BRAC AFRICA

Africa is the only continent where the proportion of the population in poverty is growing. Many African states lack capacity to carry out basic functions and are not sufficiently investing in key social sectors such as education, health, water and sanitation. To create financially self-sustaining development institutions in Africa, BRAC needs to not only build solid, financially viable microfinance programs but also a series of enterprises and institutions that support its integrated strategy to build health, wealth and social capital of the poor. BRAC seeks to rapidly scale up microfinance operations in Africa and simultaneously use this momentum to develop a pro-poor, sustainable delivery structure for a wider set of services. Selected microfinance group members will be trained in BRAC’s unique brand of community level essential health care services to prevent and treat common diseases. In the next five years, BRAC aims to establish a network of at least 250 microfinance branches, develop linkage programs for adolescents and the ultra poor for more inclusive microfinance and build health, agriculture, poultry and livestock programs on top of the microfinance network.