BRAC
53
1
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Located: New York, NY
Founded: 1972
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 women and men to realize their potential.
Tags:
international, microfinance, social enterprises, human rights, social empowerment, education, health services, business development, environmental sustainability, disaster preparedness, livelihood training
This organization has offices located worldwide. We are currently using the U.S. branch office’s information and the donation link is linked to the U.S. office because the majority of our users are based in the U.S.
This organization has offices located worldwide. We are currently using the U.S. branch office’s information and the donation link is linked to the U.S. office because the majority of our users are based in the U.S.
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Mahabub Hossain.
Mahabub Hossain is an internationally renowned development economist. Prior to joining BRAC, Dr. Hossain was the Head of the Social Sciences Division and Programme Leader, Rainfed Ecosystems Programme of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines. He was also the Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) from 1989 to 1992. Dr. Hossain, is known for his substantial…
See full bio.
Financial Data
| Read Annual Report | Overhead Ratio: n/a |
| Total Revenue: $5,339,854 |
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.
Contact Info
| Website: | http://www.brac.net/bracusa/ | Address: | 11 E 44th St, |
| E-Mail: | public-affairs AT brac.net | New York, NY 10017, USA | |
| Phone: | 212-808-5615 | ||
| Facebook: |
|
Story:
This is Mazeda Akhter’s story, a community health volunteer:
Mazeda Akhter was finding it hard to make ends meet after 12 years of marriage and two children. Then one day in 1996, she decided to be trained as a community health volunteer (shasthya shebika) on the advice of a local BRAC program organizer. After a 15-day initial training, she began to work in her Gazipur village, providing basic treatments and health education. She also started selling medicines and medical supplies to earn some money and improve her family’s economic condition. Now, Mazeda earns about 1,000-1,200 takas a month. She also deposits 100 takas in a monthly savings scheme – her savings now amount to 14,000 takas. Her son is studying in college and her daughter is in school. Mazeda says she wants to continue serving the people and bring up her children to be good citizens. (Source: http://www.brac.net/oldsite/useruploads/files/brac-ar-2009.pdf)
Expert Reviews of BRAC
Evidence of Impact Summary:
BRAC reached 110 million people with development interventions, had 8.5 million borrowers in 2008, gave out 1.2 billion USD of total loan disbursement in 2008, and has a 99.29% repayment rate. 98% of BRAC borrowers are women. BRAC has employed 120,000 making them the largest southern NGO. And, in 2008, BRAC Pakistan began full fledged operations, and also started activities in Liberia and Sierra Leone.Organization Strengths Summary:
Microfinance experts believe that BRAC has proven that they can scale. They have a deep grassroots presence and have effective and innovative programs.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
At the same time, experts believe that BRAC should expand geographically, offer even more services and improve their management.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
Show:
Show:
X
Foundation Professionals (F)
X
Researchers and Faculty (R)
X
Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
X
Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Good at Cost-Effective Scalability |
|||
|
F
|
They are a large organization in Bangladesh. | ||
|
F
|
They have proven that they can scale. | ||
|
F
|
They have the ability to achieve scale and have a thoughtful approach to developing and executing social upliftment programs. | ||
|
F
|
They have fantastic scaling. | ||
|
R
|
They have impressive growth in Africa. | ||
|
R
|
They have a holistic vision that can be replicated on a large scale. | ||
|
N
|
They are amazingly good at scaling cost-effectively. | ||
|
N
|
They have scalability, and are able to replicate their model. | ||
|
N
|
They have achieved amazing scale and are still growing with a highly replicable operations system (four BRAC guys went to Uganda in 2006, now they have over 40,000 borrowers). They have diverse development-oriented product and service offerings to clients (education, health, agriculture, etc.). And, they have productive partnership with Kiva and Living Goods. | ||
|
N
|
They are outstanding because of their scale and performance. | ||
|
N
|
They have fast growth and impact in not just financial services but also training. | ||
|
O
|
They are on the ground and cost effective. They have proven to be scalable. | ||
|
O
|
They are outstanding because of their geographic coverage. | ||
|
O
|
They are an efficient organization. | ||
|
O
|
They are an outstanding organization because of their professionalism and coverage. | ||
Effective Programs |
|||
|
F
|
This organization stands out because of its impact on poverty and its focus. | ||
|
R
|
They have the ability to offer a large range of services to address multiple needs. | ||
|
R
|
In addition to making financial services available, it makes a wide variety of other services available to a large number of poor who need those services. | ||
|
R
|
They are an outstanding organization because of their product diversification, growth, quality of services, etc. | ||
|
R
|
BRAC approaches microfinance as a total livelihoods intervention; they work in Bangladesh, Africa, and South America. | ||
|
N
|
They are effectively offering livelihood and other services. | ||
|
N
|
They are good at executing their core program. | ||
|
N
|
They have extraordinary reach and innovative programs. | ||
|
N
|
They have graduation programmes. | ||
|
N
|
They have integrated services and are poverty focused. | ||
|
N
|
Nationally and internationally they are performing well. | ||
|
O
|
This organization stands out because of its impact on poverty and its focus. | ||
Deep Grassroots Presence |
|||
|
R
|
They have a strong grassroots presence. | ||
|
N
|
It reaches the poorest, which proves its impact. | ||
|
O
|
They have a huge outreach and focus on the poorest. | ||
|
O
|
They have deep roots in the communities they serve. | ||
|
O
|
They are outstanding because of their outreach. | ||
|
O
|
They work with the ultra poor and with people who are receiving grants, and then they prepare them for microfinance programs. | ||
Innovative |
|||
|
R
|
They have good attention to, and are trying to explore new program designs. They are also starting to measure impact nicely. | ||
|
N
|
They are innovative and willing to share best practices. | ||
|
N
|
It has maintained an innovative model of linking financial and non-financial services on a large scale. | ||
|
N
|
They stand out with their scale, innovation, and poverty focus. | ||
|
N
|
They are outstanding because of their integrated approach. | ||
|
N
|
BRAC is a world-leading innovator in designing new approaches to microfinance. Their evaluation department measures their results. | ||
|
O
|
They invent new ways of rural microfinance, including graduation programs, and they operate even in fragile states, such as Afghanistan. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
Show:
Show:
X
Foundation Professionals (F)
X
Researchers and Faculty (R)
X
Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
X
Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Improve their Management |
|||
|
F
|
They need to improve their management and program policy. | ||
|
O
|
They should tighten administrative and management practices. | ||
Expand Geographically |
|||
|
F
|
They should expand their geographic outreach. | ||
|
R
|
They need to expand to more countries where others haven’t succeeded yet. | ||
|
N
|
They should collaborate with others. | ||
|
N
|
They should get into China. | ||
|
O
|
They should keep growing. | ||
Expand and Innovate Program |
|||
|
N
|
They need to offer more services to borrowers so it results in real life-changing impact. | ||
|
N
|
They should be willing to innovate more with their model. | ||
|
N
|
They should spread their graduation programmes. | ||
Leadership
Mahabub Hossain
Executive Director
Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.