BRAC USA

BRAC is an international development organization known for its community-led, holistic approach and delivering long-term impact at scale. BRAC works with communities in marginalized situations, hard-to-reach areas and post-disaster settings across Asia and Africa, with a particular focus on women and children. We innovate, pilot, perfect, and scale poverty solutions. Born in Bangladesh in 1972, BRAC today reaches more than 130 million people in 17 countries.

BRAC envisions a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone has th

Goal One: Implement proven, innovative approaches in healthcare, education, youth empowerment, and more, born from local communities in the Global South to tackle the world’s greatest development challenges.

Goal Two: Scale BRAC’s impact beyond direct program implementation through partnerships with governments and civil society organizations around the world.

Goal Three: Empower women and adolescent girls throughout all BRAC programs to fully engage in society and the economy.

To advance staff learning and support leadership development, all regular BRAC USA employees are eligible to utilize up to $1,000 annually to build professional capacity, knowledge, and skills. For example, last year staff engaged in technical training to develop their skills as well as classes in donor management, budgeting and project management. All managers who oversee other staff receive leadership training from The Management Center that focuses on managing in a diverse and inclusive manner. Additionally, BRAC USA partnered with a consultant in early 2020 to facilitate regular training for staff of all levels. The consultant engages the team on a range of topics including diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as well as managerial coaching, time management and providing constructive feedback.

Sustaining global operations amidst external changes such as the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging and complicated task, but BRAC made significant adjustments to provide continuity to its global programs that work in resource-constrained environments. For instance, BRAC’s health programs continued to provide care to millions around the world, by providing its community health workers with mobile phones that would allow them to carry out telehealth activities while maintaining physical distance. BRAC’s global early childhood development and education programs worked remotely with teachers when students could not meet in person, creating an environment where children could still be intellectually stimulated outside of the classroom. For those without stable internet service, school curriculum was adapted for alternative, low-tech delivery mechanisms such as radio and text. Many of the methods that BRAC was forced to pilot and deploy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have permanently integrated into the organization’s ongoing programming. Domestic and international travel were once integral to BRAC USA’s daily operations. When travel became unsafe, the organization began working remotely and connecting with constituents virtually, equipping staff with the necessary resources to work from home. BRAC remains committed to promoting the organization’s culture and values while staying flexible as global public health protocols ebb and flow. External changes in recent years have touched every part of the organization, but BRAC has continued to evolve and deliver critical programming.