BRAC Blog

Frontier workers of BRAC’s essential health program

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:18:00 +0000

With democracy comes freedom entailing the power and right to equality, legality, mobility, and essentially to live a healthy life. In the western part, one does not have to think twice about their ability to endeavor in good health. However, in other parts of the world including Bangladesh, citizens from the rural areas, especially the disadvantaged communities cannot be assured the pleasure of prosperous health although freedom exists.

BRAC, an organization who’s roots stretch deeply into the history of Bangladesh has taken charge in enabling the people of Bangladesh who have struggled with poverty, disease, and injustice to transition to a better way of life.

Essential health care is the basis of the health program initiated by BRAC focusing on health & nutrition education, water & sanitation, family planning, immunization, prenatal care, basic curative services and tuberculosis control. During a brief visit to two villages surrounding the town of Gazipur, I was fortunate to observe the benefits of the health program conducted by BRAC that touches the lives of over 100 million Bangladeshis across 64 districts.

BRAC’s health program is so effective because of its constant presence at the community level. Upon arrival at the Village Purba Dhigirchala, I was greeted by two ladies; Sahera Begum and Sahida Khanam, who I came to know to be the community health promoters (shasthya shebikas in Bangla) and community health workers (shasthya kormis in Bangla) of the community.

The health promoters are volunteers that receive a two week training session that allows them to provide basic health services including; health & nutrition, family planning, promoting & mobilizing sanitation & immunization, along with treating the 10 most common diseases such as anemia and diarrhea. They also receive a monthly refresher course. Currently there are 80,000 health promoters across Bangladesh serving their communities. In the case of Sahera she is responsible for 261 households, visiting roughly 15 daily.

Health workers, who are paid workers receiving an average 3000 taka salary in which their responsibility is to oversee the duties of 12 health promoters. Their duty also includes conducting monthly group meetings with the community, providing antenatal care, and postnatal care. A health worker visits the community of each health promoter for two days in a one-month period performing health services.

Today was the second visit of the health worker in the village Purba Dhigirchala, in which both Sahera and Sahida focused on assessing the locals’ knowledge of the danger signs during pregnancy and nutritious foods to consume during pregnancy.

Sahera also has the ability to purchase medicine and contraceptives from the regional BRAC offices that she sells to the community to earn a small profit. Although Sahera makes a profit on the delivery of medicines, she realizes the economic situation of the community and through translation added, “In the village, people respect me, and I also respect them. If the people need the medicine but do not have the money, I will provide it for them and receive the pay whenever they can pay me back”.

The second day of the field visit had me situated in Salna Village, where I received the chance to witness BRAC’s nutritional sprinkle program, reading glasses program, and tuberculosis program performed by the frontier health workers.

Children in Bangladesh suffer largely from iron deficiency and anemia, specifically among the poor and ultra-poor. Sprinkles, which contain ferrous fumarate (iron) and other essential micronutrients, are to be mixed with food before consuming. Children between the ages of 7 and 60 months can take advantage of this program to improve their nutritional status.

Together with VisionSpring, BRAC has introduced a reading glasses program where spectacles have been delivered to 7.9 million people with vision problems. Prior to obtaining the glasses from Rasheda Begum, in Salna Village, the people of the community have both their near and far vision screened. Often basic charts are used to screen near vision deficiency that can be treated with glasses sold at 195 taka (about $2.50), while far vision problems as well as complications are referred to professionals at local hospitals. Through the course of the program, I met a woman who, through the screening, was determined to be far-sighted. Although referred to the hospital to seek additional care, she complained that many of the villagers had no way of getting to the hospital to receive the care along with the ability to purchase eye glasses if needed due to their financial state.

Within the same village, I was also introduced to a villager, Ibrahim who contracted tuberculosis. BRAC’s tuberculosis control program has reached 89.5 million people with 23,771 cases diagnosed and 92% being cured. Prior to receiving treatment for tuberculosis, Ibrahim had to make a 200 taka (about $2.50) deposit that would be returned only once he completed the rigorous 6-month treatment. During the treatment Rasheda watches Ibrahim as he takes his daily medication in a strategy known as DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy Short course). Once the course of the 6-month treatment is completed, Rasheda receives a small incentive of 500 taka (about $6.00). Rasheda has been providing DOTS treatment for 13 years to over 30 tuberculosis patients.

When I had asked Rasheda what motivates her most to serve her community she told me that money is not the reason. When she was a child, her father had died of tuberculosis because of his inability to access treatment. As a result Rasheda believed that it is her responsibility to save lives of her community suffering from tuberculosis, so that a child will not have to live without a parent.

It is evident that the work of both the community health promoters and health workers are critical in BRAC’s implementation of health services at the community level. Although BRAC has made great strides in improving the health status of many Bangladeshis, there still exist a number of individuals who are unable to access health care services due to its financial burden. We look forward to a convenient health care system to ensure health.

By Daneal Doub, McMaster University

Intern

BRAC Health Programme.

BRAC markets solar lights to illuminate thousands of lives!

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:18:00 +0000

BRAC's agriculture and food security programme has taken the initiative to launch D.light Design’s solar products in Bangladesh, aiming to provide power sources for the marginalised people who do not have access to the national power grid. This initiative will help rural poor with an alternative low-cost light source to kerosene lamps and reduce the health risks posed by the kerosene fume. BRAC officials believe that this will also contribute in meeting the growing demand of electricity in Bangladesh.

Three types of solar lights with different features are being marketed; d.light S 1, d.light S 10 and d.light S 250. The products are sturdy, designed for maximum versatility and come equipped with a high-quality, efficient solar panel that is weather-resistant. Additionally, d.light S.250 can serve as a mobile phone charger and has multiple brightness settings. The prices of these products range from 780 to 2600 taka ($9.50 - $32.00). Primarily the products will be marketed in Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Mymensing, Kishorgonj, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogura, Jessore, Gopalgonj and Jhalokatthi districts through dealers, and in some sub-districts of Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Borguna, Potuakhali and Pirojpur through programme channels.

BRAC will distribute the products by using its extensive network and appointing local dealers. BRAC’s network will reach the poor in hard-to-reach areas who will be able to pay in instalments for the products. This system is expected to create a positive distributional impact, which will help to change the scenario of the rural Bangladesh in the long run.

D.light design is a social enterprise started out in Palo Alto, California in 2006 fathered by a socially-motivated team of business people and engineers- Sam Goldman, Ned Tozun, Gabriel Risk, Xianyi Wu, and Erica Estrada. D.light is operating with a mission to enable households living without reliable electricity to attain the same quality of life as those with electricity. The company targets to reach 50 million people by the end of 2015. BRAC, being the largest development organization reaching over 126 million people worldwide, presents the most suitable opportunity for a successful partnership which can change millions of people’s lives and create a better future.

Managing change in the Bangladesh water sector: experiences and challenges

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:28:00 +0000

Change is inevitable; rather it is a much needed process for the benefit and progress of any organization. With such intentions of change Dr. Jaap M. De Heer, VU University Amsterdam, presented his study on the various aspects of an organization which, when integrated together, initiate a wholesome change process. The organization in focus was the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the presentation was coordinated by Andrew Jenkins, Donor Liaison Officer at BRAC, at the seminar titled “Managing Change in Bangladesh Water Sector: Experiences and Challenges; Setting the right courses and turning the wheels of change”, on the 22nd of May 2012 at the BRAC Centre. The panel was chaired by DR. W.M.H Jaim, Director of BRAC's Research & Evaluation Division (RED) and the chief guest was Mr. Mukhles uz Zaman, former Director General of the Bangladesh Water Development Board.

The audience consisted of researchers from the BRAC University Climate Change Research Department, researchers from RED, experts and scholars on climate change. The focal objectives, change process within the Bangladesh Water Development Board and enhancing community participation in its various development programs, were briefly explained. Ideas and expectations of the future were briefly explained followed by a detailed outline of the possible solutions incorporating the uses of the limited resources. Highlighting the various elements of change, focus was greater on proper strategy implementation, change process patterns, organizational lifecycle and the organization’s environment itself. The study emphasized strong, active and inspiring leadership for an effective change process.

A briefing followed outlining the current scenario of the Bangladesh water sector and the ongoing transition period towards good governance, service orientation and efficiency. Such transition can be catalyzed by the leadership of Director General of BWDB, an efficient task force and the Netherlands twining force. At this stage to set as an example, the Integrated Planning for Sustainable Water Management programme, implemented by BWDB, was discussed to substantiate the possible path towards change.

Based on the experience of various levels of success of numerous infrastructure development projects for water resources management, the BWDB realised that stakeholder participation, local level water management, and multi-disciplinary project planning and appraisal are essential for an improved and sustainable operation and maintenance of water resources management infrastructures. This view is also reflected in the National Water Policy, Guidelines for Participatory Water Management and National Water Management Plan (NWMP), and based on all these Integrated Planning for Sustainable Water Management was conceived (Source: ipswam-bwdb.org.bd).

The water management programme assists the BWDB to find a practical way to introduce realistic, affordable and sustainable participatory and integrated water resources management. It is a pathfinder programme because the methodology developed is based on actual practical experience. The total budget of this programme is jointly allocated by the Government of The Netherlands and the Government of Bangladesh.

A video, detailing the programme in a specific area and the various interventions of BWDB there, was presented to portray the establishment, continuity, progress and a few short comings of the program, and the effectiveness and multiple positive outcomes of community participation which leads to sustainable development. It is quite a holistic approach in the community as farmers are able to grow more crops every year, water is available at any times of need, fish farming has improved, people are enjoying life, they are more confident, they have gained control over their lives and have the courage to look forward to a brighter future.

Mr. Mukhles uz Zaman, who was also the project director of the water management programme, insisted that such kind of change is a long, painstaking and a continuous process. It is about developing a partnership with the people, and finding the right kind of people who are willing to participate in community development without personal benefit is the most difficult task. The responsibility of the Government and the NGO’s only lies in being the support system which will help the local people to utilize their resources more effectively. The government and support organizations should always be resourceful, develop round the year engaging activities, so that timely support can be provided to the actual beneficiaries. It is necessary to make this into a continuous process, both in the grass-root level and in the policy level.

Progressive and positive change takes time and the willingness to change. Decisions made at a policy level, may not be practically feasible at field level because here people act differently. Various complex factors influence the ultimate result, for instance, budget can act as a huge blockade to the much needed change within the organization. Dr. Jaap concluded the seminar focusing on dissemination of the process of change. A process that is conceptualized based on time and perspective. It starts with the vision of the leader, develops as an ongoing cycle and definitely adjusts and adapts with changing time.

Can entrepreneurship programmes transform the lives of the poor?

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:38:00 +0000

The following article was originally posted by Anik Ashraf on the International Growth Centre (ICG) website. The video was created by ICG based on recent research initiative lead by Robin Burgess to assess the success of BRAC's Ultra Poor programme in Bangladesh.

A new way of helping the world’s poorest people is proving to be a staggering success and is spreading throughout the developing world. Recent research co-authored by Robin Burgess of the LSE and Executive Director of the IGC finds that the scheme led to an increase in people’s incomes of around 35% after two years. For anyone this would be a big jump, but these are women who had previously struggled to feed themselves and their families.

The ‘Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction, Targeting the Ultra Poor’ (CFPR-TUP) programme targets the poorest 10% of people in Bangladesh, focusing on women. Run by Brac, the world’s largest NGO, the programme has two aims: to help these women ‘graduate’ from being ultra poor to have the basic skills, income, and confidence to begin fending for themselves, and to have enough stability to gain access to the mainstream development programmes, such as microfinance.

The programme starts with a temporary stipend to give the women involved short-term stability and breathing space while they are taught basic livelihood, healthcare and personal finance skills . They are then given an ‘asset’ such as a goat or a small plot of land that they can use to make money for themselves, whether by raising goats to sell milk or cultivating land to grow vegetables. Throughout, the women receive regular support through weekly visits, coaching and guidance. The programme ends with an invitation to join a microfinance scheme and further expand their business. Atiur Rahman, Governor of the Central Bank of Bangladesh said of the programme: ‘The ultra poor who have never been getting any kind of support are now becoming entrepreneurs.’

Click here to read the full article.

Behind the scene

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:21:00 +0000

As parents, we are always curious about examination results, how we can get admission for our children in good schools and how to give education through private tuition etc. Second and third generation students’ parents can think in this way, but what about those students who are the first in their family to be going to school? An untrained teacher in a classroom can not provide good education facilities for them. There needs to be a strong educational foundation to empower these first generation students to join the mainstream education system.

"In the old days [in Bangladesh], Panditmoshai (teacher) used to send the Sardar (class captain) to bring students who were absent. In today’s world we still feel the need of ‘sardar’", said Syed Shamsul Huq, an award-winning Bangladeshi author and poet, in his speech.

With the changing era, we have realised that, students will take interest in study if we can create a learning environment for them. Attendance rate and drop out rate in secondary schools are quite high in Bangladesh. Only 2% of secondary schools in Bangladesh are directly managed by the government. The majority of the schools, known as non-government secondary schools, are owned and managed by local communities, even though about 90% of teachers’ salaries and maintenance expenses are paid by the government.

To bring qualitative change in secondary education, BRAC started training secondary school teachers. While giving the training, BRAC focused more on how to make students more active and participative in classroom. At this age, students follow their peers. BRAC realised that we should create structure which will be managed and run by secondary school students. Mentoring Programme was introduced with this very thought. Mentoring is an initiative to work with those students who are the first generation in mainstream education system.

Is the mentoring programme really an effective initiative by BRAC?

On 21st April 2012, in Shilpakala Academy, Professor Mahbuba Nasrin, Sociology department of Dhaka University, presented her research paper on BRAC's initiative. Ten schools from each of the Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi districts, 15 from Jessore, and 5 from Rangamati districts were selected randomly for study purposes. She discussed the scenario before introducing the mentoring programme in secondary schools, and the current scenario after implementing the mentoring programme. In those secondary schools, SSC examination pass rate has increased from 56% to 83%. Attendance rate has become 69% to 76%. Her team found that, students have become disciplined and are having positive attitude towards life & participating in co-curricular activities. like 91% are participating in debate and contributing to the wall magazine. Students are now concerned about cleanliness of classroom.

Now questions may be raised on how these activities can reduce drop out rate and increase attendance rate?

The answer is, mentoring programme also teaches how to create group for group-study. Usually meritorious students lead each group. In group discussions, comparatively weaker students try to resolve their problems by sharing it with peers. When they can not solve the problem by themselves, they share it with their teachers.

“We used to do chitchat in our free time. After going through the mentoring programme, we have learned how to utilize time and group discussion for study”- This is how Shima from Narshingdi shared her opinion about this programme.

In city schools we see these activities are run by school’s own initiatives, but the numbers of these schools are very few. Dr. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah, Reading University, mentioned that students are not responsible for dropping out from school or being absent in classroom. Total school system is the main reason for this situation.

Samir Ranjan Nath, Research Coordinator, Educational Research Unit- BRAC, mentioned that we cannot measure learning outcome by CGPA or marks. We have to create the environment in school and make learning sessions more enjoyable.

BRAC has learned secondary education system, its barrier, issues with its experiences. Now BRAC wants to start a few standard model secondary high schools which can serve as good examples in the country. Dr. Mahbub Hossain, Executive Director of BRAC, mentioned this at the end of the event and also added that hopefully by the end of this year, BRAC will open 10 more secondary schools in rural areas.

Gordon Brown: “When I ask the mothers what they want most for their families, they say with one voice: education for their children.”

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:52:00 +0000

This post was written by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown after his visit to BRAC's education programme in South Sudan and originally posted on the Gordon & Sarah Brown blog.

Celina stands at the door of her hut hugging her one year old daughter Dokia, who is dying of malaria. Her son Efon stands by her side, unable to go to school because he must help care for his one year old twin siblings.

This is the picture I will remember from our visit to the newest state on earth. South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest – and in danger of being forgotten.

Of the 1,000 people living in the tents, huts and shacks that make up the village of Hai-Kugi, over 350 are children. But only 30 have schooling thanks to the one class room school hut constructed by the Bangladeshi charity BRAC.

18 girls and 12 boys are taught English, Science, Social Studies and Mathematics but outside looking in are dozens of children who have been turned away from the school. The next nearest school is miles away and while BRAC’s hut offers lessons free of charge, the 1,000 strong church school has to charge fees.

A mothers’ group meets in another hut. Thanks to money from the World Bank they are being taught about the potentially harmful impact of early marriage and ill health in childbirth. For some it is too late – one mother told me she was married at the age of 12, another age 14 – the majority had married before they were 18. But when I ask them what they want most for their families, they say with once voice: education for their children.

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Click her to learn more about BRAC's education programmes in South Sudan.

Mothers saving mothers

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:55:00 +0000

The following was originally posted by BRAC USA Program Manager - Communications Michelle Chaplin on the Half the Sky website.

Mother's Day is about being thankful for one of the most important women in your life: your mother. She gave birth to you (one of the most dangerous things a woman can do), fed you, clothed you, and made sure you went to school (and did your homework), among many other things.

Even before becoming a mother herself, Sweety Akter was intimately aware of the dangers of childbirth – both for mother and child. Sweety’s younger brother died soon after he was born because of complications resulting from childbirth, which the untrained birth assistant was unable to address.

“From my childhood I have always heard about the death of my brother. My poor mother always remembers him and I see tears in her eyes every time she talks about him,” says Sweety. “Whenever I heard this and similar stories, I longed to do something for such mothers and to save the lives of their young babies.”

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Private schools for the poor

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:44:00 +0000

The following is an excerpt from and article by Josh Kwan published in the Spring 2012 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

First, the good news. More children in places of poverty are attending school than ever before.2 Thanks to a major push by governments and donors, many countries have built a slew of schools, eliminated tuition for public schools, and mandated primary education for all their citizens. In India, for example, the April 2010 Right to Education Act legislated, for the first time, a constitutional right to free schooling for every child age 6 to 14.

Through public-private partnerships, giant education strides have been made in countries as diverse as Colombia, Turkey, and Bangladesh. Escuela Nueva has changed the way teachers reach children in rural communities and transformed Colombia’s national education policy. BRAC is operating the largest private, secular education system in the world, replicating a low-cost model for teaching children who had never enrolled in or had dropped out of primary school in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern Sudan, Uganda, and Haiti. Nearly 5 million children, the majority of them girls, have graduated from BRAC schools.

Click here to read the full article on education initiatives for the poor.

Click here to learn more about BRAC's education programmes.

Key assessment of BRAC Uganda's bed net program

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:48:00 +0000

Malaria is the most deadly disease in Uganda. It is responsible for 25-30% of under five deaths in the country, resulting in 70,000-100,000 deaths annually. While children under five are most at risk, only 28% of them sleep under bed nets. Even fewer of these children are sleeping under nets that are properly treated (or retreated) with the necessary insecticides.

BRAC Uganda recently conducted a study to assess the performance of its bed net distribution program. Since February 2008, BRAC Uganda has been distributing long lasting insecticide treated bed nets through its volunteer community health promoters.

One of the key objectives of the study was to determine the possession and usage of insecticidal nets. The study found that about 40% of surveyed households in the Kampala area and 60% surveyed in Eastern districts did not even have insecticidal bed nets. Much graver was that only 14% of household members claimed to have used their bed nets the night before. This finding demonstrated insufficient distribution by NGO's and agencies working in this space. Additionally, there was clearly a lack of comprehensive understanding as to the importance of bed nets and a critical need for greater public education on the issue.

Related to this was a finding that many respondents claimed allergies and aversion to the chemicals used for treating the nets. Public education is needed to curve this belief and reinforce the importance of chemical treatment. Others were washing their nets out too frequently, depleting the active chemicals on the nets and requesting early retreatments. BRAC Uganda does not currently have a program for this, however the results of the study suggests this is necessary.

Another key issue BRAC must contend with is that other agencies are offering bed nets for free. BRAC might consider an arrangement by which it does the same, or perhaps lowers the price it is currently charging. It was shown, however, that users often did not value bed nets if given for free.

Overall, the study was a great success, bringing to light fundamental shortcomings in the program and on-ground realities that were not initially accounted for. Impacting the spread of Malaria is vital and BRAC Uganda will work on the basis of its findings to improve its efforts.

Healthy, happy and wise: nutrition for under five

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:57:00 +0000

On a gloomy morning, Rabiya (4) sat with her legs crossed on the front yard of her parents’ mud hut. A pot of steaming white broth made of rice water laid innocently beside her lap, and she was carefully blowing on it to cool it down.

The rice water, with its dull flavour and gluey consistency, would have been too plain for most of our tastes. Besides, who would fancy such a bland liquid meal that is nearly devoid of all nutrients? But for Rabiya, this happened to be the scrumptious version of an ultimate breakfast. Moreover, she was too hungry to complain and it was not like she had any option for our regular eggs and bacon/ roti-chapati.

At noon it gets better, she thought. Her mother would cook rice and boil edible leaves that she always collected from the riverside, and she would then garnish them with green chilies and onions. Rabiya liked chilies, unlike most of the children of her age, because they were hot and made it easier to overlook the tastelessness of the plain meals she ate.

She loved eggs, and despite the abundance of chickens at their house she was hardly ever allowed to have one, as her mother sold eggs for money to pay her debts to the local landlord. But Rabiya barely complained. She was too young to understand any of this, and may be because of that, she hadn’t had the faintest idea why she was so short of her age, or why despite being underfed she had a bloated belly. She could not even understand why she had problems seeing in faint light, or why she fell sick so often.

Rabiya didn’t have any idea of the fact that she was unjustly malnourished, and neither did her parents.

This scenario could be seen in almost every corner of the rural geo-space in Bangladesh. A study conducted in 2007 found that one in 15 children born in Bangladesh dies before reaching their 5th birthday. According to a World Bank study in 2004, malnutrition rates in Bangladesh were among the highest in the world. Approximately 50 percent of children under the age of five had been stunted and underweight.

During infancy, the risk of dying in the first month of life (37 per 1,000) is nearly 2.5 times greater than in the subsequent 11 months (15 per 1,000). Death in the neonatal period accounted for 57 percent of all under-five deaths. It all became too obvious, and it was about time someone step in and make some essential changes in this extremely important socio-cultural phenomena. That is the when BRAC health programme started the Alive and Thrive project.

The first phase of Alive and Thrive was initiated in three sub districts and one slum in order to test and refine the model. The results were promising, so we extended the to many other districts and sub districts in 2010, following the advice of the Gates Foundation and the AED/FHI 360.

Currently, the project is active in 16 districts across the country, and is providing nutritional care to 1.9 million children under two years of age. The front line workers of Alive and Thrive the infant and young child feeding promoters (pushti kormis in Bengali), the community health workers (shasthiya kormis in Bengali), and the health volunteers (shasthiya shebikas in Bengali). At present, a total of 1,082 promoters, 633 community health workers and 7,154 health volunteers are providing infant and young child feeding services in their communities. The front line health workers are recruited carefully and are expected to develop and improve the community-based Alive and Thrive initiative.

The health workers are trained by BRAC in order to counsel, coach and show the mothers how to breastfeed their children as well as on how to give them cost-effective proper meals with complete nutrients. Mothers of children less than 12 months of age are prioritised because infancy is a vulnerable period for all children.

The health promoters also demonstrate how to make age appropriate meals for children, for example, mashing the food, or removing a portion from the family’s food for the children before adding spice, etc. The parents and caregivers are not only enlightened about the different consistencies of food needed for children at various ages, but also about the importance of personal hygiene and hand washing before and after meals and after using the toilet.

Different social groups, such as religious spokespersons, village doctors and the government health workers are also involved with this nutrition project, providing with their unconditional support to communities.

Sabina Yasmin is a infant and young child feeding promoter in the village of Zinari, who was recruited by BRAC after completing her high school-level education. Initially, it was a challenge for her to convince parents and caregivers on how to provide proper nutrition to their little ones, because no one paid attention to a young girl teaching them about proper and improper means of feeding, and it takes time for people to learn and adopt new behaviours.

However, things eventually started changing, especially when a mother complained that her two-month-old son Yasin was sick and fatigued due to an intake of powdered milk that she gave him as she was not providing him enough breast milk. When Sabina showed her how to breastfeed properly, correcting her positioning and the way of holding the baby, the mother found out that she was in fact producing enough breast milk. Thanks to Sabina's advice, Yasin is alive and thriving now.

A thousands health promoters and health workers are working relentlessly countrywide just to ensure that the infants and children are receiving proper nutrition and growing up healthy, and the BRAC family is proud of them.

By Miftahul Jannat Chowdhury
Intern
BRAC Communications

Click here to learn how you can support mothers and their children in Bangladesh.

More children are in school – but are they learning?

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:10:00 +0000

The following was originally posted by BRAC USA President and CEO Susan Davis on the World Education blog.

With the Education for All goals and the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 on our minds, perhaps it’s time to start thinking about measurements of educational quality, rather than a simple push for increased student enrollment in developing countries.

Most public schools in the developing world fail to prepare students for the 21st-century knowledge society, according to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of the Bangladesh-based non-government organization BRAC, whose US branch I lead.

Sir Fazle, who was last year awarded the inaugural WISE Prize for Education, has called for an end to teaching methods such as rote memorization, moving towards a focus on critical thinking and creative problem solving. As the largest private secular education provider in the world, BRAC is uniquely positioned to move the issue of quality education from discussion to implementation. With 24,000 primary schools and 4.6 million graduates in Bangladesh alone, BRAC ran more schools in 2011 than the entire English school system, according to the BBC.

It’s an alternative schooling model that inculcates a joy for learning in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. We’re now deploying that same approach in other countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. For instance, BRAC currently partners with the American Institutes for Research and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning on a teacher training programme that helps children develop fundamental skills for life effectiveness. Through this initiative, in partnership with the NoVo Foundation, BRAC has provided such training to education staff in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Uganda.

Social and emotional learning includes the basic skills individuals need in order to handle themselves, their relationships, and their work, effectively and ethically. It is a crucial component not only of children’s social and emotional development, but also of their health, ethical development and motivation to achieve. This innovative and entrepreneurial approach to education is practised not only in BRAC classrooms but in our adolescent girls’ clubs, now operating in Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and most recently Haiti.

Click here to read the full article.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets the “two national treasures” of Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:25:00 +0000

Knight Commander, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed and Nobel Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, have been marked as the creators of the world’s two best organizations – BRAC and Grameen Bank – by the visiting US secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In an early morning 9 o’clock meeting on 6 May 2012, at the Gulshan Residence of the US ambassador of Bangladesh, Dan W Mozena; Sir Fazle and Dr. Yunus met with Secretary Clinton for an hour long discussion which was primarily focused on the development of Bangladesh and women’s rights and empowerment.

Various other national and regional issues were also brought into focus which included feasible solutions to the electricity crisis, the current political situation, mobile phone technology usage in disseminating developmental services, the country’s poverty reduction capacity, youth empowerment, development success achieved so far in Bangladesh and its enduring potential. The two visionaries of Bangladesh have requested the continued support and assistance from the US in regard to these issues.

During the meeting, Secretary Clinton expressed her deep condolences to the family and friends of Mohammad Mohiuddin, BRAC’s Area Manger in the western province of Ghor, Afghanistan, who died in an armed attack on 3rd May 2012. She praised and appreciated the micro credit system, giving due credit to BRAC and Grameen Bank for the sustainable progress in the social structure of Bangladesh. She expressed her gratitude to both of them for their commitment and hard work towards such development work.

For a developing nation like Bangladesh, she has ensured continued US assistance for the betterment of humanity. Secretary Clinton said that she has known Sir Fazle and Dr. Yunus for almost 25 years and honours them as “national treasures” with the hope that the Government will also treat them accordingly.

By Sumaiya Haque
Intern, BRAC Communications

Poisoned: the silent screams of arsenic victims

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:05:00 +0000

Water.

Many can attest to its necessity, few can argue against its importance. From health and nutrition to agriculture and energy, one doesn’t have to look far to see the critical role water plays in our lives.

But what happens when this crucial necessity threatens our very livelihood?

This conundrum was the focus of a recent dissemination seminar hosted by BRAC titled “Rethinking the Arsenic Crisis: Strategies Towards Ensuring an Arsenic-free Bangladesh.” The seminar, hosted by BRAC on Thursday, March 29th, highlighted findings from a field study I conducted which was centered on understanding the villagers’ perspectives on the arsenic crisis. The seminar also featured a panel consisting of UNICEF Water and Sanitation Specialist Peter Ravenscroft, WaterAid Country Representative Khairul Islam, as well as leaders from a cross-section of institutions ranging from the Ministry of Health, Bangladesh Attorney General’s Office, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewage Authority (WASA), and the US Embassy.

What brings such a diverse cadre of people together?

In a word, arsenic.

Unsafe levels of arsenic have been found in over 1.4 million tube wells across Bangladesh, a phenomenon the World Health Organization (WHO) calls “the largest mass poisoning of a population in human history.” Arsenic is a colorless, odorless, naturally-occurring metal that is poisonous if consumed over long periods of time. Long-term exposure results in Arsenicosis, an incurable cancer-causing disease with a high latency period (it takes 5-20 years after initial exposure to show the first signs of skin lesions on the hands and feet, and patients eventually suffer from various forms of internal cancers).

Over the past nine months, I have visited 26 villages across five arsenic-affected districts ranging from Meherpur, a border district in Western Bangladesh, to Chandpur, a heavily-affected area in Southwest Bangladesh. Across the country, the BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) field staff and a team of research assistants worked hand in hand in order to understand what villagers think of the crisis, how they are coping with the lack of arsenic-free water, and where they see a way forward.

Collectively, we surveyed 1,239 households and hosted over 50 focus group discussions and in-depth interviews for a better understanding of the villagers’ attitudes pertaining to water and the impact arsenic has had on their lives.

What did we find?

For starters, the fact that arsenic was colorless was news to 33% of the households (20% believed it was red, 11% yellow).

As a response to the crisis, safe tube wells were painted green (safe in Bangladesh means less than 50 ppb of arsenic, the WHO standard is 10 ppb) while the unsafe ones were painted red. In some villages, some people have been undoing this intervention and repainted their red tube wells green. Why would they do such a thing?

Well, in parts of Meherpur, school children with Arsenicosis were ostracised. Roughly 1 in 20 parents would allow their children to marry someone with Arsenicosis. The social stigma attached with living next to a red tube well was immense, and parents viewed repainting red tube wells green as the only way to ensure a prosperous future for their children.

This was a stark contrast from the realities in Golaidanga village in Manikganj, an area where there were no Arsenicosis patients, and people voluntarily desired to have red coloring on their tube wells. During my stay in Golaidanga, I noticed how all newly-installed private tube wells featured bright red piping. When asking the drillers why the tube wells were being installed with red pipes, they all stated how red was now popular amongst tube well manufacturers. This was emblematic of the disconnection that lays within the water ‘ecosystem’ of the awareness campaign planners, communicators, and the private tube well installation companies.

Many people knowingly drank from arsenic-contaminated tube wells because they hadn’t suffered from Arsenicosis, and hadn’t met anyone that did.

You can’t see it, can’t smell it, and neither you nor anyone you know has gotten sick from it. So what’s the harm in drinking it?

This was the type of thinking we found in arsenic-affected areas that had relatively low numbers of Arsenicosis patients. At the seminar, Peter Ravenscroft of UNICEF emphasised the need to motivate villagers who live in areas such as Golaidanga. The low risk perception such people attribute to arsenic is one of the most challenging aspects of confronting this crisis. Arsenicosis does not catch on immediately; it is a stealthy, slow poison that gradually builds up to skin lesions and various internal cancers. By the time the skin lesions appear, it is usually too late. Vitamin supplements and certain medications may be able to slow the health effects, but the most effective treatment is ensuring the consumption of arsenic-free water.

Khairul Islam of WaterAid discussed the sobering reality the arsenic dilemma has brought onto the larger water and sanitation sector in Bangladesh. In 1997, 97% of the rural population had access to safe drinking water. According to Mr. Islam, this number was brought down to 81% upon the discovery of arsenic in groundwater. He cited the 60% increase within the first year of the current administration’s water and sanitation budget (from 800 crores to 1400 crores) as a promising sign for progress, but noted how despite the increase, there have been no newly-funded projects related to arsenic mitigation.

The Health Secretary contextualised the arsenic issue amongst the larger public health challenges existent throughout Bangladesh. He spoke to the trending prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as Arsenicosis, a new normal for a nation that has been mired by communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera since its birth.

The Additional Attorney General reminded us of how the United Nations recently declared access to basic water and sanitation services as a human right. He called on all actors to re-focus their attention on devising feasible solutions by putting the people first, and switching the focus on understanding the villagers, as well as inclining towards delving into the lab and designing technologies that have faster flow rates or a higher capacity.

Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem Khan stressed how fortunate he felt in the fact that arsenic had not been found in Dhaka. News to the contrary would be an unsettling scenario considering how reliant the city dwellers are on groundwater (even the best surface water filtration technologies seem to meet their match when used against the heavily polluted surface waters of Dhaka).

The keynote was delivered by US Ambassador Dan Mozena. The Ambassador emphasised the fact of how water looms large not only in Bangladesh, but also in the global scope of challenges across South Asia and the world. He cited a newly published report on global water security by the US Government when making the case for water as a critical issue that will increase regional tensions and put a great impact on national security. He emphasised how arsenic is focused as “the one key aspect of water in the Bangladeshi equation of life,” and that the other emerging issues such as salinity must also be considered when tackling the water crisis in Bangladesh.

Such interdisciplinary dialogues are crucial in understanding the full breadth of issues that stem out of the arsenic crisis, and underscore the need to work across a multitude of sectors in finding a way forward to overcome the crisis. To sum it up, the willingness to have such a diverse group of stakeholders to work together was itself a promising development, and the conversations that ensued helped to sow the seeds to a fresh approach to mitigating the arsenic crisis.

By Minhaj Chowdhury
Fulbright Intern
BRAC

Immunising little ones: Observing World Immunisation Week 2012

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:13:00 +0000

Imagine a small world. A world devoid of the harsh tales about unfortunate children – children who are not deformed by the cruel grasps of polio – children who are protected from the malicious glares of debilitating illness – children who are healthy and thriving. Imagining a world like that might have been something like daydreaming even in the recent past, but the world is changing. People are changing, and in the course of that, positive changes are being made. Now, immunising children from incapacitating diseases, followed by disabilities and death is very much possible by means of vaccination.

This year, World Immunisation Week is observed worldwide from 21-28 April with great perseverance and exhilaration, where vaccinating children against deadly diseases is performed across the globe. World Health Organisation, along with the countries around the world, ensure that the governments are putting their best efforts by providing necessary resources, guidance, and technical support in conducting the event. The weeklong activity performed worldwide puts specific actions, such as raising awareness on how immunisation saves lives, increasing vaccination coverage as a means of preventing disease outbreak, reaching underserved and marginalised communities, and emphasising on the benefits of immunisation, under limelight. Like every year, BRAC had also participated uncountable vaccinating campaigns across the country under the initiatives of Bangladesh government, providing access to immunisation to the vast infants and children population in the country.

Immunisation, being one of the most successful and fruitful health interventions in the world, helps prevent around 2 to 3 million deaths every year. Provided to people of all age groups, especially infants and children, immunisation prevents debilitating illness, disability and death from the diseases such as diphtheria, hepatitis A and B, measles, mumps, pneumococcal disease, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, tetanus and yellow fever that can easily be avoided by the use of vaccines. Adolescents and adults are also receiving their regular doses of vaccines, being provided with the protection against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis, and cancers (e.g. cervical and liver cancers) that occur in adulthood.

However, some diseases like diphtheria, measles, and polio were thought to be almost eradicated, and hence many parents and health professionals found the immunisations against them to be no longer necessary. This perception had caused numerous gaps in vaccination coverage in certain parts of the world, which resulted in those diseases to make a comeback, which is most likely to affect everyone if any outbreak occurs.

Manzima Akhter, 5, is the youngest of three daughters in her family. Her elder sister, Muhaimina, is a 15-year-old girl suffering from disability caused by polio. Living in a secluded village in the farthest corner of Bangladesh, their village had no access to vaccination. But thanks to the NID campaign, BRAC, Bangladesh government, and the GAVI Alliance, as Manzima and hundreds of other children in her village are getting access to vaccination. Even in those of the farthest and secluded most parts of Bangladesh, little children, curious and wide-eyed, marched towards the vaccination camps accompanied by their parents/guardians since early morning, and it is that moment when it is realised that people’s perceptions towards the idea of immunisation by means of vaccination has changed, and they have finally started believing in it. BRAC’s shasthya shebikas have worked relentlessly since years in bridging the gap between the health care services and the people, and finally their work is being paid off as this has actually helped change their perception towards vaccination.

This year, the country has made a significant investment for the health of its children by completing the rounds of National Immunisation Days (NID) properly. During this year’s NIDs (first round in January 7 and second round in February 11), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)/ NGOs like BRAC, with the collaboration of Bangladesh government , has performed outstandingly in vaccinating a huge population of infants and children across the country. Hundreds of thousands of field workers and volunteers worked endlessly to vaccinate millions of children in the camps, which included established health facilities and health centers, schools, and mobile sites like bus terminals, ferries and train stations.

During the NIDs, the infants and children received polio vaccines and vitamin-A capsules, and the enthusiastic turnouts of them and their parents exceeded all expectations as more than the estimated number of eager parents and children showed up and received their doses adequately. The BRAC field workers and volunteers were more than willing to serve them all those times, happily struggling to cope with the enormous number of children and their guardians.

Apart from the centers assisted by the BRAC Health Program workers along with the government and local volunteers, many medical officers who work at the Upazila Health Complexes and Union Health Centers were also ensuring the NID to be carried out efficiently. Nevertheless, the collective effort of the government and CSOs like BRAC has no doubt enabled this noble initiative to prosper.

BRAC is incredibly proud to be a part of the 20th NID 2012 that the country has observed with increased participation and awareness. The children, their parents and/or guardians, the government and non-government health providers, community health workers, students, teachers and above all the community people have made it possible along with BRAC teams collaborated with the Bangladesh government. . These unbeaten events proved it again that the Bangladeshi people have realised the essentiality of vaccines and immunisation and they have effectively utilised the opportunity given to them. This NID will not only be protecting the children from Polio and night blindness through the administration of vaccines and Vitamin-A, but also happens to be an indication of how much Bangladesh cares to save the nation’s future.

Investing in youth; financing dreams

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:05:00 +0000

About one third of the population of Bangladesh belongs to the young generation and there is no doubt about the increasing number. We are also aware of the fact that about 40% of the population is underemployed, many participants in the labor force work only a few hours a week, at low wages. So the growing need at present seems to be finding a solution to fight this and developing the youth entrepreneurship can be one of the best options.

Keeping the idea on focus, BRAC Social Innovation Lab with the assistance of Munir Hasan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Open Source Network, also working as an advocate for the young tech entrepreneurs- arranged a seminar on start up assistance for young entrepreneurs, yesterday, on 25^th April, 2012. The seminar included young tech entrepreneurs who shared the difficulties they face while the financial institution representatives discussed existing financial products addressing the youth.

This seminar was an attempt to identify the primary challenges for young entrepreneurs in their business inception to expansion effort and find ways to overcome these challenges. The discussion during the seminar has brighten up reflecting on few basic questions like how to best support young entrepreneurs through financial models? Is there a need for a youth-focused start up finance product? And ended up with brainstorming most appropriate course of action in Bangladesh to invest in youth, not only financially but also through non financial means.

Discussing the assistance to provide youth, It was well appreciated and agreed by the participants that, along with the need of financing their dreams, there are needs of other non financial assistance as well, in order to promote and nurture those dreams. While talking about incubating young entrepreneurs, more focus was put on the advocacy support for entrepreneurship development, to provide assistance which are required to equip youth with the required skills for business. To do that assistance is also needed to the organizations those are considered to be incubators of young entrepreneurs. And when it comes to financing, existing funders need to alter their traditional schemes and risk mitigation practices and make it accessible to youth group. The probable solutions could be Building a business echo system that promotes venture capitalists and creating alternative sources of funding.

Economic empowerment is something that every nation seeks for and the same goes for Bangladesh as well. In this circumstance development of youth entrepreneurship can actually take the lead by empowering this huge fraction of the population. And to do that, it is required to create a better environment to promote young entrepreneurs.

Fighting Malaria Worldwide: Observing World Malaria Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:06:00 +0000

“Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria” – World Malaria Day 2012 on 25 April upholds a strong theme to reverse the rate of death in Malaria in developing countries. Millions of people in the malaria endemic areas are threatened by a simple mosquito bite that can lead to death. In Bangladesh, malaria is affecting 13 districts where more than 11 million people lives in a vulnerable situation. Children under the age of 5 and expecting mothers are considered to be at high risk.

The National Malaria Control Program is partnering with NGOs to implement control activities in the affected areas to reduce morbidity and mortality and achieve the Millennium Development Goal – ‘Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases’. With the support from Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM), Bangladesh government has strengthen and expanded national malaria control activities. A BRAC led consortium of 21 local NGOs is working in close collaboration with National Malaria Control Program, developing a comprehensive network that covers four districts, including three ‘difficult to reach’ Chittagong hill tract districts, and reporting about 80% of malaria morbidity in the country (See BRAC’s Malaria Control). The success and sustainability of malaria control program is widely reliant on how far we could educate the community people about the disease and its’ consequences, facilitate early diagnosis and prompt treatment services, and more importantly, increase the coverage, reaching people in all 13 prevalent districts.

This year, the call for funding for malaria control is being highlighted, considering the remarkable return throughout the world. Continued effort to fight malaria will drive us attain the MDGs not only for combating diseases, but also for those related to improving child and maternal health status and eradicating poverty.

Assessing BRAC’s Health Program in Tanzania

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:12:00 +0000

Jade Lamb, a Masters student at Duke University, recently wrote a research paper on BRAC's community health promoter model in Tanzania. Below is an abstract of her paper.

Life expectancy in Tanzania is 58 years for women, and 53 for men (WHO 2011). Tanzania’s maternal mortality ratio is among the world’s highest at 454 per 100,000 births (UNDP); likewise, its infant mortality ratio is high at 51 per 1,000 live births (TDHS 2010). Overall, under-five mortality (U5M) is 81 per 1,000 (TDHS 2011), 16% of which is due to malaria, and an additional 13% to diarrheal diseases. To address these ongoing health issues in a low-cost, scalable way, BRAC began to implement a Community Health Volunteer Program in Tanzania in 2007. BRAC trained volunteers, all of whom were female and most of whom were also active in BRAC’s microfinance programs, to go out into their communities and educate community members on common diseases, identify pregnant women and new infants and encourage them to seek prenatal and antenatal care, sell over the counter medications, and post contact information for emergency first aid for children.

The intervention was conducted for 3 years, until 2010. BRAC collected survey data in treatment and comparison communities assessing health behaviors such as insecticide treated net use, sanitary latrine access, contraceptive use, and antenatal care in 2007 and 2010 in order to evaluate the program. Though the scaling up of the program before 2010 meant that comparison communities received the treatment, the program was still associated with increased contraceptive use and piped water access, and a small but statistically significant decrease in insecticide treated net use. I recommend that BRAC focus any additional health programs in Tanzania on contraceptive promotion, where there seems to be an effect, and postnatal care access and antenatal care quality, where there appears to be unmet need.

Click here to read the full paper (PDF).

Shalighor Polli Shomaj Pre-Primary School, A Light for the Future

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The government run pre-primary schools at Shalighor Village have limited capacity for talented students. Also there is no BRAC school in the locality. It is very difficult for poor families to enroll their children to school here. Hence, this leads to learning problems and drop outs.
In 2011, to tackle this problem, community women’s forum called Polli Shomaj, convened by BRAC Community Empowerment Programme, collectively mobilized and opened the “Shalighor Polli Shomaj Pre-Primary School” , a home school in Shalighor village in Gouripor, Mymensingh.

The school currently has 40 students: 21 girls and 19 boys. The students are about five years old and they are taught by their teacher, Helena, who is the secretary of the Polli Shomaj in that village. She started teaching there on a volunteer basis and now receives an honorarium of 350 taka per month. The class lasts one hour, from 10 am to 11 am everyday with lessons in Bangla, English and Mathematics. The children’s parents pay 1 taka per day per child. The income received by the school is used to pay the teacher, the classroom rental, and to buy books and stationary in the school. Currently, the classes are held in the outside portico of a local neighbor’s house. The Polli Shomaj members want to move the class to a better location and class room in the future with a better school environment.

The Polli Shomaj members and the community people share that they hope to see their children do well in the primary school, and pursue higher education and have a good career and thus better life. Recently, 12 of the students from this school: 5 girls and 7 boys have enrolled in the government primary school in their locality.

Nadira Calevro
Intern
BRAC Community Empowerment Programme

Seminar on promoting education for adolescent girls

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:24:00 +0000

BRAC hosted a seminar on April 16, 2012, presented by our Research and Evaluation Division (RED) on: The role of incentives and institutions in promoting education for adolescent girls: Insights from research and practice. Director of Gender Justice & Diversity Ms. Sheepa Hafiza and Prof. W.M.H. Jaim, Guest presenters Dr Niaz Asadullah and Dr.Zaki Wahhaj, and Chief guest Ms. Rasheda Chowdhury and Dr. Binayak Sen, all gave incredible insight that hopefully provoked some form of reaction in each person that will result in an exchange of dialogue to take a stand and contribute to the research and initiatives being taken to pave a way for girls to receive an education in a safe, comfortable environment.

Girls in Bangladesh face a different and devastating reality. Recently, there is an increasing number of news and information on incidents of sexual harassment, murder of teacher and parents, and suicide of students and parents, increase number of drop outs, victims are pushed into early marriages, hinders development, high psycho-social tension in society, restricts mobility, of girls in particular, builds fear and diminishes confidence, and ultimately deprives youth of any education, let alone future. In Bangladesh, almost 90% of girls aged 10-18 have been victims of S.H ( BNWLA-2010) with 36% of girls experiencing such S.H. in front of their schools ( Baseline survey report on MEJNIN programme, 2010, BRAC).

Researchers such as Dr. Niaz Asadullah and Dr.Zaki Wahhaj have dedicated themselves to understanding female schooling and social norms that maybe affecting the enrollment of girls in secondary schools. Their research looks at the institutional origin of the growth in enrolment which highlights the hidden challenge to female education arising from social and/or cultural barriers to female mobility in Bangladesh. Both Dr. Niaz Asadullah and Dr.Zaki Wahhaj provided critical information based on the key pathways through which Bangladesh has made exceptional progress in improving access to secondary education for girls over the last two decades with a particular focus on incentives and institutions.

BRAC has made education a priority, as a result, a innovated scheme called MEJNIN, has been implemented in directly supporting secondary school going adolescent females in overcoming social barriers in the form of sexual harassment. Director of Gender, Justice & Diversity Ms. Sheepa Hafiza explained how the institutional context in which the incentive scheme was introduced played an important role in successfully bringing a large number of girls into the secondary education cycle. MEJNIN’s goal is to build awareness and confidence of students (girls and boys) and community members to protect and protest sexual harassment, and establish and form an alliance with government and non-government leaders.

As the seminar ended, Chief guest, Ms. Rasheda Chowdhury, Executive Director (CAMPE), asked some questions that demand immediate attention. These girls, and boys, going to school are our children, brothers, and sisters and what are we doing to ensure their security? What message are we trying to give the government and are we packing it in such a way that they sense our urgency? The problems and social barriers are evident, and BRAC has and will continue to make education and the rights of girls and women its priorities. But drastic changes can only be made, when each individual realises the fact that they play an important role in the lives of these children, from the maastan who teases little girls on their way to school, to the teachers who harass them in the classroom.

Honor your mother, change a life

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day is about being thankful for one of the most important women in your life: your mother. She gave birth to you (one of the most dangerous things a woman can do), fed you, clothed you, and made sure you went to school (and did your homework), among many other things.

Mothers are the driving force behind BRAC's success. They leverage our holistic approach to provide health and well-being to their entire family. That's why every gift you give BRAC to invest in a woman gets multiplied.

This Mother’s Day, celebrate all the hard work your mother has done by investing in a woman in her honor.

Train a woman to be a community health promoter in honor of all those runny noses your mother wiped.

Help a woman start a garden in honor of the lunches your mother packed and the dinner that was always on the table.

Support one of our mothers the way your mother supported you, and we’ll send her a card for Mother’s Day letting her know about the gift you made in her honor.

Click here to make a gift and change a woman’s life in honor of the woman who changed your life.

The ‘Poster Boy’ of Microfinance

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founder of Bandhan, has been considered the “poster boy” of the microfinance industry in India. Many people may be unaware that Gosh actually spent most of his time in Bangladesh. He is a Dhaka University alumni and former employee of BRAC. As a college grad, Gosh was simply looking for a job to earn a living, without realising that his experiences would direct his path to dedicating his time and career towards microfinance and helping others to earn a living.

BRAC was the stepping stone in his career and door that gave him access to a wealth of firsthand knowledge in regards to poverty. Throughout his career at BRAC, he probably picked up a lot of valuable lessons and information that he has been able to apply in many areas of his life and career. But one story in particular has stuck with him, particularly about Chairperson ,Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. According to Gosh, when, Sir Abed was teaching some elders in a village, a young girl suggested that this would be a never ending task. For by the time he finishes teaching them, a new batch- her generation- would be ready for adult education. That pushed sir Abed to open schools. This was the first and one important lesson that would help him in the future: To think long term. Don’t just focus on today’s problems!

Ghosh went on to work with other organisations, implement his own ideas, and BRAC has supported his endeavors along the way. We have a long term partnership with the Calcutta based development organisation, Bandhan, in helping them implement an ultra poor programme and a small enterprise programme in the West Bengal. We are involved with the roll out, selecting the ultra poor women and the process for distributing assets etc.

BRAC is an institute which is dedicated to the citizens we serve world wide as well as our internal staff members. Ethics and values have been instilled in the BRAC environment to nurture staff members in order to acquire appropriate skills and work ethics that will benefit the organisation’s missions and goals, along with one’s own personal development. BRAC has been a mentor, teacher, and partner to many individuals and has contributed in building leaders like Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has been recognised for his commitment to MFI in Forbes India, and as a mentor and partner, BRAC acknowledges Ghosh for his dedication, commitment, and vision in contributing to the overall goal of eradicating poverty through his microfinance approach. We will continue to support Ghosh, and Bandhan, in efforts to achieve a vision we all share in poverty alleviation, empowering individuals, and instilling hope in the lives of the underprivileged communities.

Read the article which was published in FORBES INDIA

Voices from the Korail slum

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Many thanks to Hannan Majid of The Rainbow Collective for adding in subtitles to the below video we shot of the initial reactions of some of the people who lost their homes in the recent Korail slum eviction in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

More than just Frugal – BRAC and ‘Jugaad’ Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:57:00 +0000

An interesting fact; more than half the world’s population – over three billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day. What this means is that three billion people are currently left out of the formal economy! Despite public and private efforts, many fundamental needs are unmet. The World Bank released a detailed report titled The Next Four Billion that estimates “frugal innovation” to be a five trillion dollar market. Many of the last mile problems facing those trying to deliver products to the bottom of the pyramid are the same as BRAC faces in its poverty alleviation programs. With an increasing academic interest in this area, BRAC can both contribute to this body of knowledge and benefit from the findings of others.

Last week, BRAC hosted Dr. Prabhu, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise and Director of the Center for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He recently co-authored a book titled ‘Jugaad Innovation’ that delves into the frugal and flexible mindset of social entrepreneurs in emerging economies. Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi word that translates as “an innovative fix”. It is a unique way of thinking and acting in response to challenges. Through thoughtful and economically viable innovations, frugal innovators practice jugaad to creatively address critical socioeconomic issues in their communities. The solutions are usually radically affordable because the purchasing power of consumers in these markets is radically low. These innovators operate in very complex environments that require solutions that are very significant, innovative and holistic.

Dr. Prabhu spent a day in Mymensingh seeing BRAC’s health and microfinance programs in action, finding to his excitement a great deal of innovation. “[BRAC is] perhaps the most impressive organization I’ve ever studied, and masters of jugaad too”, Dr. Prabhu tweeted. He was drawn into the concept of shasthya shebikas (community health volunteer) and their motivations to carry out extensive community-based health activities. When he spoke with a group of women receiving advanced training to become “model shashtya shebikas,” he heard several share how much they truly enjoyed their work.

Back in Dhaka, Dr. Prabhu delivered thought-provoking talks at BRAC’s head office and BRAC Business School about jugaad and how managers can use research to foster a culture of innovation. With the support of one of Dr. Prabhu’s research students, BRAC is now exploring how to build more of this evaluation and experimentations into its programs.

Venita Subramanian
BRAC Social Innovation Lab

BRAC USA's 2011 Annual Report is out!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Chaplin) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:09:00 +0000

Click on the photo above to check out BRAC USA's 2011 Annual Report. We've used a new format this year, engaging the Prezi platform so you can:

flip through the report using the arrows in the bottom right hand corner,
zoom in on a particular item by clicking on it (double-click to zoom out), and
watch the videos to get a more in-depth look at what we've done.

Enjoy!

Forceful Eviction of Korail Slum

noreply@blogger.com (BRAC Blog) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:48:00 +0000

On April 4, one of the largest forceful slum evictions in Dhaka’s history took place in Korail bustee, located near BRAC’s head office. Households and shops within twenty meters of the road were bulldozed, with approximately 2,000 structures affected. Homes lay in complete ruin, while those who could salvage some of their belongings camped on the local field or the road itself.

“Our water supply was cut off and we have no place to go” explained one of the affected women.

“The way the whole process was carried out was very inhumane. We received an announcement on April 3rd and the next day morning, the eviction began. We were given just one night to dismantle our homes, gather our belongings and relocate ourselves. Where will we go?” says another victim.

There are unconfirmed reports of at least one child who died, trapped inside one of the destroyed shacks. Local shops and bazaars, the main sources of food for the community, were closed.

BRAC’s community-based health, microfinance, and education programs have been working with Korail’s residents for many years. Thus far, it has been confirmed that eight pregnant women covered by the Manoshi program and approximately 10 BRAC primary school students were affected.

The Korail eviction is part of a larger eviction campaign taken on by the government, which started in various parts of Dhaka five days ago. In January, the High Court directed the government to demarcate Gulshan Lake and remove all illegal structures, which will include the homes of the approximately 30,000 slum dwellers. Dhaka’s District Executive Magistrate has committed to completing the eviction by June, with the next drive on Sunday.

“We have created a structure where there is no place but slums for low income people to live. They are the engine of the informal economy and yet the State likes to pretend that they don’t exist and this is the result of that indifference”, said Asif Saleh, Director of Communication, BRAC.

It is estimated that if Sunday’s eviction is carried out as planned, 396 BRAC primary students, 345 pregnant women and 352 Village Organization (VO) members will be homeless. Despite existing policies requiring evictions to include rehabilitation for slum dwellers, none has been provided. Local NGOs reported that “water, food, and a place to go” were the primary needs they identified. Thousands participated today in a peaceful protest to the eviction plans.

BRAC is planning to provide a small cash transfer for 400 households that were directly affected by the eviction. But without increased attention to the lives affected by these evictions, the ability of BRAC and other NGOs to prevent the resulting misery is quite limited.

"However technically legal the form of the eviction may have been, nothing can justify the fact that the manner and spirit in which it was carried out was fully devoid of humanity. No adequate advance notice was given, no compensation mentioned - and rehabilitation is so distant and unreal a dream that no one even utters it. What a mockery of constitutional safeguards of life, livelihood and shelter."

- Faustina Pereira. Human Rights Activist and Director of BRAC’s Human Rights and Legal Services Programme.

Dhaka is home to over three million slum dwellers, all of whom reside in what are considered illegal structures. According to a research done by the Department for International Development (DFID), at least 60,000 people were displaced due to the evictions from 27 slums in Dhaka between 2006 and 2008.

Bangladesh’s success in reducing poverty is threatened by forceful evictions that disrupt communities, destroy livelihoods, and uproot families. BRAC is committed to supporting its community members in Korail with emergency support, and supporting the development of sustainable and humane urban policies.

Venita Subramanian & Maria A. May
BRAC Social Innovation Lab