Founder
and Chairperson of BRAC Foundation calls on former President Benjamin
Mkapa of Tanzania
7th August 2006
A delegation led by Mr. Fazle Hasan Abed,
the Founder and Chairperson of BRAC Foundation, a development
NGO working to fight poverty in the dimensions of economic development,
health, education and legal empowerment in Bangladesh, Afghanistan,
Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Uganda, and Tanzania called on the former
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa today, August 7, 2006 at 11
in the morning at his office in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Mr. Abed
appraised the former president on the current activities and future
plans of BRAC Foundation in Tanzania which has started its operations
here since February of this year. It has already set up 10 microfinance
branch offices in the regions of Dar-es-Salaam, Coast and Arusha
aiming to reach 10,000 poor women by the end of this year. BRAC
Foundation over the next few years plans to significantly scale
up microfinance access for the poor in Tanzania reaching over
a million of poor households all over the country. In addition
to this, BRAC Foundation will also develop programmes to control
malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS and support agricultural activities of the
poor.
Mr. Mkapa welcomed the activities of BRAC
Foundation in Tanzania and saw it as having significant potential
to defeat poverty in Tanzania. He assured Mr. Abed of his full
support and commitment to help BRAC Foundation’s development
work in Tanzania. They discussed the lack of progress of Tanzania
towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals despite good
overall economic performance of the economy. They both agreed
that this is unacceptable and can be corrected but needs urgent
and bold actions. Mr. Abed urged on Mr. Mkapa to champion and
spearhead a campaign to attain the MDGs for Tanzania in which
BRAC Foundation is committed to act as an ally.
Mr. Abed invited Mr. Mkapa to visit Bangladesh in early December
to see BRAC’s development work in Bangladesh and attend
an international conference organized by BRAC on extreme poverty.
The BRAC Foundation delegation included Mr. Aminul Alam, the Executive
Director of BRAC Foundation’s Tanzania Chapter, Dr. Imran
Matin, the Director of BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division,
Mr. Shamsher Ali Khan, Programme Coordinator, BRAC Foundation,
East Africa, and Mr. Hossain Ishrath Adib, Microfinance Manager,
BRAC Foundation, East Africa.
Since 1972, BRAC has been working with
the twin objectives of poverty alleviation and empowering the
poor with a holistic approach. It has made laudable contributions
in the field of microfinance, health, education and other sectors
including road safety.
Kazi Arif Anwar
Manager
Public Affairs and Communications
BRAC
Tel: +880-2-9881265/8824180 ext-2158
Email: public-affairs@brac.net, arif.ka@brac.net
|
