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16 June 2013, Dhaka. Central European University awarded its 18th Open Society Prize to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of BRAC and the affiliated BRAC University, at a commencement ceremony that included more than 600 masters and doctoral students from nearly 80 countries last week in Budapest, Hungary.

Sir Fazle founded BRAC, formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, in rural Bangladesh in 1972. The anti-poverty organization now works in 11 countries, reaching an estimated 126 million people.

In his commencement speech, he told students, “After my country’s independence, I began working to try to help the poor of Bangladesh. My early colleagues and I initially thought that BRAC would be a short-term relief effort. But the realities of entrenched poverty soon changed our minds.”

“I have learned much along the way,” Sir Abed continued in his speech. “Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that when you create the right conditions, poor people will do the hard work of defeating poverty themselves.” In addition to BRAC, Sir Abed is also founder and chairperson of BRAC University, a Dhaka-based institution of higher learning launched in 2001 to train future leaders, especially those from developing nations.

Previous recipients of the Open Society Prize include Sir Karl Popper, author of The Open Society and its Enemies, after which the prize is named; Vaclav Havel, writer and first president of the Czech Republic; Richard Holbrooke, U.S. diplomat; and Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations. The prize is given “to an outstanding individual whose achievements have contributed substantially to the creation of an open society.”

Both the Open Society Prize and Central European University have close ties to visionary philanthropist and investor George Soros, who founded the university and currently serves as its honorary chairperson.

Read the full text of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed's acceptance speech.

Delivered at the 2013 Commencement of Central European University
13 June, 2013
Palace of the Arts, Budapest, Hungary

I’d like to begin by thanking the Central European University for bestowing upon me the Open Society Prize. What a great honour, and a wonderful opportunity to deliver a commencement address at this great university. 

I have recently been re-reading The Open Society and its Enemies, the book after which the Open Society Prize is named, whose author, Karl Popper, was the prize’s first recipient. I first read this book 50 years ago, when I was much closer in age to those in this graduating class.

It was a different time and place. My country, Bangladesh, had not yet achieved independence, and the world’s great powers were locked in a struggle between freedom and totalitarianism. But what strikes me today is how relevant many of Popper’s prescriptions still are – particularly for my own field, which is the alleviation of poverty.

To those about to graduate, it is likely that most of you, at some point in your lives, will question whether the path you have taken was the correct one. For me, this moment came following the cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1970, an event that is still considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

I was working at the time for a large multinational corporation, a valuable experience in its own right. I remember visiting coastal villages struck by the cyclone, seeing hundreds of dead bodies strewn on the ground. It seemed to me the life I was leading was completely irrelevant. 

After my country’s independence, I began working to try to help the poor in Bangladesh. My early colleagues and I initially thought that BRAC would be a short-term effort. But the realities of entrenched poverty soon changed our minds. We began working in a host of areas – agriculture, healthcare, human rights, microfinance, education – wherever the poor faced obstacles.

We found that poverty was so entrenched that only a long-term effort of social and economic transformation would uproot it. And this task became my life’s work.

I have learned much along the way. Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that when you create the right conditions, poor people will do the hard work of defeating poverty themselves.

I learned the importance of having lamps to illuminate your path, even when the precise course is unclear. For me, one of these lamps was Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, who wrote a book called Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which had a profound effect on me. Freire's idea of conscientisation, or raising critical consciousness, informed us in our belief that poor people, especially women, can be organised for power, and that with right set of organisational tools, they can become actors in history.

This, to me, is the meaning of an open society – a society where everyone has the freedom to realise their full potential and human rights.

I’ve also learned the importance testing assumptions, of making sure your ideals correspond to the reality around you.

BRAC was founded with very high ideals, in part to fulfil the promises of our country’s liberation movement – the promise of freedom from exploitation. But if these ideals inspired us, we’ve always tried to focus on what works, rather than our theories about what should work.

This pragmatism has allowed us to translate compassion into action on a massive scale. Today, BRAC reaches almost 130 million people in 11 countries.

We’ve seen that without scepticism, scientific inquiry, and the constant questioning of one’s assumptions, the highest ideals will falter when tested against reality. In the words of Karl Popper, among the enemies of open society is the notion of “prophetic wisdom,” the type of knowledge that leaves little room for doubt. In contrast to utopian goals, Popper embraced “piecemeal social engineering” – solutions that are effective, even if they are not the most elegant.

There is an element of that in BRAC – in its willingness to adapt, in its constant innovation, and in its willingness to learn from its own mistakes. After more than 40 years, we are still a learning organisation.

The vision of BRAC is a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination. I am sometimes asked if such a world is really possible – whether I believe that poverty can be truly eradicated. The truth is, I believe it can be.

Ladies and gentlemen, we can see today that poverty is on the retreat. Recent statistics from the World Bank show that in every region of the world, the number of people living in extreme poverty is dropping for the first time in recent memory.

But to borrow Popper’s phrase, there is no prophetic wisdom in this fact. The eradication of human poverty remains an ongoing and arduous task rather than historical certainty, and much work remains. And I invite you to bring your own creativity and potential to this task.

Therefore, is it with both optimism and humility that I accept the Open Society Prize, and I wish the graduating class my sincere congratulations. May you all find a meaningful path, illuminated by high ideals, guided by constant learning.

Thank you.

11 June 2013, Dhaka. BRAC’s founder and chairperson, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed visited Myanmar to attend the World Economic Forum held from 5th- 7th  June, 2013. The forum’s sessions were structured to identify the  lessons of leadership and innovation which are emerging from East Asia,  as the world looks to the region for resilient growth and new models of  regional integration.

On 5th June, Sir Fazle initiated the session Aligning Actors for Inclusive Growth and Development.The  session promoted common goals and activities already underway, and  identified opportunities for coordination and collaboration to create  further positive developments in the country. This session was held in  the presence ofspecial guests, Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairman of the  National League for Democracy (NLD), and Shwe Mann, Speaker of the House  of Representatives of Myanmar. Also in attendance were heads of global  organisations working actively in Myanmar, as well as representatives  from local businesses, civil societies, government and other  stakeholders.  Aung San Suu Kyi thanked him for sharing the Bangladesh  experience and stressed the need for skills development and education  for the people of Myanmar.

On 7th June, Sir Fazle,  sharing the panel with Tony Blair, the Middle East Quartet  Representative, addressed the interactive session titled Chasing the Next Big Idea, which  focused on the dimensions of investing in smart infrastructure for the  future, moving beyond low-cost manufacturing and further up the value  chain.  Sir Fazle stressed the need of focusing on scaling good ideas  rather than generate more new ideas.  Tony Blair also stressed the need  to focus more on enabling innovation and execution of the ideas.

In  an op-ed for the Myanmar Times, Sir Fazle wrote, “The country has the  opportunity to forge its own balance of partnerships and by opening up  to NGOs and industries it can experience more innovations which can  happen to scale”.

During the numerous sessions at the World  Economic Forum, Sir Fazle offered suggestions which can be achieved by  three sectors collaborating together: the government, by setting the  right policies so inclusiveness is maintained; the private sector, which  can create jobs and opportunities; and the social sector, which can  provide the services which are not provided by the other sectors.

 

10 June 2013. Dhaka. Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director of BRAC has been nominated as the member of a very high level global panel on agriculture and food systems for nutrition.

On 7 October, 2012 Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, UK,  opened this "Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition" with the following members:

Sir John Beddington (co-chair), former chief scientific officer of the UK government; John Kufuor (co-chair), former president of Ghana;  Akin Adesina (member), federal minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria; Mahabub Hossain (member), executive director, BRAC, Bangladesh; Jane Karku (member), president of Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA); Rachel Kyte (member), vice president of World Bank and chair of CGIAR Fund Council; Mauricio Antonio Lopez (member) president of EMBRAPA, Brazil; K Srinath Reddy (member), president of Public Health Foundation, India; Jose Graziano da Silva (member), director general of FAO; and Roda Peace Tumusiime (member) commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union.

The panel, during their three year tenure, will provide technical leadership based on an assessment of the available evidence, guide country level investments and policies in agriculture and nutrition, and commission new research and evidence generation. The panel, supported by a secretariat located at DFID, London, UK, is expected to meet annually between 2013-2015 and report at least three times to the international community.

On 8th June, 2013, the UK government, as the chair of G8, convened a summit, "Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science" to harness commitment from national governments, donors, business communities, and civil society organisations to place a greater emphasis on proper nutrition in the global development agenda.
During the summit, UK Aid, Children's Investment Fund, and the government of Brazil initiated the "Global Nutrition for Growth Compact" comprising of the following goals for 2020:

a) To ensure that at least 500 million pregnant women and children under-two years of age are reached with effective nutrition interventions.

b) To reduce the number of stunted children under-five by at least 20 million.

c) To save the lives of at least 1.7 million children under-five by preventing stunting, encouraging more mothers to breastfeed, and increasing treatment of severe acute malnutrition.

The Global Nutrition for Growth Compact was endorsed by 90 stakeholders who attended the summit, including governments from 20 countries (Bangladesh was represented by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare), and 28 business and science organisations. The governments of 14 countries entered into a commitment to increase domestic resources invested in scaling up national nutritional plans. The donors pledged an estimated USD 19 billion to contribute towards improved nutritional outcomes from nutrition sensitive investments from 2013 - 2020. The Compact will launch an annual global report on nutrition from 2014, together with online annual publication of plans, resource spending, and progress updates.
 

 

06 June 2013, Dhaka. Civil Society Alliance for Scaling Up Nutrition, Bangladesh (CSA for SUN, BD) organised a meeting with nutrition and policymakers on “Exploring Opportunities for Scaling Up Nutrition” on June 04, 2013 at Spectra Convention Centre.  Policymakers were invited to the meeting to discuss issues relating to nutrition and ways to improve the nutritional status of the country. Honourable State Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Meher Afroze Chumki, MP attended the event as the chief guest whereas the event was chaired by Dr. Sultana Khanum, SUN global civil society network focal point. Dr. Rukshana Haider, Chairperson of CSA for SUN, BD, Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Secretary of CSA for SUN, BD, Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, Programme Manager of IPHN  attended the meeting as special guests.

On the onset, Dr. Sultana Khanum welcomed and thanked all participants and guest for attending event.  She also mentioned that the event has been organised in alignment with the Global Hunger Summit, 2013 titled “Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science” Summit scheduled to be held on June 08, 2013 at London.

Dr. Rukshana Haider, Chairperson of CSA for SUN, BD in her speech highlighted that malnutrition in children and women still remains as a frontline challenge for Bangladesh and therefore collective multi-sectoral approach should be adopted to combat malnutrition in Bangladesh.

Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Secretary of CSA for SUN, BD in her speech stated that nutrition is not a standalone agenda rather requires multi-sector approach including nutrition, education, water, sanitation, agriculture, etc.  According to her, a well-nourished woman would deliver a healthy baby and “if the baby gets proper nutrition he/she will grow strong and will succeed in schools and earn more”.

She pointed out that Investing in nutrition is a smart decision as she said “It can increase a country’s GDP by at least 2 to 3 percent annually. Investing a dollar in nutrition can result in a return of up to $ 30.”
The chief guest, Meher Afroze Chumki, MP Honourable State Minister for Women and Children Affairs stated that her ministry is relentlessly working to uplift the nutrition of women and children since about two third of the country’s population is composed of women and children.    She shared that the government along with other stakeholders including NGOs and private sector has been able to significantly reduce maternal mortality ratio which has been accredited by the global community.

Following the panel discussion, the floor was made open for open opinions and questions.

In response to the statements and queries, the chief guest stated that maternity leave cannot be made specific since mothers face problems both before and after delivery.  Therefore, the leave is given as per advice of the doctor.

 



22 May 2013, Dhaka. BRAC’s community empowerment programme (CEP) with the support of Saferworld has initiated a project on community safety and security, titled “Improving the conditions for reconstruction and development in South Sudan, Yemen and Bangladesh Project”. The project aims to improve public safety and security at the grassroots community level and contribute to more effective and accountable state institutions. It uses a participatory framework built on the active engagement of rural communities in identifying safety and security concerns and comes up with local context-sensitive solutions to address those issues. Its current project is an extended replication of a successful piloting by BRAC and Saferworld, which will work with communities to identify their security needs, and with those who are best placed to respond to them, including local authorities and development actors.

A high level meeting of BRAC and Saferworld was held on May 11, 2013, at BRAC Centre in attendance of Dr Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director, BRAC and Mr Paul Murphy, Executive Director, Saferworld, and both shared their valuable opinions regarding this new initiative in perspective of Bangladesh. Ms Anna Minj, Director, Community Empowerment Programme & Integrated Development Programme, BRAC and Ms Chamila Hemmathagama, Head of South Asia Programme, Saferworld were also present in the meeting and shared their profound views throughout the meeting.

CEP shared the findings of community safety and security needs assessment conducted at the project sites to give a clear understanding of the local safety and security concerns. The attendees emphasised on the contribution of BRAC-Saferworld partnership to create safer communities by increasing public safety and security through more active, informed and inclusive societies. They highlighted the importance of creating a platform for sharing this participatory based project learning and experiences at both national and international levels, for ensuring the betterment of the community people by responding to their safety and security needs more accurately.

A few of the staffs who work at the grassroots level, pointed out that the longer timeframe of the project gradually makes the development easier which also leads to the consistency. They also referred to the vibe of progress of the project as self realisation of the community people has already started taking place during the systematic process of focus group discussion. Mr Murphy concluded by mentioning their eagerness on continuing their collaboration with BRAC by teaming up and learning together. He also specified that the best way to manage such projects is by keeping the communication channels as much open as possible. The Community Safety and Security Project is being implemented across 16 sites within five districts of south-western region of Bangladesh, i.e. Faridpur, Gopalganj, Bagerhat, Jessore, and Satkhira, for the duration of June 2012 to June 2016. This project is being funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Royal Netherland Embassy, and the Netherlands through Saferworld.

 

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:00

BRAC prepares for Cyclone Mahasen

16 May 2013, Dhaka.


Photo copyright: BRAC/Ferdous Uddin Ahmad.

As Bangladesh braces itself for cyclone Mahasen hitting its coastal areas today, a combined effort by different BRAC programmes, including Disaster, Environment & Climate Change (DECC), is mobilising precautions. The coast between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar currently hoists a danger level of 7, on a scale of 1 to 11.

Standard operation procedures (SOP), established by DECC, are being followed to maximise the efficiency and resources of all necessary actions taken during different phases of this natural disaster. Emergency team meetings are being held in BRAC’s field offices and a situation room, activated in Dhaka’s head office to coordinate a prompt response, is managing constant updates from over a dozen districts as well as different international and national weather modelling sources.

District BRAC Representatives (DBR) in coastal districts formed the Incident Command System (ICS), following BRAC’s SOP, and are compiling resource maps, making inventories, disseminating information on protocols to the public, listing necessary emergency materials and identifying possible retail vendors that can help. They are also working with local authorities such as in Chittagong, Bagerhat, Cox’s Bazar, Barisal and Khulna, which are conducting consecutive emergency meetings to assess the situation.

BRAC closed its schools in vulnerable areas yesterday and ensured all government and BRAC cyclone shelters were opened and properly prepared. It is also providing meals for evacuated community members at cyclone shelters as and where necessary.

The extended BRAC family, including village organisation members, community health workers, school teachers and adolescent leaders, are being advised to carry out their roles as first responders alongside BRAC staff. Teams from BRAC’s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Health, Nutrition and Population programme (HNPP) and DECC are also ready to provide support as first responders if an emergency situation arises.


For up to date information as the situation develops, please check our blog.

Media spokesperson from BRAC:
Dr Babar Kabir
Senior Director, Disaster, Environment & Climate Change
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Ph: 8801714091383

For Bangladesh Media:
Mahbubul Alam Kabir
Sr. Media Manager, Communications
BRAC
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Ph: 8801711404561

For International Media:
Tasfiyah Jalil
Manager, Communications
BRAC
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Ph: 8801730351398

For International Media(From May 21st):
Himadri Ahsan
Deputy Manager, Communications
BRAC
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Ph: 8801728775331
 

15 May 2013, Dhaka. BRAC’s chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed addressed The International Congress “Culture: Key to Sustainable Development” which is being held in Hangzhou, China, from May 15 to May 17.

“Culture is not just theatre and arts and crafts; it’s also about how we deal with the challenges of life and in doing so shape our world view,” explained Sir Fazle to members of the global community and major international stakeholders on the first day of the conference. He spoke in a plenary high-level discussion on ‘Culture in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda’.

Taking the example of how BRAC, in the 80s, reached 12 million households and taught 90 per cent of mothers how to make oral rehydration solution (ORS), Sir Fazle said, “In doing so it influenced how diseases and treatment are understood and power is gained over adversity. This was both a health intervention and a profoundly cultural act as it affected the world view of millions.”

Sir Fazle described how BRAC’s social enterprise arm, Aarong, brought together crafts and livelihood issues and has become one of the most successful commercial innovations. It reintroduced revived dying crafts, established new products and fashions and linked producers to the market. “Supporting cultural heritage is not enough,” said BRAC’s founder and chairperson. “It’s important to make them sustainable through access to market, going to scale and creating livelihoods. Today thousands of women who are employed as craft makers are also preserving and expanding our cultural heritage.”

He also shared his belief that empowerment and development are cultural ideas: “Culture lives in development and vice versa. By strengthening one, we enrich the other.”

This is the first International Congress specifically focusing on the linkages between culture and sustainable development organised by UNESCO since the Stockholm Conference in 1998.

Other speakers at the global forum include UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, H.R.H Prince Sultan Saudi bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and former Governor of Canada, Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean.
 

Saturday, 11 May 2013 18:00

BRAC announces leadership changes

12 May 2013, Dhaka. BRAC has announced changes to its senior level management. A circular was sent out on the 7 May, 2013.

Faruque Ahmed, Senior Director, BRAC International has been promoted to the position of Executive Director, BRAC International. In addition to all country representatives, BRAC Internatinal's chief financial officer and the director of internal audit will be reporting to Mr Ahmed.

Executive Director, BRAC and Vice Chairperson, BRAC governing body will provide support and guidance to BRAC International's agricultural programmes and research and evaluation department respectively.

 

02 May 2013, Dhaka. Dr. Mahabub Hossain, executive director of BRAC, has been selected as one of the 500 most powerful people in the world by Foreign Policy – a global magazine of politics and economics.  Dr Hossain is the only one chosen from Bangladesh to have claimed a position in this very prestigious power map. 

The Foreign Policy adheres to a ‘list of lists’ approach by which they consult various distinguished and globally influential sources like Fortune Global 500, Forbes World’s Most Powerful People, World 500, Top 100 NGOs, International Media Corporations, World University Rankings, Wall Street Journal Market Watch and such others, and pick 500 people who have proven to possess the outstanding capability of influencing global trajectories.  In February 2013, BRAC was ranked number one among the top 100 NGOs in the world.

Dr Hossain joined as Executive Director of BRAC in June 2007. Prior to joining BRAC, he was head of the Social Sciences Division at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, and coordinator of the Consortium for Unfavourable Rice Environments (CURE) in Asia. Dr Hossain began his career in 1970, as a staff economist at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (former PIDE) and rose through the ranks to become its director general during 1988-91. He also worked as a visiting scientist at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo (1981), the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC (1985-87), and the Overseas Development Institute, London (1990).

Dr Hossain received his MA in Economics from Dhaka University in 1969 and PhD in Economics from Cambridge University, England in 1977. His major area of research interest is on the rural development policies. Dr Hossain serves as a member of the Board of Governors at Bangladesh Agriculture University, Mymensigh, and BRAC University. He is a founding member of the North-South University Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Council of the CGIAR Harvest Plus Project run by IFPRI and CIAT, the Rice Advisory Council of the Syngenta Corporation for Asia and the Pacific. He is the Chairperson of Bangladesh Rice Foundation, a civil society think tank on rice policies. He is also a member of the Global Knowledge Advisory Commission of The World Bank.

Full list is available here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/the_500_most_powerful_people_in_the_world


 

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