ABOUT BRAC USA
BRAC USA is an independent,
non-profit organization that received
its 501(c)(3) status on July 12, 2007.
A brainchild of BRAC, the world-renowned,
Bangladesh-based non-profit organization,
BRAC USA’s mission is to raise
awareness of BRAC’s successful
community development model, mobilize
resources and cultivate business partnerships
to support BRAC’s global expansion.
With the success of BRAC USA and BRAC
UK, BRAC will be the world’s first
international development organization
initiated and led by people from the
developing world with solidarity and
support from the developed world.
BRAC USA seeks to improve the well
being of the poorest in Africa and Asia,
particularly its women and children.
To do so, BRAC USA will support building
scalable, sustainable institutions that,
over time, are indigenously led to create
wealth for the poor, promote health
and social development and advance education
and entrepreneurship. Our organization
will support the transfer and adaptation
of BRAC’s knowledge and experience
in organizing people for power in vulnerable
communities throughout Africa and Asia.
BRAC USA’s grant-making philosophy
is based on three fundamental ideas:
-
Building capacity in African
and Asian communities has more impact
and is more sustainable than traditional
development models
-
Investing in women and girls
has a disproportionately large return
for communities
-
Northern solidarity in support
of Southern leadership and South-South
collaboration can generate lower cost
and higher impact solutions for poverty
BRAC USA does not accept unsolicited
proposals from organizations that are
not part of BRAC International. It supports
a strategic agenda based on priorities
agreed upon by BRAC and the BRAC USA
Board. Its grant-making program facilitates
flexibility, innovation, entrepreneurship,
creativity, and learning.
Our vision of success is to increase
BRAC’s visibility in the United
States, harness the power of its friends,
ensure that it mobilizes at least USD
250 million in support of new BRAC organizations
in Africa and Asia to unleash the potential
of millions of poor households to create
better futures for themselves and communities.
By removing the constraints on BRAC’s
global expansion, BRAC USA facilitates
a South-South strategy of ‘barefoot
bootstrapping.’ We seek business
partnerships, strategic alliances, philanthropic
and other capital to provide microcredit,
health, education and other services
sought by people living in poverty,
especially women and children.
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ABOUT BRAC
“BRAC
has set the gold standard for developing
communities. Over the years, they have
set off a unique chain reaction for good.
BRAC is a model for the entire world.”
– Dr. Nils Daulaire, President,
Global Health Council
Since BRAC’s modest inception as
a small-scale relief rehabilitation project
in 1972, BRAC has grown into one of the
world’s largest non-profit organizations
with over 40,000 full-time staff and over
160,000 paraprofessionals, 72% of which
are women. BRAC’s annual budget
is over USD 430 million, 78% of which
is self-financed, and BRAC’s microfinance
program, with 6 million borrowers, has
cumulatively disbursed USD 4 billion.
More than 1.5 million children are currently
enrolled in 52,000 BRAC’s schools
and over 3 million have already graduated.
BRAC’s health program reaches over
100 million people in Bangladesh with
basic healthcare services and programs
for TB, Malaria and HIV/ AIDS.
BRAC is in business to end poverty. It
employs a holistic approach to alleviating
poverty by integrating its core programs
(health, education and microfinance) with
strategic linkages and constant evolution.
BRAC works with people whose lives are
dominated by extreme poverty, illiteracy,
disease and other constraints. With multifaceted
development interventions, BRAC strives
to foster education, create wealth, better
health and improve their quality of life.
BRAC actively promotes human rights,
dignity and gender equality through building
the social, economic, political and human
capacity of people living in poverty.
By organizing people for power through
village organizations, BRAC provides ladders
of opportunity for the poor to access
credit and other services and break out
of the cycle of poverty and despair. To
scale its impact, BRAC partners with the
community, like-minded organizations,
government institutions, the private sector,
and development partners to influence
policies, programs and practices.
BRAC is committed to sustainability.
It makes its programs socially, financially
and environmentally sustainable, using
business models, innovative methods and
technologies. BRAC’s growth and
programs reflect its responsiveness to
the needs of the poor and deep knowledge
about development. Those living in poverty
want more and better options, and they
are willing to pay for it.
BRAC is now global. It now works in six
countries outside of Bangladesh. With
its own resources, BRAC began in Afghanistan
in 2002 and is now the largest microfinance,
health, education and other service provider
in the country. In response to the devastating
tsunami in 2004, BRAC started work in
Sri Lanka. Emboldened by their early success,
BRAC decided to expand globally to help
other poor countries and in 2006 it established
programs in Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2007,
it began in Southern Sudan and is now
registered in Pakistan.
At the Clinton Global Initiative last
year, BRAC committed to raise at least
$250 million over the next 10 years to
support the development of BRAC organizations
in at least five African countries. BRAC
UK and BRAC USA were created as partners
to raise awareness, cultivate partnerships
and mobilize resources in support of BRAC’s
global expansion. By creating a global
network that share values and vision,
BRAC seeks to bring together knowledge,
innovation and entrepreneurship to build
scalable, sustainable solutions to marginalization,
poverty, disease, illiteracy and environmental
degradation.
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