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09 September 2013, Dhaka. Bangladesh has achieved its target for reducing deaths from malaria much ahead of time, experts said at a roundtable on Sunday.

They said the country by 2012 has successfully reduced deaths from malaria by 60 per cent, a target it had originally set to achieve by 2015.

Well-coordinated efforts of the government, NGOs and the media helped the country achieve the success, the speakers said.

The National Malaria Control Programme, Directorate General of Health Services, daily Samakal and non-government organization BRAC organized the event titled ‘National Malaria Control Programme: Present situation and future work plan’ at the BRAC Centre in Dhaka.

Health experts at the programme said currently more than 1.5 crore people of 13 districts in the country are in the risk of being infected by malaria.

According to 2012 statistics, 29518 patients were affected with the disease of whom 11 died. Of the districts in risk, Cox's Bazar and three hill districts, Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban are most affected.

Speakers pointed out that want of trained doctors and nurses in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is a major challenge in fighting the disease.

Chief guest of the programme, MM Neazuddin, health and family welfare secretary, criticized the tendency among many doctors to stay in the cities.

The problem is not only of the hilly districts, but of all over Bangladesh, he said, adding, 'I get so many requests for transfer that sometimes I switch off my cell phone'.

Mostafiz Safi, executive editor, Samakal, presided over the programme with Professor Dr Khondhaker Md Shefyetallah, director general of health service, and Professor Dr MA Faiz, former director general of health service, present as special guests.

The keynote presentation was given by Professor Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, director (disease control) and line director (CDC), health service, ministry of health and family welfare. Abdullah Shahriar, assistant professor, National Heart Institute and Hospital, also editor of health page of Samakal, moderated the roundtable.

Dr Md Akramul Islam, associate director of BRAC Health Nutrition and Population Programme, also spoke.
 

07 September 2013, Dhaka. A new alliance has been formed with the hope to end child marriage in Bangladesh. The Girls Not Brides Bangladesh Alliance was formally launched today at BRAC Centre with its first national round table discussion. The 13-member alliance, led by BRAC, includes prominent organisations such as BLAST, CARE Bangladesh, Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, icddr,b, Marie Stops Bangladesh, National Girl Child Advocacy Forum, Plan Bangladesh, Population Council, White Ribbon Campaign, World Vision, and Youth Forum Promoting Access to Development.

Girls Not Brides: the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage is an international network of many development organisations working to end child marriage. At present, there are 286 members in 53 countries in the network. Concerned about the often dangerous effects of child marriage, organisations in Bangladesh decided to strengthen the international network by forming the Girls Not Brides Bangladesh Alliance.

BRAC’s Vice chairperson Ahmed Mustaqur Raza Chowdhury stated during the launching ceremony that child marriage is one of the biggest social problems in Bangladesh, and a major violation of human rights for both young girls and boys. Mr, Mustaq  also commented that without everyone within a society being aware of the harmful implications of child marriage it will not be possible to bring an end to the practice. He invited all to join the movement in establishing a society free from child marriage.

Sheepa Hafiza, director of BRAC’s gender justice and diversity division and migration division, expressed in her speech that the working area of this initiative would be more widened in the near future.

Sultana Kamal, former advisor of the caretaker government of Bangladesh and executive director of Ain O Shalish Kendra said, “If we work to abolish child marriage one village at a time, it is possible to eradicate it completely from our society.”

Ayesha Khanam, chairperson of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad said, “Poverty, illiteracy and social insecurity are the factors behind child marriage.  We have to build strong resistance against them.”

Information commissioner Sadeka Halim said,“It is not a matter of discussion for a day. We must focus on it for all the 365 days of the year.”

The launching ceremony was attended by some of the most renowned people in the country including Salma Khan, former chairperson of Beijing Platform for Action and former divisional head of Planning Commission; Dr Nurunnabi, vice chancellor of Begum Rokeya University; Kazi Riazul Haque, permanent member of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission; Taptun Nasrin, AIG, Crime Metro, Police Headquarters Dhaka; Fowzia Khandoker Eva, consultant, Police Reform Project, UNDP; Farzana Rupa, journalist, Channel 71; Hannana Begum, director, Bangladesh Bank; Nazia Haider, Swedish Development Cooperative; Mushfiqua Z Satiar, advisor, SRHR and Gender, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Anil Tambey, country director, Marie Stopes and Chandan J Gomez, director of World Vision Bangladesh Advocacy.

Grassroots experiences on child marriage were also shared during the event from Sajeda Begum, union parishad member, Pirujali Union, WARD no 09; Md Ijjat Ali, union parishad member, Pirujali Union, WARD no 07; Kazi Md Nurul Islam, Gazipur Sadar.
 

05 September 2013, Dhaka. Nutrition experts, healthcare providers and others concerned at a discussion on Wednesday stressed urgent action to address the country's current malnutrition situation.

BRAC, a non-government organization, arranged the event at BRAC Centre, chaired by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, its founding chairperson.

At the discussion titled 'Scaling up nutrition: An urgent call for commitment and multi-sectoral action', Sir Fazle said a combined approach is essential to address the issue. A strong focus on nutrition education and promotion by the highest government authority of the movement called Scaling Up Nutrition, SUN in short, should be integral part of the combined approach, he added.

'BRAC has been working in the nutrition sector for many years. However, the progress Bangladesh has  so far made is not enough,' he remarked.

Kaosar Afsana, director of BRAC Health, Nutrition and Population Programme , gave the welcome speech at the discussion also addressed, among others, by  Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, director of Centre for Nutrition and Food Security, ICCDR,B,  Sarah Cook, head of DFID, Dr Rukhsana Haider, chairperson of Civil Society Alliance for SUN, Nasima Begum, additional secretary of the government social welfare department. Representatives from UNICEF, WHO, FAO, EU and World Bank were also present.      

'We cannot accept that 53,000 children die each year from preventable complications resulting from chronic malnutrition,' said Dr Kaosar Afsana. She also emphasized cost-effective interventions to address the issue.

Dr Rukhsana Haider called for including nutrition components in development interventions in the country.

The speakers also viewed that knowledge sharing, collaboration and multi-ministry-based approach can highly contribute to addressing the issue.
 

Saturday, 31 August 2013 18:00

600 Women drivers to be trained by BRAC

01 September 2013, Dhaka. BRAC, in collaboration with Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), arranged an event named “Four Wheels to Freedom for Women” to discuss the issues relating to the employment opportunities of its woman drivers coming out of the BRAC Driving School. The event was also organised to mark the certificate giving ceremony of 15 freshly graduated women drivers from the school.  The event took place at Uttara BRAC Learning Centre, in Dhaka.

BRAC Driving School, a part of BRAC’s Road Safety programme, started out in May 2012 as an institution to create trained drivers and qualified trainers for the roads of the country. In September 2012, BRAC Driving School, in partnership with BRTA, started the project- “Women Steering Forward” to create 600 trained women drivers. 75 of them have completed their training but only 18 of them have been employed so far.

Among the special guests of the event were, Ms. Rokiya A. Rahman, adviser to the former caretaker government and member of the BRAC Governing Body and Mr. Md. Nazrul Islam, Chairman, BRTA. The event was chaired by Mr. S N Kairy, Chief Financial Officer, BRAC & BRAC International.

The event started with a presentation by the Director of BRAC’s Road Safety programme, Mr. A. Najmul Hussain. He mentioned that, we have a severe shortage of skilled and properly trained drivers in our country; maintaining the quality of training in driving schools is also a very important issue. He was of the opinion that if a portion of the car registration fees can be spent in training the drivers then everyone would benefit from it.

One of the special guests, Ms. Rokiya A Rahman shared few of her experiences of driving in the streets among men. She stated that, “Women are not to be held back, the event today is a proof of that.”

Mr. Md. Nazrul Islam noted that, 15 percent of the driving jobs in the government pool are reserved for women drivers; but they (BRTA) do not receive any applications from the women drivers.

The Chair of the event, Mr. S N Kairy, said that BRAC is spending approximately 80,000 BDT for each of these graduates but they should have ample opportunities of employment after they graduate. He called the corporate sector for action in this matter by employing women drivers in their organisations. He also mentioned that, there are plans to send these drivers abroad for employment when the time is right.

All 15 of the women drivers who graduated from the 4th batch of BRAC Driving School received certificates from the special guests of the event.
 

 

04 August 2013, Dhaka. BRAC and National Eye Care- Directorate General of Health Services (NEC-DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have launched the second phase of the eye care project- Vision Bangladesh. The launching ceremony was held on the 4th August, 2013 at BRAC Centre auditorium.

In two and a half years of Vision Bangladesh Phase-I, about 95 per cent of the target of 100,000 cataract surgeries and 200,000 refractive error corrections have been achieved.  Moreover, with the aid of frontline community health workers, BRAC has been able to deliver eye care at the doorstep of one million people across Sylhet division.

Based on the enormous success of that partnership and lessons learned in operating in rural areas, BRAC is now going to expand the eye care services in the slums of 10 city corporations of Bangladesh, covering an estimated 7.25 million people.

This project, which will run from July 2013 to December 2015, is aligned with Bangladesh Government’s national goal of eliminating avoidable blindness from Bangladesh by 2020.It will be implemented through a partnership approach and will foster collaboration between BRAC, NEC-DGHS, and other partner organizations including NGOs and hospitals. This project will develop capacity of the eye care providers and institutions; deliver eye care services and establish and sustain referral networks between the slum community and functional government hospital/private/NGO facilities for eye care. 

Prof. Dr. A.F.M Ruhal Haque MP, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), attended the ceremony as the Chief Guest. Prof. Syed Modasser Ali, Advisor to the Honourable Prime Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Dr. Capt. (Rtd.) Mozibur Rahman Fakir MP, Honourable State Minister, MoHFW, attended as Special Guests. The event was chaired by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairperson, BRAC.

The Minister said, “The effective leadership in National Eye Care and BRAC’s widespread network of frontline community health workers would equate to the certain success of this project.”  

Prof. Syed Modasser Ali pointed out that the immense success of Sir Fazle in implementing a diverse range of development projects is the indicator that this project will also be a success.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed said, “BRAC and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have been involved in a number of partnerships for a long time to provide a range of healthcare services, including eye care.” He emphasised on scaling up Vision Bangladesh project across the country to eliminate cataract backlog by 2020.      

A memorandum of understanding was signed by Dr. Prof. Deen Md. Nurul Huq, Line Director, National Eye Care and Director cum Professor NIO&H and Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Director, Health Nutrition and Population Programme, BRAC.
 

12 July 2013, Dhaka. BRAC, the global development organisation founded in Bangladesh in 1972, received the World Justice Project Rule of Law Award at the fourth World Justice Forum in The Hague, Netherlands. The Rule of Law Award recognises BRAC for its efforts to promote legal empowerment of the poor as a means to end poverty.

The World Justice Forum is a global gathering hosted by the World Justice Project, an organisation dedicated to advancing the rule of law worldwide. BRAC was awarded in the organisation category alongside Ms Shirin Ebadi, in the individual category, for her relentless struggle to uphold the rule of law in Iran. Faustina Pereira, director of BRAC’s human rights and legal services (HRLS) programme, accepted the award on behalf of BRAC.

She said, “This award recognises BRAC’s approach to a ‘whole person development’. This view underscores the need to go beyond economic development, and places it hand in hand with social and legal empowerment. This award is recognition of the hard and dedicated work of all BRAC’s grassroots workers, particularly its 12,000 barefoot lawyers, its hitherto unsung heroes.”

BRAC’s HRLS programme is the world’s largest nongovernmental legal services programme. Through a cadre of ‘barefoot lawyers’, it empowers the poor by informing them of their legal rights and delivering legal services to the doorsteps of millions. A version of the programme is also active in Sierra Leone.

This recognition comes soon after the awarding of BRAC’s founder, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, of the Open Society Prize from Central European University, which was founded by the philanthropist George Soros. Soros and Abed have collaborated on advocacy and interventions to promote legal empowerment of the poor. “A legally empowered citizenry is both the guarantor and lifeblood of democracy,” Soros and Abed wrote in a jointly authored comment in Financial Times last year. “Poverty will only be defeated when the law works for everyone.”
 

Sunday, 07 July 2013 18:00

Innovations in youth skill development

08 July 2013, Dhaka. A round table discussion on 'Innovations in skill development training for youth: effective planning and implementation’ was held on 7 July at Spectra Convention Centre organised by BRAC Education Programme. The discussion focused around understanding the achievements of the government’s and the NGOs so far, in the skills development training initiatives for the youth, and future prospects of scaling up.

Participants included representatives of Bureau of Non-formal education, national skill Development Council, ILO, FBCCI and concerned partners. S.M Ashraful Islam, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Primary and Mass education emphasised that “skills training should now be more focused on demand driven then supply driven”. He also mentions that overseas job opportunities should also be explored when speaking of skills development for the youth.

Jibon Kumar Chowdhury, CEO of National Skills Development Council, raised the concern of a lack of certified assessors in the country, who can efficiently validate the skills of development trainees in order to certifying them. NSDC is currently working on capacity building of assessors so that trainees could be certified through proper authority.

Dr Mahabub Hossain says, “according to the projected population dividend, youth will be more dominating in our population. Without proper skill development training we cannot expect to have an efficient workforce which would help the country to become one of the middle income countries by 2021”.

So far BRAC’s Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR) initiative, in partnership with GoB, ILO and UNICEF, worked with 1000 youths in the first phase, of whom 992 have successfully completed their respective skills training and of them 968 have been placed in proper jobs. STAR now is at its second phase and hopes to cover 3000 and more youths, with the support of the government and BRAC’s self initiatives, by the end of 2016.

 

03 July 2013, Dhaka. The country’s largest development organisation is now offering health insurance to its large workforce in Bangladesh as part of its efforts to improve workers’ benefits.

Regular and contractual employees of BRAC from head and field offices, Aarong and enterprises will be able to claim up to BDT 1,00,000 a year for hospital expenses for themselves, their spouses and unmarried dependants up to the age of 25. The new initiative by the world’s largest and recently top ranked anti-poverty group began this month and will cost employees nothing. BRAC will pay the monthly premium of BDT 150 on behalf of its staff.

BRAC decided this move was necessary to ensure staff were not overwhelmed with the emotional and financial pressures that comes from hospital treatment. Ten per cent of cost must be borne by the employee and any costs above BDT 1,00,000. For example if a hospital bill is BDT 30,000, the employee would contribute BDT 3,000 and BRAC’s scheme would reimburse BDT 27,000. If the bill comes to BDT 1,20,000, the employee would bear the first 10 per cent (BDT 12,000) and the remaining cost after BRAC’s health insurance’s contribution of 1,00,000, which would be BDT 8,000 more. Up to BDT 50,000 can be sanctioned while admitted to hospital, with permission from the respective deciding committee.

To qualify for the scheme, applicants must be current BRAC employees under the age of 65.

 

28 May 2013, Dhaka. BRAC’s chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed spoke at the 19th International Conference on The Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan last week.

The annual forum, held this year on 23-24 May, brought political leaders and top business executives together to discuss the future of Asia-Pacific nations and how development in the region stands to impact the global economy.

In a dialogue with Akihiko Tanaka, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), BRAC's founder and chairperson said the poor needed more than money alone to improve their lives.

"You can help the world’s poorest people with assistance more than investment," Sir Fazle said. "You need to provide nutrition and education to get the poorest to an appropriate level for entering industry."

He added, "We need to provide skills training so people have an opportunity to earn income."


Sir Fazle Hasan Abed with Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe

In addition to the Nikkei and Japan Center for Economic Research organised forum, Sir Fazle met with the Japanese press and prominent business executives such as the president of Kumon, Japan’s number one education company. On 27 May, the chairperson attended a press conference in Tokyo organised by Alliance Forum Foundation (AFF) to discuss BRAC’s work with the AFF, the BracNet project and microfinance graduate course, and spoke about microfinance’s potential to create a stable middle class in Africa.

 

 

BRAC University is offering Diploma in Midwifery in collaboration with implementing partner organisations in respective areas of Dhaka, Dinajpur, Cox's Bazar, Khulna, Mymensingh and Sylhet. The Diploma in Midwifery Programme is a 155-credit, full-time, 36-month residential programme taught by experienced faculties trained by Jhpiego and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and OGSB.

BRAC University is admitting students to its three year residential Diploma in Midwifery programme with generous scholarships. Interested students may apply online via bracu.ac.bd/apply  or call 880 172620726 for further information. Deadline for application is August 18, 2013.

 

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