, with 30,000 primary schools and 15,000 pre-primary schools. To date, nearly 5 million children, mostly girls, have graduated from BRAC schools and an overwhelming majority of them have gone into the public school system, performing, on average, better than their mainstream peers.

There are many lessons to be learned in educating millions of children across contexts as varying as Afghanistan and Uganda. The first and most important lesson is not to lose ourselves in facts and figures, because the most significant change is that which occurs in individual lives. I could talk to you at great length about our work but not be able to explain the pride I felt meeting Mitu, the daughter of a Bangladeshi brick-field worker, as she was about to go to university abroad on a scholarship facilitated by BRAC. I would not be able to adequately convey the excitement in Mitu’s face at the thought of the possibilities that lay ahead of her, having come this far from the one-room-one-teacher BRAC school in her village in a remote corner of Bangladesh.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me take this opportunity to highlight three issues that I believe education innovators, thought leaders and policy makers ought to think about in the coming days and months.

Till recently, the issue of early childhood development had been dealt with primarily in the context of health or nutrition. Equally important at this stage are opportunities for attachment, learning through exploration, discovery and stimulation, as these ensure the child’s cognitive, motor, language and emotional development. There are 200 million children under the age of 5 in the world today. Unless we act quickly, many of them will not get the opportunity to develop to their full potential due to poverty, poor nutrition and lack of stimulation.

The situation in Bangladesh, as an example, gives us cause for alarm – recent studies show that 50 percent of mothers in the rural areas were unaware of the importance of fostering curiosity and self confidence in their children and considered ‘play’ an entire waste of time. The clock is ticking on this very pertinent issue and unless proactive effort is made in both research into practical applications for ECD and teacher training as well as awareness and communication for behavior change among parents and guardians, the development window will close for these children and an incredible amount of human potential will be lost to us forever. Thus, I consider early childhood development to be the next frontier in educational development.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The world around us is becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced and traditional social structures are dissolving rapidly. It is becoming essential for us to equip our children with the social and emotional tools necessary to navigate through life.

But what is social and emotional learning? It is the acquisition of skills which makes us socially aware, emotionally intelligent and confident. These essential skills of the 21st century workforce enable us to tackle difficult situations and make decisions that are socially effective, taking into consideration each individual’s responsibilities to the wider society. They promote teamwork and more effective organisation, enhance harmony in families and greater gender equality.

I believe that the education of the future must take into account the necessity of building these skills. In the context of developing countries, where the scarcity of resources puts additional strain on social relationships and behaviour, the need to invest in socially conscious citizens is absolutely imperative in reducing conflict and encouraging healthy dynamics.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I believe technology has the potential to truly democratise education. I envision a world where even the poorest student in the remotest corner of the world will be able to learn from the world’s best teachers because technology will have overcome financial barriers as it has geographical boundaries. They will also be able to participate in the creation and perpetuation of ideas and human experience.

The education of today must prepare the citizens of tomorrow to thrive in this collaborative world. For those of us in the developing world, as we work towards universal access and maintenance of quality, it will be important to keep this future in mind so this does not become yet another type of exclusion for our children. This means investing now in the right tools and technologies so that we can expose our children to the best educational opportunities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me conclude by reciting what the great Chinese philosopher Confucius had said about knowledge and development two and a half thousand years ago:

• When knowledge is extended, the will becomes sincere.
• When the will is sincere, the mind is correct.
• When the mind is correct, the self is cultivated.
• When the self is cultivated, the clan is harmonised.
• When the clan is harmonised, the country is well governed.
• When the country is well governed, there will be peace throughout the land.

Thank you.

Inaugural WISE Prize Laureate: BRAC Founder & Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

We are proud to announce that Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairperson of BRAC, has been awarded the first WISE Prize for Education in recognition of his 40-year career dedicated to alleviating poverty through education. 


On November 1, 2011, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar presented Sir Fazle with the prize, which is the world’s first major award for education, before 1,300 delegates at the opening session of the third World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). 


For this inaugural edition, following a pre-selection by a Committee, a prestigious Jury selected Sir Fazle as the inaugural Laureate. Sir Abed received an award of $500,000 (US) and a specially designed gold medal, bearing the word “education” in over 50 languages.

In his citation of the Laureate, WISE Chairman H.E. Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani said: “Fazle Hasan Abed’s life and career embody the values of WISE. He recognized that education is a passport to social inclusion and opportunity. He discovered a successful formula, and he adapted and expanded it – first in Bangladesh and then in other countries. As a direct consequence, millions of people around the world lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. His vision, resourcefulness and determination are vital ingredients of the innovation process and he stands as an example to all of us who believe that education, more than anything else, determines the destiny of individuals and societies. The Jury saw him as an ideal WISE Prize Laureate.”

In acceptance remarks, Fazle Hasan Abed said: “I thank the Qatar Foundation for instituting this magnificent Prize and for honouring me and BRAC with its first instalment. It is on behalf of the 120,000 BRAC staff and school teachers that I humbly accept this prize. I have discovered time and again in my four decades of work with BRAC that education is the fundamental catalyst for change. 


It is easy to get overwhelmed by the large numbers. But we must always remember that the changes happen in individual lives and families. Many of the graduates of BRAC’s non-formal schools have gone on to receive University degrees and have become Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers. One girl has gone on to win Bangladesh’s version of American Idol. These young people may have achieved different things in their lives but one thing that they had in common – education has unlocked new opportunities for all of them.”

The establishment of the WISE Prize was announced at the closing of the last WISE Summit in December 2010 as a major accolade to recognize an individual or team for an outstanding, world-class contribution to education. In addition to the gold medal, the winner receives an award of $500,000 (US). Following an international call for nominations, an 11-strong international committee of educational experts made a preliminary assessment and a high-level Jury of five eminent individuals, chaired by Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, took the final decision.

Under Sir Fazle’s visionary leadership, BRAC has grown to become the largest provider of private, secular education in the world, contributing to the pre-primary, primary and secondary education of more than 10 million students. Click here to find out more about BRAC’s groundbreaking interventions in education.

Photo caption: His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, presenting BRAC Chairperson Sir Fazle with the inaugural WISE Prize in Education at the opening session of the third World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar on 1 November 2011.