50% of Bangladesh’s population will live in urban settlements by 2030
Economic and climate-induced migration is causing Bangladesh’s urban population to swell. Many people in urban areas find shelter in overcrowded, unhygienic slums, and lack of access to basic services like housing, infrastructure, safe drinking water, sanitation, health and education. People also often have limited access to skills, employment, finance and livelihood opportunities.
We work to make cities inclusive, safe and sustainable through improving wellbeing, reducing multidimensional poverty and supporting people living in urban poverty to exercise their rights. We promote community-led service integration, social enterprise approaches and public-private-community partnerships for pro-poor urban development.
IMPACT
Reduced multidimensional poverty and improved wellbeing of 800,000 people living in urban poverty
Low-cost climate-resilient housing initiatives in 15 cities improving living standards and securing the environment
Public service delivery mechanisms for implementing inclusive and resilient urban planning and governance strengthened in 20 cities
BRAC has played an incredible role in improving the standard of living of people in my municipality who are helpless and insolvent. This new initiative by BRAC to improve workers’ skills free of cost and placing them in the right job has been praiseworthy not just by me but by everyone in my municipality.
I am optimistic that BRAC along with the local government will be able to tackle the ongoing slum crisis despite the challenges and roadblocks. Uniformity and consistency have to be maintained as we address urban healthcare, decentralization of informal sector and other services across the country.
BRAC’s contribution in improving the standard of living of people of my municipality who have been living in poverty has been spectacular. BRAC’s new initiative to build low-cost affordable houses for people from low-income settlements has been praiseworthy by everyone in the municipality.
WHAT WE DO
Basic services
Safe, affordable and quality services for the urban poor, including health, education, WASH, legal aid, crisis management and financial inclusion
Economic empowerment
Livelihoods, skills and entrepreneurship opportunities, urban agriculture and market linkages
Low-cost housing and slum upgrading
Adequate, safe and affordable housing and overall slum upgrading, including drainage, footpaths, access roads, lighting, solar energy, waste management and tree plantation
Climate change, disaster risk response and environment
Promoting pro-poor urban development, and integrating climate change, disaster response and environment into city planning
Urban planning and governance
Strengthening urban planning and governance for inclusive and resilient urban development and improving public service delivery mechanisms
Policy advocacy and partnership
Strengthening the commitment of policy actors towards creating more livable cities
HOW WE DO IT
Service integration
Leveraging a strong referral system to access affordable and quality services through partnership and collaboration with different service providers including BRAC, government, NGOs and the private sector.
Public private community partnerships
Joint investment, planning and decision making for financial, social and environmental sustainability.
Social enterprise
Innovative new business models which use cost-sharing and cost recovery approach to ensure the sustainability of initiatives.
WHY IT WORKS
Financial leverage
Leveraging financial resources through public private community partnership, social enterprise and service integration
Community-led development
Communities identify and prioritise their needs to come up with their own plan of action which they then manage
Innovation
Keeping data-driven decision making, innovation, knowledge and insight generation, evidence creation and research at the core of all of our initiatives
