ONMicrofinance Activities and Poverty Eradication Programs

BANGLADESH RURAL ADVANCEMENT COMITTEE (BRAC)

A Case Study on Jhenaidah Branch.

Submitted To

Dr. Md. Zakaria Rahman

Professor

Department of Management

Islamic University, Kushtia. Submitted By

Titon Hossain

ID No. 100535

Session: 2010-11

Department of Management

Islamic University, Kushtia.Date: 11-05-14

Chapter One

1.1Introduction:

Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) based in Bangladesh, is currently (May 2014) the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the liberation of Bangladesh, BRAC is currently present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million micro-finance group members, 38,000 non-formal primary schools and more than 70,000 health volunteers. BRAC is the largest NGO by number of staff employing over 120,000 people, the majority of whom are women. BRAC operates various programs such as those in microfinance and education in over nine countries across Asia and Africa, reaching more than 110 million people. The organization is 80% self-funded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a dairy and food project and a chain of retail handicraft stores called ‘Aarong.’ BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK. BRAC is a few years into their initiative to operate in ten African countries in the next ten years.

BRAC is associated with social welfare activities in the society for the development of the poorest section through microfinance activities for that reason I have chosen BRAC to find out its activities that are used to reduce the poverty form the society.

1.2 Background of the study:

Knowledge and learning become perfect when it is associated with theory and practice. Theoretical knowledge gets its perfection with practical application. After the completion of M.B.A. Program, I was placed in BRAC (N.G.O) with a short internship program for getting practical knowledge. This is an orientation to the entire microfinance activities of BRAC and poverty eradication programs on a topic “microfinance activities and poverty eradication programs” under the Honorable Supervisor Professor Dr. Zakaria Rahman. While working, I can make a detail study and present my understanding in this report about the poverty eradication programs of BRAC and its different aspects of future programs for removing poverty. This

internship programs will bring me closer to the practical working experience and implementation of programs for poverty alleviation.

1.3 Statement of the Problem:

Just about, 50% people of Bangladesh live below the poverty line especially in rural areas. As a result, poverty often forces the people to find out any job outside their home. At present, average per capita income is 1044 US$ and about half of the total population of Bangladesh still continues to live below poverty line. Rural illiteracy rate is also high and their number is also growing at the alarming rate. In order to dismal poverty and massive unemployment problem, the questions of poverty alleviation come out.

1.4 Rational of the StudyMicrofinance is an important tool to fight against the poverty, BRAC are operating its microfinance programs in both rural and urban area to reduce poverty, and actually BRAC are the development partner of the development of Bangladesh. The extent to which they are performing their microfinance program to reduce extreme poverty is the burning question to development academicians and beneficiaries; in the same manner it is very much rational to study the theoretical framework and real condition of BRAC’s microfinance program.

1.5 Objectives of the Study:

The objectives of the study are pointed out below:

To get an idea about BRAC.To have a practical experience of Job life.To present the micro financing systems and procedures.To present the existing position of BRAC in the scenario of other NGOs in Bangladesh.To present the poverty eradication systems by micro financing activities in the context of jhenaidah.To make an overview on Micro Credit Programs and Management of BRAC and to identify the utilization of Micro credit.To measure the impacts of the problems on Micro Credit management.

1.6 Methodology of the Study:

To conduct the study I have to collect different types of primary and secondary data. Data will be collected through different sources like by taking interviews of the responsible officers and asking from the borrowers.

The Sources of data collection are given below:

(A)Primary Sources:Practical work.Face to face conversation with the Managers and officers.Face to face conversation with the borrowers.Personal field observation.

(B)Secondary Sources:Annual report of the BRAC ProgramsPublished data.Data from the official web site of BRAC (N.G.O)Newspapers and Magazine.

1.7 Limitations of the Study:

Every researcher faces problems in case of his research. In my internship program I have also faced same problems. The following limitation I have faced in case of data collection:

The main limitation of proper data from the office for the breach of confidentiality.Many officers are not co-operative to provide useful and relevant information.It is difficult to communicate with borrowers.Lack of available internship facilities.Lack of proper library facilities.Lack of manager’s communication gap because of his educational limitation.Lack of available relevant data in the website of BRAC.Lack of information about Branch data in the website of BRAC.

Chapter Two

Overview of NGOs in Bangladesh

2.1 NGOs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a strong tradition of private philanthropic initiatives for humanistic and voluntary works for people’s welfare. Many schools, colleges, hospitals and other voluntary initiatives for public service have their origin in the philanthropic values of caring and sharing. It is with the same spirit of caring and sharing that after the Liberation War in 1971 many dedicated individuals took initiatives for people’s welfare, at the beginning in the form of relief and rehabilitation, which subsequently transformed into NGOs working in wide ranging areas of development and social change. As a complimentary force to the state sector, NGOs have made great contributions to public welfare, in many cases becoming national and international models which are being replicated in many countries of the world. Micro-finance, women empowerment, education, health, environment, rights-based awareness and demand creation are only a few examples of the whole range of areas in which NGOs are actively and commendably involved in Bangladesh. NGOs in Bangladesh are engaged in diverse activities – the same NGO may be involved in multiple areas of operation. Micro-credit is one of most common and increasingly popular type of operation of NGOs because of the success of the model in reaching the poor, especially women, but also for the reason that it has also become a legally endorsed income generating activity helping development and sustainability of the NGOs themselves. Other popular programs include education, health, family planning, environment, human rights, women and children welfare, etc. Most NGOs rely upon funds received from foreign sources. International NGOs, development partners, foreign private organizations, and multinational organizations provide such fund. A World Bank Report (2012-13) informs that 34.10% of the foreign aid (US$ 379.4 million) received by Bangladesh was allocated for the NGO sector. There are no estimates of funds from other sources that are involved in this ever growing sector. The NGO sector is also an important employment generating sector. There is no estimate of the number of people employed in the sector, but BRAC, for example, the second largest employer after the government, employed 93,843 people as of December 2013.

2.2 Definition of NGOs:

NGO is elaborately called non-governmental organization. This organization is not part of government and do not exist to make profit. The NGO has been defined differently by different people.

According to O’Neil, “NGOSs are private organizations serving a public purpose” (O’Neil, 1989:2).

Mia and Khan define NGOs as “organized entities setup by a group or sections of the people on their own initiative or partly by external impulses, to satisfy their socio-economic problems by methods and techniques of voluntary action” (Mia and Khan, 1987:3).

According to Web Dictionary, “ NGO is a group or association that is not directly pert of a government body and that seeks to affect change for a specific cause or activity not commercial in nature”.

In one sentence it can be said, NGOs are the private organization serving public purposes an only for voluntary activities.

2.3 NGOs in The Perspective Of Development

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become quite prominent in the field of international development in recent decades. But the term NGO encompasses a vast category of groups and organizations.

The World Bank, for example, defines NGOs as “private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.”

Professor of anthropology, Richard Robbins, in his book, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (Allyn and Bacon, 2012, Tenth Edition), suggests a few reasons why NGOs have become increasingly important in the past decade or so. Amongst them (from pp. 128 to 129):

1. The end of the Cold War made it easier for NGOs to operate.

2. Communications advances, especially the Internet, have helped create new global communities and bonds between like-minded people across state boundaries

3. Increased resources, growing professionalism and more employment opportunities in NGOs

4. The media’s ability to inform more people about global problems leads to increased awareness where the public may demand that their governments take action of some kind.

5. Perhaps most important, Robbins suggests, is that some believe NGOs have developed as part of a larger, neoliberal economic and political agenda. Shifts in economic and political ideology have lent to increasing support of NGOs from governments and official aid agencies in response.

2.3 The Role of NGOs in Bangladesh:In Bangladesh, about 20000 NGOs are working in different development fields. A review of NGO activities over the past three decades has indentified major areas of the program s that are undertaken by different NGOs in Bangladesh.

1. Credit: It is one of the most successful innovative efforts of development NGOs in Bangladesh.

2. Women development: In order to develop the socio-economic condition of the women, the NGOs emphasis on women development.

3. Non-formal education: The NGOs have concerned their effort on eradicating illiteracy through functional for both men and women.

4. Empowerment generation: The NGOs expand the opportunity of employment generation through small trading, rickshaw pulling, and mulberry plantation for women, etc.

5. Income earning through enterprise development: The opportunity of income earning of the poor are expanded by the NGOs through enterprise development, such as, social forestry, fish culture, weaving, poultry and livestock rearing.

6. Capacity building in planning and management: In order to enhance the organizing skills and managerial capabilities of the poor in order to plan and implement their own projects, the NGOs undertake different activities at the grassroots level.

7. Occupational skill training: NGOs arrange traditional and new skills training for men and women, including crop cultivation, silk cocoon rearing, operation of irrigation equipment, Para-professional, etc.

8. Productive assets: The NGOs arrange ownership, control and management of productive assets for the poor that include, irrigation equipment, rice mills, power tillers, weaving machines etc.

9. Political participation: By the NGOs the organized poor can participate in the local decision-making process, such as, “salish”, local election and similar activities.

10. Health and nutritional knowledge: The NGOs consider that access to health care services is a basic human right.

11. Family planning: NGOs have made a significant contribution in family planning. 12. Environment: The NGOs undertake various programs to combat deforestation and

to improve the conditions of deforestation.13. Mobilization of target group: The NGOs mobilize the target groups through

village survey, individual contacts, preliminary group meetings, motivational work etc.

14. Consciousness raising: Participatory group discussion is facilitated through a trainer, and mass awareness is created.

15. Group formation: The NGOs encourage separate group formation by men and women with emphasis on the later.

16. Leadership development: Cadres are trained at training centers on leadership from within the group.

17. Access to government service: In order to give the poor access to the “khas” land, health care facilities of the government and similar benefits, the NGOs make such demands to the local and other relevant governmental authorities.

18. Active local administration: To make the local administration more responsive to the specific needs of the beneficiaries the NGOs can active the local administration by giving the poor adequate access to it.

19. Non-traditional agriculture extension: Some NGOs are developing an extended system of appropriate technology transfer for homestead agriculture.

20. Development of appropriate irrigation technologies: With a view to responding to the needs of the small and marginal farmers and also to promote crop diversification, NGOs develop low-cost irrigation technologies through research and experiment.

21. Urban and rural development: For urban and rural development, the NGOs expand their activities through infrastructure development, slum development, low-

cost housing, food for works program, construction and reconstruction of roads, bridges and culverts etc.

22. Development of children: Various programs are undertaken by the NGOs for the development of underprivileged children.

23. Humanitarian and legal aid: The NGOs also provide humanitarian and legal aid o the disadvantaged section of the society.

24. Relief and Rehabilitation: At the time of natural disaster the NGOs also involve themselves in relief and rehabilitation programs.

2.4 Problems of NGOs in Bangladesh:There are some specific problems to execute the various programs of NGOs in Bangladesh. Some are here:

Limited replicability: NGO activities depend on a highly motivated staff and where such high level if motivation cannot be replicated, the activities themselves cannot be replicated.Limited self-sustainability: The NGOs are unable to adopt long0term and efficient planning strategies.Limited technical capacity: Local NGO projects are often initiated with insufficient technical feasibility analysis and inadequate information.Lock of broad programming content: The NGOs often carry out their initiatives and projects individually which remain relatively isolated from other NGOs or programs and this tendency hinders the establishment of country-wide or regional programs.Limited ability to reach the poorest segment of the society: Although the NGOs tent to reach the poor, it is also true that they cannot effectively reach the ‘poorest of the poor’ in the society e.g. the floating population.Inability to scale-up activities: Because of their small size and resources, limited administrative system, intensive forms in a few communities, the difficulties in maintaining their essential value consensus the NGOs are unable to scale-up their activities.Dependency on Donors: The NGOs are criticized that, by taking funds they serve the interest of the donors and fulfill their objectives.Paternalistic approach: NGOs tent to become “paternalistic” about their clients by continuously investing in the same beneficiaries instead of setting time targets for their graduation from poverty.Centralized operations: Some of the large NGOs are operated and run by their own bureaucracies. This is evident in cases where the head office of the NGOs takes decisions

in a way, which leaves little scope for its local level staff and group members to take a new initiative or respond immediately to specific issues to a locality.

2.5 NGOs are suffering some official problems in Bangladesh. These are:

1) Lack of financial sustainability2) Shortage of efficient employees and high employee attrition3) Inadequate infrastructure4) Undue interference and control by the government5) Lengthy fund release process6) Low level of inter-sectoral cooperation

Inadequate training and low level of true professionalism among employees often aggravated by lack of job security

Lack of information and relevant research

Religious conservatism and militancy, and threat of terrorism

Political pressure and political instability

Unfavorable tax regime

Natural calamities.

NGO Registration

Ineffective Governing Body

Discretion of the Executive Head in decision making process

Lack of Transparency in Finance

Bribes to the Bureau and other Government Offices

Avoiding Tax by NGO Officials

Employee Harassment, Complain System, and Grievance Procedure

Corruption in Recruitment & Promotion

Secrecy of Information

Chapter Three

Overview of BRAC

3.1Introduction:BRAC is a Bangladeshi NGO. BRAC stands for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. The twin objectives of BRAC are poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor. It works particularly with the women from poorer families whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty, illiteracy, diseases and malnutrition. Over the years since inception BRAC has gone through a series of evolutions and is now one of the largest NGOs in the country. BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) based in Bangladesh, is currently (June 2014) the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the liberation of Bangladesh, BRAC is currently present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million micro-finance group members, 37,500 non-formal primary schools and more than 70,000 health volunteers. BRAC is the largest NGO by number of staff employing over 120,000 people, the majority of whom are women. BRAC operates various programs such as those in microfinance and education in over nine countries across Asia and Africa, reaching more than 110 million people. The organization is 80% self-funded through a number of commercial enterprises that include a dairy and food project and a chain of retail handicraft stores called ‘Aarong.’ BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK. BRAC is a few years into their initiative to operate in ten African countries in the next ten years.

BRAC tackles poverty from a holistic viewpoint, transitioning individuals from being aid recipients to becoming empowered citizens in control of their own destinies. Over the years,

BRAC has organized the isolated poor and learned to understand their needs by piloting, refining and scaling up practical ways to increase their access to resources, support their entrepreneurship and empower them to become active agents of change. Women and girls have been the central analytical lens of BRAC’s anti-poverty approach; BRAC recognizes both their vulnerabilities and thirst for change. BRAC always strives to find practical and scalable approaches to eradicate poverty wherever it is.

 Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG3.2 Founder and Chairperson, BRAC

Sir Fazle was born in 1936 in Bangladesh. He was educated both at Dhaka and Glasgow universities. He was a professional accountant in his thirties, working as a senior corporate executive at Shell Oil, when the 1971 liberation war had a profound effect on him, dramatically changing the direction of his life. He left his job, moved to London and devoted himself to Bangladesh’s war of independence. There, he helped initiate a fund raising and awareness building.

When the war was over, he returned to the newly independent Bangladesh to find the economy in ruins. Millions of refugees, who had sought shelter in India during the war, started returning to the country and their relief and rehabilitation called for urgent efforts. It was then that he established BRAC to rehabilitate the returning refugees in a remote area in north-eastern Bangladesh. He directed his policy towards helping the poor develop their capacity to better manage their lives. Thus, BRAC’s primary objectives emerged as alleviation of poverty and empowerment of the poor. Under his leadership, in the span of four decades, BRAC grew to become the largest development organisation in the world in terms of the scale and diversity of it interventions.

Sir Fazle has received numerous national and international awards for his achievements in leading BRAC, including the Open Society Prize (2013), the WISE Prize (2011), the Conrad

Hilton Humanitarian Award (2009), the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2008), the Inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Award (2007), the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership (2007), the Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Award for lifetime achievement in social development and poverty alleviation (2007), the Gates Award for Global Health (2004), the UNDP Mahbub ul Haq Award for outstanding contribution in human development (2004), the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award (2002), the Olof Palme Award (2001), UNICEF’s Maurice Pate Award (1992) and the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1980).

He is also recognised by Ashoka as one of the ‘global greats’  and is a founding member of its prestigious Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2010, he was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Eminent Persons Group for the Least Developed Countries. Sir Fazle has received numerous honorary degrees including Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University (2007); Doctor of Laws from Columbia University (2008); Doctor of Letters from the University of Oxford; Doctor of Humane Letters from Rikkyo University, Japan (2009); the Doctor of Laws from the University of Bath (2010) and from the University of Manchester (2012). In 2009, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) by the British crown in recognition of his services to reducing poverty in Bangladesh and internationally.

3.3 History of The Establishment of BRACKnown at the time as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, BRAC was initiated in 1972 by Fazle Hasan Abed. Fazle Hasan Abed is a Bangladeshi social worker, and the founder and chairman of BRAC. For his outstanding contributions to social improvement, he has received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the UNDP Mahbub Ul Haq Award at Sulla in the district of Sylhet.Sylhet is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the capital of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma River and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills.... as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to help returning war refugees after the Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War Bangladesh Liberation War/nomenclature justification was an armed conflict pitting West Pakistan against East Pakistan and India, which resulted in the secession of East Pakistan to become the independent nation of Bangladesh of 1971. In nine months, 14 thousand homes were rebuilt as part of the relief effort. Several hundred boats were

also built for the fishermen. Medical centres were opened and other essential services were ensured..At the end of 1972, when the first phase of relief work was over, BRAC turned towards long-term development needs and re-organised itself as a multifaceted development organisation focusing on the empowerment of the poor and landless, particularly women and children.

By 1974, BRAC had started providing microcredit and had started analyzing the usefulness of credit inputs in the lives of the poor. Till the mid 70s, BRAC concentrated on community development through multi-sectoral village development programmes that included agriculture, fisheries, cooperatives, rural crafts, adult literacy, health and family planning, vocational training for women and construction of community centres. A Research and Evaluation Division (RED) was set up by BRAC in 1975 to analyze and evaluate its activities and provide direction for the organisation to expand and evolve. In 1977, BRAC shifted from community development towards a more targeted approach by organizing village groups called Village Organizations (VO). This approach targeted the poorest of the poor – the landless, small farmers, artisans, and vulnerable women. Those who own less than half an acre of land and survive by selling manual labor were regarded as BRAC’s target group. That same year BRAC set up a commercial printing press to help finance its activities. The handicraft retail chain called Aarong.

In 1979, BRAC entered the health field in a major way. It established the nation-wide Oral Therapy Extension Programme (OTEP), a campaign to combat diarrhoea, the leading cause of the high child mortality rate in Bangladesh. Over a ten-year period 1,200 BRAC workers went door-to-door to teach 12 million mothers the preparation of home-made oral saline. Bangladesh today has one of the highest rates of usage of oral rehydration

Oral rehydration therapy is a simple, cheap, and effective treatment for dehydration associated with diarrhea, particularly gastroenteritis, such as that caused by cholera or rotavirus and BRAC’s campaign cut down child and infant mortality from 285 per thousand to 75 per thousand. This initial success in scaling up propelled rapid expansion of other BRAC programmes such as Non Formal Primary EducationEducation in Bangladesh

The educational system in Bangladesh is three-tiered and highly subsidized. The government of Bangladesh operates many schools in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels which BRAC started in 1985 – a model that has been replicated in about a dozen countries.

In 1986 BRAC started its Rural Development Programme that incorporated four major activities – institution building including functional education and training, credit operation, income and employment generation and support service programmes. In 1991 the Women’s Health

Development programme commenced. The following year BRAC established a Centre for Development Management (CDM) in Rajendrapur. Its' Social Development, Human Rights and Legal Services Programme was launched in 1996 with the aim to empower women with legal rights and assist them in becoming involved with community and ward level organizations. In 1998, BRAC’s Dairy and Food project was commissioned. BRAC launched an Information Technology Institute the following year. In 2001, BRAC established a university called BRAC University

3.4 Mission & Vision

Our Vision

A world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realise their potential.  

 

Our Mission

Our mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. Our interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realise their potential.

 

Our Values

1. Innovation- BRAC has been an innovator in the creation of opportunities for the poor to lift themselves out of poverty. We value creativity in programme design and strive to display global leadership in groundbreaking development initiatives.

2. Integrity- We value transparency and accountability in all our professional work, with clear policies and procedures, while displaying the utmost level of honesty in our financial dealings. We hold these to be the most essential elements of our work ethic.

3. Inclusiveness- We are committed to engaging, supporting and recognising the value of all members of society, regardless of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnicity, age, physical or mental ability, socioeconomic status and geography.

4. Effectiveness- We value efficiency and excellence in all our work, constantly challenging ourselves to perform better, to meet and exceed programme targets, and to improve and deepen the impact of our interventions.

3.5 Organogram of BRAC

3.6 Governing Body of BRACSir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMGFounder and Chairperson, BRAC

Dr Mushtaque Chowdhury Vice-Chairperson and Interim Executive Director, BRAC

Ahmed Najmul HussainDirectorProcurement, Estate and Management Services, BRACRoad Safety, BRAC

Mahabub Hossain Advisor to the Interim Executive Director, BRAC

Abul Iqbal Mohammed MonsoorDirectorConstruction and Maintenance, BRAC

Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali Advisor to the Interim Executive Director Brac

Anna MinjDirectorCommunity Empowerment, BRACIntegrated Development, BRAC

Faruque Ahmed Executive Director BRAC International

Faustina PereiraDirectorHuman Rights and Legal Aid Services, BRAC

S N KairyChief Financial OfficerBRAC and BRAC International

Kaosar AfsanaDirectorHealth, Nutrition and Population Programme, BRAC

Asif SalehSenior DirectorStrategy, Communications and Capacity, BRAC and BRAC International  

Major General (Retired) Muhammad Sahool AfzalDirector, Special Projects

Babar KabirSenior DirectorWater, Sanitation and Hygiene, BRACDisaster, Environment and Climate Change, BRAC

Nanda Dulal Saha DirectorInternal Audit, BRAC and BRAC International

Tamara Hasan AbedSenior DirectorEnterprises, BRAC

Rabeya YasminDirectorUltra Poor Programme, BRAC

Reema SenChief People OfficerBRAC International

Rachel KabirDirectorChairperson's Office, BRAC

Safiqul IslamDirectorEducation, BRAC

Saieed Bakth MozumderDirectorTea Estates

Shameran AbedDirectorMicrofinance, BRAC and BRAC International

Sheepa HafizaDirectorGender Justice and Diversity, BRACMigration Programme, BRAC

Sukhendra Kumar SarkarDirectorAdministration, Monitoring and Investigation, BRAC

Tanwir RahmanDirectorFinance, BRAC and BRAC International

 

3.7 The BRAC Family Today

97,000 community health promoters are providing essential healthcare worldwide, with

maternal, neonatal and child health services covering 24.5 million in Bangladesh alone

1.14 million Children are currently enrolled in BRAC’s 38,000 primary and pre-primary

schools, and 9.51 million have graduated. BRAC's youth empowerment clubs provide life

skills training to more than 260,000 teens from disadvantaged backgrounds

5.54 million micro-borrowers with a cumulative loan disbursement of USD 9.73 billion

25 million people have access to clean toilets thanks to BRAC’s sanitation entrepreneurs

More than 600,000 rural poor women being organised through 11,234 Polli Shomaj and

1,217 Union Shomaj; BRAC's 376 popular theatre teams – in Bangladesh only – have

reached nearly 4.3 million people.

101,222 human rights and legal education graduates and 19,252 local community leaders’

workshop participants

Chapter FourFunctions of BRAC

4.1 Activity Description of BRAC

With a history of micro financing in Bangladesh dating back to the 1970's, local NGO BRAC is well versed in the opportunities to break the cycle of poverty that such loans provide. From the beginning however, BRAC has placed an equal importance on micro-enterprise development as a means to maximize the return obtained by the poor. BRAC uses an integrated approach to income generation and micro-enterprise creation that focuses on six sectors in which it feels large numbers of women can be productively engaged; poultry, fishery, livestock, sericulture, agriculture, and agro forestry.

For each sector BRAC offers training in improved techniques, provision of improved breeds and technologies, on-going supply of technical assistance and inputs, monitoring and problem solving as needed, and marketing of finished goods.

To support newly created enterprises, BRAC also established a number of Programme Support Enterprises (PSE) that link rural producers with growing urban markets in order to insure access to quality inputs essential to respective enterprises' operations. For example, a PSE providing quality, day old chicks to BRAC's Poultry and Livestock Programme.

Other BRAC micro-enterprise programs are tailored to specific population groups and include; the Rural Enterprise Project (REP), focusing on rural opportunities for income generation; and Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction for the Ultra Poor (CFPR-TUP), which uses a multi-pronged approach to help the absolute poorest graduate to mainstream micro financing.

4.2 What BRAC Do?

BRAC believes that poverty is a system and its underlying causes are manifold and interlinked. Some of these linkages are obvious, for example, a day’s wage forgone because of illness or resources lost to a natural disaster. Others play a more indirect role in perpetuating poverty, such as lack of awareness about laws and rights can lead not only to outright exploitation,

but also encourage a lack of accountability on the part of the state to cater to its most vulnerable citizens.

1. Microfinance    Dabi - Poverty alleviation for poor landless women.    Unnoti - Microenterprise development for marginal farmers.    Progoti - Small enterprise development for businesses.

2. Employment & Income    Fisheries Extension Programme    Agriculture Extension Programme    Poultry and Livestock    Social Forestry Programme    Sericulture

3. Programme Support Enterprise    Aarong    Dairy and Food Project    Bull Station    Tissue Culture Laboratory    Vegetable Export    Nurseries    Feed Mills    Poultry Farms & Disease Diagnosis Lab    Broiler Production & Marketing    Seed Enterprise    Fisheries Enterprise

4.Education    Pre-Primary School    Primary School    Children with Special Needs(CSN)    Education for Indigenous Children    Community and Formal School

    Partnership with Mainstream Primary Schools    Secondary School    Continuing Education Programme(CE)    Adolescent Development Programme

5.Health Programme    Essential Health Care    EHC-STUP    WASH    MNCH-Rural    Manoshi-MNCH Urban    Tuberculosis Control    Malaria Control    HIV/AIDS    Shushasthya    BRAC Limb and Brace Centres    Pilot Initiatives

6.Human Rights & Legal Services    Human Rights and Legal Education    Law Implementation Committees    Capacity Building of Sheboks/shebikas    Local Community Leaders Workshop    Human Rights Implementation Committees    Legal Assistance and Legal Aid Clinics    Human Rights Violation Cases    Capacity Building of Panel Lawyers

7. Social Development    Polli Shomaj-ward level federations    Union Shomaj- union level federation    Capasity Development of Local Government    Popular Theatre    Human Rights Violation Issues

8.Agriculture    Support Programmes and business    Poultry and Livestock Programme    Support Enterprise for Livestock and Poultry farming    Support Enterprises for Agriculture    Fisheries Programme    Support Enterprise for Fisheries    Social Forestrhy Programme    Support Enterprises for Social Forestry    Sericulture

9.Knowledge & Capacity Building    Research and Evaluation Division    Training Division    Communications & Publications

10. Governance & Financials    Governing Body    Audit Committee    Ombudsperson    Delegation of Authority Social Enterprises

11.Related Institutions    BRAC University    Institute of Education Development(IED)    Institute for Governance Studies    James P Grant School of Public Health    BRAC Bank Limited    bracNet    BRAC Afghanistan Bank    Documenta Ltd.    Delta BRAC Housing Finance Corporation Ltd.

4.3 Priorities of BRACFocus on women - BRAC places special emphasis on the social and financial empowerment of

women. The vast majority of its microloans go to women, while a gender justice programme

addresses discrimination and exploitation.

Grassroots Empowerment - BRAC’s legal rights, community empowerment and advocacy

programmes organise the poor at the grassroots level, with ‘barefoot lawyers’ delivering legal

services to the doorsteps of the poor.  

Health and Education - BRAC provides healthcare and education to millions. Our 97,000

community health workers offer doorstep deliveries of vital medicines and health services to

their neighbors. BRAC also runs the world’s largest private, secular education system, with

38,000 schools worldwide.

Empowering farmers - Operating in eight countries, BRAC’s agriculture programmes work

with the governments to achieve and sustain food security. This is ensured by producing,

distributing and marketing quality seeds at fair prices, conducting research to develop better

varieties, offering credit support to poor farmers and using environmentally sustainable practices.

Inclusive Financial Services - BRAC attempts to alleviate poverty by providing the services of

its community empowerment programme and targeting the ultra poor programme. BRAC's

cumulative disbursement is of almost 10 billion dollars in microloans annually, augmenting

microfinance with additional services like livelihood and financial literacy training. Farmers get

access to seasonal loans, high quality seeds and technical assistance. Millions now have the

freedom to take control of their lives.

Self-Sustaining Solutions - BRAC’s enterprises and investments generate a financial surplus that is reinvested in various development programmes subjected to poverty alleviation.

4.4Where BRAC works

The majority of BRAC’s work is in Bangladesh. We have been delivering successful programmes since 1972 and grown to become the largest development organisation in the world. Our low cost, innovative solutions to the daily problems facing poor families have been scaled up to reach every village in Bangladesh.

BRAC provides more than just microfinance. We use the microfinance groups as a social platform to deliver scaled-up services in health, education, business development and livelihood support. These are all critical components needed to ensure that poor people can break the cycle of poverty.

We have won numerous international awards for turning problems into successful solutions.

The majority of our 90,693 staffs is in Bangladesh, with our headquarters in Dhaka, the national capital.

Scaling up in Asia and Africa

BRAC has substantial operations in a growing number of Asian and African countries. We work in countries where we can achieve a major impact on reducing poverty and improving livelihoods.

Since 2002, we have been using our experience to energise and accelerate poverty alleviation efforts in other countries. We deliver microfinance, health, education, agriculture and livestock services based on our integrated approach in Bangladesh.

The programmes of BRAC can be scaled up quickly to a national level and are low cost, effective and adaptable.

Asian and African staff

BRAC directly recruit and train local staff to deliver and manage their programmes.

However, specialist managers from BRAC in Bangladesh are posted internationally for quality control and south-south knowledge exchange.

Asia o Bangladesho Afghanistano Pakistano Philippineso Sri Lanka

Africa o Liberia

o Sierra Leone o South Sudano Tanzaniao Uganda

BRAC is also working in Haiti.

BRAC CFPR-TUP(Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor) programme model was replicated in the following countries: Ethiopia, Honduras, Peru, Ghana, Yemen, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Haiti and the CFPR-TUP programme provided direct technical assistance in the following countries: Yemen, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Haiti.

Figure : BRAC’s activities in the world

Chapter Five

Major Programmes in Bangladesh

5.1 BRAC in Bangladesh:

1.Core Programmes of BRAC Economic Development Programme – Health Programme – Education Programme – Social Development – Human Rights & Legal Services Programme.

2.BRAC’s Social Enterprises Social Business’s that grew out its development interventions – Brac’s investments in commercial businesses with social underpinning•

3.Support Programmes of BRACTraining Division – Research & Evaluation Division – Advocacy & Human Rights Unit – Human Resources Division – Public Affairs & Communications   Administration & Special Projects – Finance & Accounts – Monitoring – Internal Audit – Publications.

5.2 Economic Development Program:

BRAC Economic Development Program provides the cornerstone for all of BRAC’s development work. It uses a participatory, peer supported and multisectoral strategy to offer poor rural women the skills and opportunity to achieve sustainable improvement in their livelihoods, and attain dignity and self-reliance. This programme covers microfinance, institution building, income generating activities and programme support enterprises.

 

5.3Microfinance: BRAC believes that a common platform created and owned by the poor themselves is a crucial prerequisite whereby the poor can make themselves count in the development process. The Village Organisation (VO) is an association of poor, landless people who come together with the help of BRAC to improve their socio-economic position. The VO promotes a structured organisation of the rural poor with particular emphasis on women’s participation. The main goal of the VO is to strengthen the capacity of the poor for sustainable development and enable the poor to participate in the national development process. The VO is also the link between rural people and BRAC. To date, BRAC has organised a total of 294,214.

1. Dabi - Poverty alleviation for poor landless women: Dabi is the core component of BRAC’s microfinance programme. We organize landless groups of women in rural, semi-urban and urban slums into self-selected groups commonly known as village organizations (VOs).These VOs serve as platforms for various financial and non-financial development activities including savings, credit, health, education, social development and livelihood support. Dabi members have access to microloans and savings schemes that help reduce their vulnerability and support their self-employment initiatives. The loans are used to support a wide range of activities that the poor engage in to sustain their livelihoods. These range from agricultural activities such as growing rice, maize or vegetables and livestock rearing to non-farm activities such as running a restaurant or grocery store. All Dabi members are women and the average loan size in 2013 was BDT 8,227 (USD 121). As of 2013, the total number of outstanding borrowers was 8.02 million and BDT 40,755 million was disbursed in 2013.

2. Unnoti - Microenterprise development for marginal farmers: The goal of Unnoti is to provide financial services to meet the specific needs of small and marginal farmers. Agriculture is the backbone of Bangladesh's economy and to a large extent drives the livelihoods of the poor, either directly or indirectly. Crop diversification, growth in the non-crop sector and maintaining high productivity are therefore of great importance for food security, pro-poor growth and livelihoods of the poor.There is plenty of scope for intervention in agriculture and the introduction of new ideas and enterprises. We provide support to marginal farmers who own more than one acre of land - a group that is not being targeted by the mainstream microfinance programmes. These marginal farmers do not need a huge amount of money to support their projects; loan size ranges from BDT 10,000 to BDT 50,000 (USD 147 to USD 735).As of 2008, there are 0.84 million borrowers and BDT 9,569 million was disbursed

3. Progoti - Small enterprise development for businesses: Progoti addresses the credit needs of small entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who require loan facilities to expand their commercial

enterprises or to meet the needs for working capital to run their businesses.These small entrepreneurs are known as the 'missing middles' who have difficulty accessing credit facilities from institutional sources as they neither fall into the category of commercial banks nor into the landless group members of a typical microfinance programme. Since its inception, the Progoti programme has disbursed over BDT 68,223 million spread over 752,954 entrepreneurs and, as of 2013, the number of outstanding borrowers was 240,991.The progamme disbursed BDT 23,637 million in 2013 spread over.  We also introduced the Women Entrepreneur Development Programme (WEDP) in 2000 solely for women entrepreneurs. Since inception, the programme disbursed 35,844 individual loans worth BDT 2,276 million (USD 33 million) as of December 2013.

Figure: Micro finance Members

5.4 Employment and Income

While BRAC believes that microfinance is necessary to help break the cycle of poverty, it places equal importance on micro enterprise development services to maximize the return obtained by the poor. Unlike standard business development programmes, which offer some mix of generic training and marketing services, BRAC has developed an integrated sector specific approach to enterprise development for the poor. BRAC has identified six sectors in which large numbers of low-income women can be productively engaged, at or near their homes: poultry, livestock, fisheries, sericulture, agriculture and social forestry. For each of these sectors, BRAC has developed an integrated set of services including training in improved technologies, on-going supply of technical assistance and inputs, monitoring and problem solving as needed.

Microfinance at a Glance Bangladesh

5.5 Fisheries Extension Programme

The Fisheries Extension Programme has the following two components:

1)    Pond Aquaculture: This activity now reaches 272,788 members (90% women). More than 178,020 ponds with approximately 23, 336 hectares of water area were brought under semi-intensive aquaculture practices. Training was disseminated in various aspects of pond agriculture. Aquaculture is considered a family-based activity and women usually spend about 10-15% of their total daily working time on this activity. Pond agriculture is supported with field based training, credit; essential inputs supply and regular follow-ups.2)    Inland Open Water Fisheries Management Programme: BRAC is involved with two open water fisheries management projects of the Department of Fisheries, Government of Bangladesh. The goals of these projects are to promote a more equitable distribution of fishery benefits through ecologically sustainable use of open water fisheries

5.6 Agriculture Extension Programme

BRAC’s Agriculture Extension Programme promotes the nutritional and income status of households by increasing the agricultural production of VO members through technology transfer. The VO members who have less than 0.5 acres of land receive training, technical support, inputs and access to BRAC’s microfinance to invest in farming. BRAC’s agricultural extension activities can be broadly catagorised into two components: a) Vegetable Cultivation and b) Crop Diversification (rice, maize, wheat, cotton and sunflower cultivation). BRAC has also established a modern soil-testing laboratory. By the end of December 2006, it had tested 8,750 soil samples supplied by farmers from different locations of the country.

Figure: BRAC Agriculture and Food Security Programme

5.7Poultry and Livestock

In Bangladesh, approximately 70% of landless rural women are directly or indirectly involved in poultry rearing activities. This sector accounts for about 3% of the country’s GDP. BRAC’s Poultry and Livestock Programme is composed of several components: poultry and livestock extension programme, poultry farms and hatcheries, feed mills and feed analysis laboratories, a bull station and diseases diagnosis laboratories. To date, 2.11 million people have been involved in this programme. The Poultry and Livestock Extension Programme includes a) poultry and livestock extension workers b) chick rearers c) key rearers d) cage rearers e) broiler rearers f) egg collectors g) model cow rearers and h) model goat rearers i) beef fatteners j) fodder cultivations and k) artificial inseminators. BRAC started its Livestock Programme in 1983 to protect livestock from disease by developing skilled-level para-veterinaries and improving local cattle breeds by providing credit and appropriate technical support. These measures are expected to increase the productivity of the livestock sector, and provide a steady source of income for the landless. The government has taken up BRAC’s livestock development model for widespread implementation. The objectives of the programme are to provide women an entry point to income and employment opportunities through training, input supply and technical support in poultry and livestock activities to improve their socio-economic situation. It is very profitable for landless.

5.8 Social Forestry Programme

BRAC’s nursery programme organizes its VO members, who are given training, to establish village nurseries on 7-10 decimals of land to supply good quality seedlings to the local markets. They operate village nurseries and produce 5000-10000 seedlings annually. BRAC has also established 17 large nurseries spread all over the country for research, conservation of germ plasm and production of quality seedlings to meet Bangladesh’s demands. BRAC has established 8,095 smaller nurseries at the village level, which produced and distributed 15.5 million seedlings in 2006 and a cumulative 416.7 million seedlings all over the country to date. BRAC also works to increase the awareness of people to plant more trees. BRAC established a number of fruit orchards to increase the fruit production in the country. BRAC’s agroforestry activities aim to bring about ecological and socio-economic improvements in rural Bangladesh. The agroforestry activities are implemented on degraded private and government lands. The purpose of the activity is to produce wood, fuel, fodder, food, fruit and vegetable form the same plot so that income is maintained through the short, medium and long terms

5.9Sericulture

Sericulture is a labour intensive agro-industry. It has the potential to link rural producers with urban markets, and provides an opportunity for the transfer of money from the urban rich to the rural poor. BRAC’s purpose in promoting sericulture is to provide income-generating activities for poor, landless women. The main components of BRAC’s Sericulture Programme are: a) mulberry cultivation b) silkworm seed production c) silkworm rearing and cocoon production d) silk reeling and spinning e) weaving and f) marketing. At present, BRAC operates 11 silk seed production centres, 6 sericulture resource centres and 3 reeling centres. In addition, BRAC is putting emphasis on the development of sericulture by increasing mulberry bush cultivation in the northan districts of Bangladesh and 2,209 acres of mulberry bush plantation was achieved in these areas by the end of 2013. This programme has also engaged 7,537 silkworm rearers, 1,872 chawki rearers and 7,513 charka spinners

5.10 Program Support Enterprises

A number of Program Support Enterprises (PSE) have been set up by BRAC that are strategically linked to its development programmes, providing timely supplies of quality inputs required by BRAC members and beneficiaries for their enterprises or acting as safety nets,

protecting them from market failures. Profits made by these PSEs are diverted back to BRAC’s poverty alleviation programmes and hence, they also contribute towards making the organization self-sustaining

Aarong

Aarong is an established fashion and home décor brand in Bangladesh. As a fair trade organization set up by BRAC in 1978, with a goal to alleviate poverty, Aarong plays the crucial role of the protector and promoter of Bangladeshi handicrafts and craft producers. By creating and sustaining a market for innovative and trendy products through its nationwide network of eight lifestyle stores and worldwide exports, Aarong supports and ensures the livelihoods of more than fifty thousand rural artisans, mainly women. In 2013, Aarong successfully achieved a sales growth of 38.42% resulting in Tk. 1.7 billion (USD 25 million) in annual sales

Dairy and Food Project

In order to provide a fair price for milk to BRAC’s VO members who had invested their micro loans on cows, BRAC set up a diary plant in 1998 for milk chilling centres all over Bangladesh where over 70,000 litres of milk is collected every day. The BRAC Dairy plant is situated in Gazipur and has a 10,000 litres per hour production capacity. A milk powder plant was also set up in 2005

Bull Station

BRAC has developed 940 artificial inseminators (AI) of bulls to provide door-to-door AI services in the rural areas. To supply good quality livestock semen to AI works, BRAC has established a bull station in Mymensingh. A total of 305,197 doses of semen were sold and inseminated in 2013.

Tissue Culture Laboratory

BRAC established a tissue culture laboratory in 1998 with four green houses to produce diseases free plantlets. A large part of the demand of the country for high yield variety is met through imports. The lab was set up to overcome this problem and to empower the poor farmers by increasing their productivity and income. In 2006, the laboratory produced about 600,000 potato plantlets, 20,000 fruit plantlets, 200,000 ornamental plantlets and 50,000 medicinal plantlets.

Vegetable Export

The vegetable export programme was started in 1997-98 in collaboration with the HORTEX Foundation to link poor farmers with international markets. The programme focuses especially n vegetables that have a high demand in European markets. BRAC provides training and technical assistance to small farmers in the production of particular crops and arranges necessary packaging and transportation to the wholesalers in Europe. In 2012, 313.7 tonnes of vegetables and over 1,150 tonnes of potatoes were exported invarious countries of the world.

Nurseries

BRAC’s 17 nurseries in Bangladesh work to produce quality seedlings of different species and have been producing and distributing fruit, timber, ornamental and medicinal plants. Parts of the nurseries are used for mother-tree preservation purposes and for variety trails. BRAC nurseries have also placed emphasis on production of year and off-season fruit bearing.

Figure:Nurseries Programme of BRAC

Feed Mills

The success of the poultry programme depends significantly on the availability of balanced feed. In response to increased demand for balanced feed, BRAC established three feed mills in Manikganj, Nilphamari and Gazipur. The total production capacity of these feed mills is 40,000 metric tonnes per year. In 1999, BRAC set up a Feed Analysis Laboratory in Gazipur to determine the quality of feed. BRAC feed is marketed under the name “Surma Poultry Feed.” In 2013, 90,240 metric tonnes of poultry feed were produced

Poultry Farms & Disease Diagnosis Lab

BRAC has established six poultry farms and hatcheries to produce good quality chicks. In 2013, these farms produced and distributed 22.47 million day old chicks. BRAC’s Poultry Disease Diagnostic Lab, set up in June 1999, provides support to the BRAC poultry programme participants and other poultry rearers with services to detect various poultry diseases and their treatment

Broiler Production & Marketing

BRAC set up a broiler processing plant in Gazipur in July 2001 to meet the extensive demand for dressed chicken. Currently, BRAC’s broiler processing plant is the largest and the only automated plant in Bangladesh. The plant purchases chickens from BRAC’s own rearing farms and some contract farms. About 1238 metric tonnes of dressed meat were processed and distributed in 2013.

Seed Enterprise

a)    Seed Production, Processing and Marketing: The shortage of high quality seeds is one of the major constraints in increasing the productivity of agricultural products in Bangladesh. Only 4.5% of the seeds available to the farmers are produced in controlled conditions to ensure high quality. Therefore, in 1996, BRAC started producing high quality seeds with the aim of providing these seeds to poor farmers. At present, BRAC has 2 seed processing centres and 18 seed production farms with an annual capacity of 4,701 mts. BRAC has set up 50 depots through which it distributes different types of seeds to the farmers.

b)  Rice Seed Production: BRAC started organised rice seed production in 2000 and initially produced HYV (High Yielding Variety) rice seed. Later, in response to farmer demands, BRAC also started hybrid seed production and variety development research in 2001. Hybrid rice shows a minimum 20% more yield than HYV. In 2006, more than 400 metric tonnes of hybrid and 100 metric tonnes of inbreed (HYV) rice seed were produced through 1,000 contract growers.

c)  Maize Seed Production: In Bangladesh, due to suitable environment and increasing demand, the area under maize cultivation is expanding with an increased demand for quality hybrid maize seed. To fulfill the national demand, BRAC signed an agreement with Pacific Seed Company, Australia in 1997 to produce hybrid maize seed locally with their parent-line and technical assistance. In 2006, around 672 metric tonnes of hybrid maize seeds were produced on 378 acres of land through 575 contract growers.

d) Vegetable Seed Production: BRAC has one vegetable research centre, in Gazipur, and three vegetable seed farms in Meherpur, Dinajpur, and Thakurgaon. The main activities of the research centre are variety development, parent-multiplication,pre-foundation seed production and variety screening. In 2013, BRAC produced 96.70 metric tonnes of vegetable seeds through the farms and 281 contract growers.

e)    Potato Seed Production: Potato Seed Production was started by BRAC in 2001 to address the national demand for quality potato seeds in Bangladesh. In 2013, a total of 1850 metric tonnes of foundation seed was produced on 105 acres of leased land and 2,701 metric tonnes of certified seed have been produced on 682 acres of land through 981 contract growers.

f)    Seed Processing Centres : BRAC established 2 Seed Processing Centres in Bogura and Gazipur with an annual capacity of 5,200 metric tonnes. In each seed processing centre, a quality

control team monitors the quality of the seeds. BRAC has set up 22 seed marketing outlets in different parts of Bangladesh, through which it distributes different types of seeds to 260 farmers dealers and business persons.

Fisheries Enterprise

Fish and Prawn Hatchery: Recognising the importance of quality fry/fingering for successful aquaculture, in 1988 BRAC established its first fish hatchery. Over the years BRAC has extended the activities on different commercially important aquaculture species and established several types of hatcheries.

Fish Hatchery: BRAC has established four “Crap Fish” hatcheries with an annual production capacity of 5,700 kgs of fish spawn in Gazipur, Pabna, Bogra and Moulovibazar. In 2013, the four fish hatcheries produced 10,169 kgs of spawn, 20.10 million fingerlings and 230.54 metric tonnes of fish/prawn. Considering the faster growth rate of male Tilapia fish, BRAC has established a Tilapia Fish hatchery in Magura, with an annual capacity to produce 10 million all-male Tilapia fry, which has started commercial production in 2007.

Freshwater Prawn Hatchery: Giant freshwater prawn is an important aquaculture species in Bangladesh. BRAC has established 8 freshwater prawn hatcheries with a total annual production capacity of 32 million post larvae (PL). In 2013, the eight prawn hatcheries produced 40.48 million PL.

Marine Fish Breeding Centre: BRAC established a Marine Fish Breeding Centre in Cox’s Bazaar sea beach to develop appropriate breeding technology of marine fishes, especially sea bass. Up to 2013, around 1580 sea bass have been stocked to acclimatize them with the pond environment and to develop brood stock for breeding trails and appropriate brood management technology.

Brood Development: To produce and supply quality brood, BRAC started selective breeding of carp and Tilapia.

5.11 Public health

BRAC started providing public healthcare in 1972 with an initial focus on curative care through paramedics and a self-financing health insurance scheme. The programme went on to offer integrated health care services, its key achievements including the reduction of child mortality rates through campaign for oral rehydration in the 80s and taking immunization from 2% to 70% in Bangladesh. BRAC currently provides a range of services that reach an estimated 31 million rural poor and include services for mothers in reproductive health care and infants.In Bangladesh, 78% of births occur in the home. BRAC has implemented a program in which midwives are trained to work in the homes of women to ensure that births are as risk-free as possible. As of December 2012, 70,000 community health volunteers and 18,000 health workers have been trained and mobilized by BRAC to deliver door-to-door health care services to the rural poor. It has established 37 static health centres and a Limb and Brace Fitting Centre that provides low cost devices and services for the physically disabled.

Figure: BRAC Health Programme

5.12 BRAC Education Programme

With education programmes in six countries, BRAC has built the largest secular, private education system in the world, with over 700,000 students worldwide enrolled in BRAC primary schools. These schools are designed to give a second chance at learning to the disadvantaged

students left behind out from the formal education systems. Complementing mainstream school systems with innovative teaching methods and materials, BRAC’s education programmes open primary schools in communities unreached by formal education systems, bringing learning to millions of children, particularly those affected by extreme poverty, violence, displacement or discrimination. At the pre-primary level, we also target underprivileged children to prepare them for mainstream primary school entry. At the secondary level, we provide need-based trainings, student mentoring initiatives, and e-learning materials to improve the mainstream secondary education system. We are giving increasing attention to adolescent and youth as a special group and offering life skills, livelihood and skills development training, as well as saving and financial services such as savings accounts. Our multipurpose community learning centres promote reading even to those who cannot move from their houses through mobile libraries. In our 26 years of history we have provided basic education to around 10 million students in Bangladesh, with graduates from our non formal primary schools numbering nearly five million. Till date, BRAC has successfully opened 410 schools in Philippines; of which, 292 are pre-primary schools and 118 are primary schools.

.

Figure: Brac Education Programme

5.13 Social development

In 1996, BRAC started a programme in collaboration with the Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK) and Bangladesh National Women Leader’s Association (BNWLA) to empower women to protect themselves from social discrimination and exploitation of which dowry, rape, acid throwing, polygamy, domestic violence and oral divorce are common in rural Bangladeshi communities and to encourage and assist them to take action when their rights are infringed. The programme has two components: the Social Development component and the Human Rights and Legal Services component.

The Social Development component focuses on building human and socio-political assets of the poor – especially women – through institution building, awareness raising, training and collective social mobilization The Human Rights and Legal Services component seeks to empower the poor by increasing their awareness of their rights (legal, human and social) and entitlements through participation in activities like the Popular Theatre and through Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) classes arranged by BRAC for its Village Organisation members. BRAC also offers external services such as access to lawyers or the police either through legal aid clinics, by helping women report cases at the local police station or when seeking medical care in the case of acid victims. At the end of June 2013, 124,748 HRLE classes were held and 3,332 acid victim cases and 2,735 rape victim cases were reported.

5.14 Human Rights and Legal Aid Services

BRAC views legal empowerment as a pathway out of poverty. Our Human Rights and Legal Aid Services programme promotes the rights of the poor and the disadvantaged by raising awareness about existing laws, empowerment through community mobilization, capacity building and provision of aid and support to access the legal system. We offer human rights and legal education, legal aid clinics, alternative dispute resolution services as well as emergency assistance for victims of crimes. These services are provided free of cost by trained paralegal volunteers, panel lawyers and experts. Our aim is to use the legal system to protect marginalized groups from discrimination and exploitation, reduce violence against women and children, sensitize legal authorities on human rights and gender  justice principles, undertake policy advocacy by engaging with the government and building alliances with other organization.

Figure: Legal help Programme

5.15 BRAC Gender Justice & Diversity Unit

BRAC has worked for decades to integrate gender justice into its programmes and eliminate gender injustice in society. The gender justice and diversity programme works simultaneously within the organisation and with the community. BRAC strives for equality, diversity and inclusiveness within BRAC; improves gender relations and empowers women at the household level across many of its programmes; and works to ensure that girls and boys are equitably nurtured to their full potential from pre primary through secondary school. We also promote gender equality and tackle violence against women at a national level by influencing government policies and agendas, organising public forums and events, and leveraging national and international alliances for gender justice.

Figure: BRAC Gender Justice & Diversity

5.16 BRAC Disaster, Environment and Climate Change Programme

 BRAC Disaster, Environment and Climate Change (DECC) programme works alongside the government, other non-governmental organisations and the community to build resilience, foster adaptation and respond holistically to the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

The programme’s fundamental goals are to enhance BRAC's institutional capacity to respond to natural disasters, build competence at the community level on disaster preparedness and increase coping ability during natural disasters by conducting predictive research, information transfer and education in relation to environment, climate change and natural disasters

Figure: BRAC Disaster, Environment and Climate Change Programme

5.17 BRAC Migration Programme

BRAC’s Safe Migration Facilitation Programme works to ensure the rights of migrants by creating easy access to services that help them avoid exploitation. Bangladeshi potential migrants often fall victim to fraudulent migration opportunities. The reasons behind that are usually limited access to information, inadequate services from agencies at all levels and lack of proactive policymaking such as social and economic reintegration plans for returnee migrants.

Figure: BRAC Migration Programme

Chapter Six

International Operation of BRAC

6.1 BRAC International 

BRAC International officially registered as a foundation and its official name is Stichting BRAC International. It is registered under the laws of The Netherlands, with its seat in The Hague. The foundation was formed on March 16, 2009 with an objective to engage in charitable purposes and social welfare activities. Its RSIN (Rechtspersonen en Samenwerkingsverbanden Informatienummer) number is 820561320.Now BRAC is operating its activities in ten countries.

All of BRAC International’s development entities operate under this umbrella. Development programmes include health, education, agriculture, livelihoods, targeting the ultra poor, human rights and legal services programmes. BRAC International Holdings B.V. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stichting BRAC International and was incorporated in 2010. BRAC International’s microfinance programmes, social enterprises, investment companies and regulated finance companies are consolidated under this wing. Social programme supporting enterprises currently include seed production, feed mill, training centres, tissue culture lab etc.

Plans for 2014 in Bangladesh

Micro-pensionsFinancial education and client protectionBRAC Innovation Fund for Digital Financial Services

Currently, BRAC International has programmes in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Philippines and Haiti.

6.2 Operations outside Of Bangladesh

1. Afghanistan

BRAC registered in Afghanistan in 2002 and covers 23 out of 34 provinces. Its major programmes in Afghanistan include Microfinance (funding from MISFA), Health, Education,

Microfinance at a Glance BRAC International

National Solidarity and Capacity Development. Its Microfinance Program has 429 branch offices that have disbursed more than USD 96 million to over 179,000 member households (895,000 people). BRAC runs nearly 2,371 schools which have seen 118,416 students graduate, almost all of whom are girls. BRAC Afghanistan has 3,617 community health workers and 1,390 poultry and livestock extension workers. It has established two Training and Resource Centres in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. BRAC’s staff in Afghanistan includes 3,463 locals and 180 expatriates. {Annual Report, 2013}

Figure: Midwives graduate in Afghanistan

2. Sri Lanka

BRAC registered in Sri Lanka in 2005 following the devastating Tsunami and initiated relief and rehabilitation activities. Its rehabilitation and livelihood programmes in Sri Lanka cover three districts and 43 divisions. BRAC’s work in Sri Lanka includes the fisheries, agriculture, poultry and livestock, small business, income-generation activities, education and health sectors. As of 2013, it employed 612 staff. {BRAC at a Glance, December 2013}

3. Pakistan

BRAC expanded into Pakistan in 2007 and now covers six districts. BRAC Pakistan employs 700 staff members that work in 75offices that are set up throughout the country. The

Microfinance Program supports 1437 village organizations that have over 34,544 members. As of 2013, BRAC Pakistan had disbursed over $1,350,000.

4. Tanzania

BRAC Tanzania, established in 2006, has created over 7,619 microfinance village organizations with over 180000 members and already disbursed more than $160 million. Over 880 community health promoters, 85225 agriculture program farmers and 35681 poultry and livestock farmers have been trained. up to May 2014 it was a field partner of Kiva Microfunds.

As of May 23, 2014, Kiva reported BRAC Tanzania's status as closed with a 0% Delinquency Rate.

4. Uganda

BRAC Uganda’s Microfinance Program has formed over 2,145 village organizations with 59,844 members. To date, the program has disbursed $14.8 million with a repayment rate of 100%. BRAC Uganda has trained 200 community health promoters and opened 122 learning centers in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps that have enrolled nearly 20,704 learners. {Annual Report, 20013} It is a field partner of Kiva Microfunds.

5. South Sudan

In 2007, BRAC started operations in South Sudan. The microfinance program, which consists primarily of returning war refugees, has formed 220 village organizations with over 8,400 members. The cumulative disbursement in 2008 was $1,313,150. BRAC South Sudan has initiated a community-based health program under which community health organizers and health promoters receive training. {Annual Report, 2013} It is a field partner of Kiva Microfunds.

6. Liberia

Established in 2008, BRAC launched programs in microfinance, health, agriculture, livestock and poultry; reaching more than 582,000 of the poorest in Liberia. BRAC employs 161 Liberians (71% women) and has mobilised nearly 300 community-based volunteers.

7. Sierra Leone

BRAC opened its offices in Sierra Leone in 2008 and started programmes in 2009. BRAC runs services in microfinance, health, agriculture, livestock and poultry, and by the end of 2009 reached over a quarter of a million Sierra Leoneans with their activities. BRAC provides jobs for 169 Sierra Leoneans (83% female) and supports 323 local volunteers.

Figure: BRAC International Health Programme

8. Haiti

BRAC has provided technical assistance to Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest microfinance organization, to replicate BRAC’s ultra poor program. In 2010, they opened a Limb and Brace Center to support those who were injured in the 2010 Haiti earthquake and an agriculture, poultry and livestock program, including training and support for rural micro entrepreneurs to start tree nurseries.

9. Philippines

BRAC launched operations in the Philippines in 2012 in partnership with Australian aid agency AusAID, with plans to operate at least 1,600 pre-primary and primary schools in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

6.3 What Others Say About BRAC"BRAC in Bangladesh is the best aid group you've never heard of." —Nicholas Kristof, New

York Times columnist

“By most measures the largest, fastest growing non-governmental organisation in the world –

and one of the most businesslike.” —The Economist

“BRAC has done what few others have. They have achieved success on a massive scale,

bringing life-saving health programmes to millions of the world’s poorest people.” —Bill Gates,

co-chair, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“[Sir Fazle Hasan] Abed’s story proves just how much people with vision and commitment can

change the world.” —Bill Clinton, former president of the United States.

“BRAC is the most astounding social enterprise in the world.” —Paul Collier, author of The

Bottom Billion.

“The billion dollars in microloans that BRAC extends each year to poor people is just the

beginning of the story of this remarkable organisation.” —George Soros, chairman of the Open

Society Institute.

 “Through its visionary moves, BRAC has made a huge contribution to social change in

Bangladesh and abroad.” —Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in economics.

BRAC AT A GLANCE

Global headline figures as of September 2013Population Reach 135 million

Annual Expenditure (BRAC) USD 583 millionAnnual Expenditure(BRAC International)

USD 79 millionNumber of Employees 120,249

HEALTHCommunity Health Promoters 114,228Women Received Ante-natal Care 26.5 millionWomen Received Post-natal Care 25.5 million

MICROFINANCETotal Borrowers 4.5 millionCumulativeDisbursementUSD 11,096 million

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENTCommunity Institution (PolliShomaj) Built13,014Shows Staged by OurPopular Theatre Group167,894

TARGETING THE ULTRA POORWomen Received Assets 417,540Women ReceivedTraining1.4 million

EDUCATIONNumber of Schools 44,033Number of Students 1.3 millionGraduated Students 10.2 millionMembers in Community Libraries 1.2 million

GIRLS EMPOWERMENTNumber of Clubs 10,328Number of Club Members 312,145

HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL AIDSERVICESHuman Rights and Legal EducationParticipants3.8 millionNumber of Legal ComplainsReceived201,970

AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCKModel Farmers 44,129Seeds Distributed 1,161 MTPoultry Vaccination Provided 49.5 million

WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENENo. of People Served with HygienicLatrine28.6 millionNo. of People Served with SafeDrinking Water,1.9 million

Chapter Seven

My Duties and Responsibilities

7.1 INTRODUCTION Jhenaidah is a district town, situated in southern part of Bangladesh. BRAC opened its branch in 1989.The office is situated at Hamdah in Jhenaidah, The first program of BRAC was DABI. After opening its branch, many projects opened and closed gradually. There are many projects in operations still now. DABI is the mother program of BRAC and other operations are SDCP (second diversified crops project), health, education, legal section and so on. In this branch, every project is operated under the instructions of head office. Every project is separated from other project.

BRAC have made a pivotal role to eradicate poverty, to improve social, economic and health conditions. The people of Jhenaidah are very enthusiastic, hard working & self motivated. BRAC are taking these valuable opportunities and getting successful as they are trying to eradicate poverty from the societies. The main activity of BRAC is performed with destitute and backward people. Many people crossed poverty line by the help of BRAC in Jhenaidah. The success of BRAC depends on the success of poor people. So, BRAC is successful in Jhenidah.

7.2 Under the jhenidah Branch office BRAC perform several activities. Some of the programs are as follows:

1. Microfinance Programme2. Education Programme3. Agriculture and fisheries programme4. Health programme5. Human Rights & Legal Services

As my part of my internship requirement I have worked in the programme of microfinance. In jhenaidah BRAC operate three types of microfinance activities 1) DABI 2) Unnoti 3) Progoti.

DABI means daridro bimochon that provides loan for the landless poor women. In Jhenaidah, DABI program was started in 1979. In DABI program, activity is maintained under the smallest unit. This smallest unit is called “Village Organization” (VO). This unit is formed by some members generally 10 to 50. Under Jhenaidah branch, DABI has 90 VOs. An employee generally looks after 10 to 15 VOs. Some VOs and its members of Jhenaidah branch is listed below as tabular form.

7.3 Dabi1. Average loan size $2252. Loan Term 1 year3. Repayment Mechanism-Equal weekly/monthly installments.4. More than 97% of borrowers are women are serviced in groups, but there is no joint liability.5. Loans are used for small operations in poultry livestock, vegetable cultivation, handicrafts and rural trades.

Figure: Dabi loan for Women

7.4 Progoti:1. Average Loan Size – $2,0502. Loan Term – 12/18 months3. Repayment Mechanism – Equal monthly Repayment Mechanism. 4. Borrowers are individually catered and the loans are typically used to finance working

capital for shops, agricultural businesses and small manufacturing

Figure: Progoti loan for small business

7.5Total Beneficiaries:

Table

Name of the ProgramTotal

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries

Male Female

Rural Credit and Sector Develop 61,666 139,74 47,692

Health 1,54,000 54,800 99,200

Education 80,650 27,260 53,390

Research and human Development 50,950 16,380 24,570

Rural Enterprise Development 70,000 70,000 0

Total 2,68,666 63,814 2,08,852

Source: Annual Report of BRAC during 2013

Top-up Loans

1. Introduced in 2013 for both Dabi and Progoti borrowers to provide greater flexibility

2. Allows borrowers with good repayment behaviour to top-up an existing loan

3. Available to borrowers who have repaid at least 50% of the existing loan on time

Maximum top-up amount is 50% of original disbursed amount.

7.6 Loan Disbursement

Description of loan products

Average loan size

Loan term Repayment mechanism Major uses of loans

Dabi $275 12 months Equal weekly/monthly installments

operations in poultry, livestock, vegetable cultivation, handicrafts and rural trade

Progoti $2,200 12 or 18 months Equal monthly installments

Working capital for shops, agricultural businesses and culture small manufacturing.

Migration loan

$2,300 12, 18, or 24 months

First month no installment, Increasingly over time

Financing outgoing migrants’ costs, migrants’ families well being

Figure: Categories of Loan in Jhenaidah District

7.7 Savings

1. Regular Passbook Savings

2. Monthly Deposit Scheme

3. Double Deposit Scheme

4. Fixed Deposit Scheme

7.8 Name of Village Organization and Number of Members in Jhenaidah Branch

NAME OF VILLAGE ORGANIZATION

NAME OF MEMBERS

NAME OF VILLAGE ORGANIZATION

NAME OF MEMBERS

1. Bapari Para 14 21. Gobinda Pur 202.Gayesh Pur 15 22. Bar Baria 153. Bapari Para 13 23. College Para 204.Baira Tola 10 24. Paba Hati 355. Shikar Pur 30 25. Raja Pur 256.Murari Dah 43 26. Char Vadra 387.New Market 20 27. T&T Para 408.Arab Pur 10 28. Choto Kamar Kundo 329.Adarsha Para 25 29. Laxi Cole 2510. Bari Bathan 13 30. Kali Charan Pur 3011.Jar gram 12 31. Mahila College Para 3012. Gila Baria 15 32. Madan Mahan Para 2013.Ham Dah, Majhi Para 16 33. Raotail 2014.Kanchan Pur 20 34. Chakla Para 4015. Vutoyar Gathi 20 35. Gopi Nath Pur 2516. Shat Baria 13 36. Upa Shar Para 1517. Kumar Baria 15 37. Kalika Pur 2018. Khajura 60 38. Chand Khali 1819. Kala Bagan 20 39. Kora Para 2120. New Court Para 40 40. Dhopa Bila 19

Chapter Eight

Strength and Opportunities, Evaluation of BRAC ProgramsRecommendation, Conclusion

8.1 Strengths of BRACThinking local, acting global – Besides Bangladesh, BRAC spreads antipoverty solutions to 10 other developing countries, which are Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Liberia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Unprecedented scale and reach - Today, BRAC reaches an estimated 135 million people with over 100,000 employees worldwide. BRAC is trying to spread their area of services all around the world.

8.2 Evaluation of BRAC Programs

The evaluation of the programs have been recognized as an integral part ofmany departments and organizations across countries (Federal Department andAgencies 1981). BRAC in support to such a policy have established the tradition ofholding regular evaluation of the programs through Research and Evaluation Division.The evaluations conducted by RED can be grouped based on different criteria.Some of the evaluations were conducted exclusively by RED but in the case of others,RED collaborated with outside organizations/institutions in carrying out the same. Againsome of the evaluations were conducted on non-BRAC programs or on issues relevantto audiences outside BRAC, for example, the ‘Socio-demographic and Health Profile ofChittagong Hill Tracts’, a study in progress, is likely to help any organization working forthe development of the region. Against these evaluations others were conducted onBRAC programs. These studies were done exclusively with the resources of RED but insome cases the assistance of outside experts were taken. These evaluations can begrouped into two – external evaluation and internal evaluation.

External Evaluation

NGOs are regularly evaluated by the donors from whom they receive funds. The

donors evaluate the performance of the NGO through number of processes such as byarranging regular meeting with NGOs, receiving progress reports regularly from theNGOs, evaluating the NGOs by teams selected by them, etc.

Internal Evaluation

In the recent past RED conducted four impact studies on BRAC programs like rural development, human rights and legal education, oxbow lakes project and nonformal primary education. The Impact Assessment Study (IAS) I and II on RDP were most significant of all evaluations conducted on poverty alleviation in BRAC.

The objectives of these studies were to measure the success of the program in raising theSocioeconomic status of RDP participants, identify the shortcomings of the Program and assess its sustainability. Following section concentrates mainly on IAS II conducted in 1996-1997, the study observed 1,250 BRAC participant households and 250 comparison households.

8.3 Priorities in 2013• Bangladesh

– Scale up financial literacy and consumer protection projects– Pilot savings collection through mobile money platforms

• International– Focus on strengthening capacity of staff at all levels– Reducing the dependence on Bangladeshi staff and accelerate promotion of

national staff into management positions– Strengthen internal controls

8.4 Challenges

1. To pace with the era.2. To compete with the other NGOs in Bangladesh as well as in the world.3. Reduce the rate of interest of loan.4. To modernize the loan system.5. To provide the best service for the poor.6. To provide the best facilities for the staff.

8.5 Findings Internship is undoubtedly a good step of learning practically. As my academic part it has helped me to acquire practical knowledge about microfinance activities of BRAC to eradicate poverty from the society. In preparing this report I have collected many documents. In the traditional system it is very difficult to collect information. Besides it for maintaining highly confidentiality of BRAC’s financial data the branch is unwilling to provide the accurate information. Besides it the branch information is not available in the website of BRAC. Besides it there are no available computer or internet facilities in the branch office.

8.9 Recommendations:

Some recommendations can be given to BRAC for more and quick financing to develop the

poverty-stricken and disadvantaged people of rural areas. These are as follows:

1. It is required to arrange more training for the members so that they can acquire knowledge on the special project and can use the fund in that particular project and generate income from this project.

2. Priority should be given in case of small trade sector and poultry farm at the time of disbursing loans among the members. More loans should be distributed in the food-processing sector like biscuit bakery.

3. More supervision is to be required so that the members must use the fund properly and in the selected project.

4. The members should be motivated to invest the fund in the poultry farm for small dairy farm.

5. It is required to make the easy process of getting back the savings.6. It is required to establish such a policy that when members want to get back the savings,

then it must be paid within short time if the members are not liable for any loans.7. It should be formulated such a policy that excess of Tk. 500 of savings can be distributed

among the members whose savings are more than Tk.1000 in spite of liable for loans.8. It should be required to formulate such a policy that loans should be distributed after 3

weeks duration of membership.9. Seminars should be arranged in the important places of different areas to become familiar

to the local people.

10. Incentives should be paid to the field organizer so that they work more sincerely.

8.10 ConclusionIn Bangladesh most of the people live below the poverty line it is quite impossible for the poor people to take loan from any bank or any other specialized financial institutions for the destitute people of Bangladesh because of many barriers where BRAC provides loan to them without mortgage or bribery. Banks and other financial institutions don’t give loan without mortgage. As a result, this type of impediment disheartens their economic progress. For the consequence, different NGOs are contributing relentlessly for the destitute people to make them self-reliant as well as self sufficient at the grass root level. BRAC is one of the largest renowned NGOs which have been working for promotion and protection of the economic, social and cultural rights of the poor and disadvantaged people particularly poor and ultra poor women and children at the grass root level. So we should congratulate this organization on their hard efforts to alleviate the poverty of the poor people especially the women. So, I can strongly emphasize that it is also a remarkable success of this organization.

I expect the best success of this organization.

5.4 BIBLIOGRAPHY1. Annual Report of BRAC, 2012

2. Annual Report of BRAC, 2013

3. Monthly published data distributed by the Branch Manager.

4. Leaflets of various project of BRAC.

5. www.brac.net

6. C.R. Kothary: “Research Methodology Methods & Techniques”

7. Begum, Dr. H.A. (2012), Empowerment of Women in Bangladesh: BRAC Experience, Paper presented

at the Conference on “Beijing +10 Review and Appraisal on Empowerment of Women in Bangladesh.”

Organized by UNO, New York, USA.

8. Micro Credit Summit (2010), Declaration and Plan of Action. (Online) Available at http//

www.microcreditsummit.org/ declaration. htm

9. Kaniz Fahmida Ahmed (2012). Micro Credit as a Tool for Women Empowerment: The Case of

Bangladesh (online) Available at:http://www.iucn.org

10. Amin R.S. Becker and A. Bayes (1998), NGO- Promoted Micro Credit Programmes and Women’s

Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence. The Journal of Development

Areas, Vol.32, No.02.