Creating opportunities BRAC UK strategy BRAC STRATEGY

Creating opportunities BRAC UK strategy 2015-2020 www.bracuk.net 1

Vision: a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realise their potential. Mission: to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. Our interventions aim to achieve large-scale, positive changes, through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realise their potential. BRAC values innovation, inclusiveness, integrity and efficiency 2

Welcome BRAC UK has successfully met the challenges of the last five-year fundraising strategy. After taking the helm last November we have designed a new strategy to be implemented over the next five years. This is an opportunity to take stock of what we have achieved, understand our effectiveness and plan in the face of emerging challenges. In the next five years BRAC UK will positively impact the lives of millions of people, build a well-known brand in Europe and be the go-to place for policy, decision makers and practitioners for insights and knowledge on our unique communitybased approach. Please get in touch with us for collaboration and partnership or to learn more about our work across Asia and Africa. What they say BRAC is better prepared and better positioned to work in very poor countries than anybody in the developed world George Soros, Founder, Open Society Foundations The Apple of the social sector is BRAC Stanford Social Innovation Review 2013 BRAC have done what few other have. They have achieved success on a massive scale, bringing life-saving health programmes to millions of the world s poorest people. Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Lewis Temple Chief Executive BRAC UK 3

The heroes of our story are the people, in particular, women struggling in poverty But the challenges against them are immense: Economic growth bypasses billions of people. Women are still frequently abused, excluded from decision making and marginalised, children - especially those in fragile states - are not getting the education they deserve, vulnerable mothers and young children live in unhealthy environments, small holder farmers can t produce enough to make a living and feed their families, millions of people live without a clean toilet or good drinking water, the rights of defenceless people are ignored and rising demand for commodities is putting pressure on land, water, energy and food. Working with our partners, we will do our bit to transform these situations for millions of people. Model farmer Esther Fendor harvests 4 cabbage in her field in Kakata, Liberia

We don t believe people passively receive aid, they act as agents in their own lives. What we can do to meet our challenges: Over the next five years BRAC UK will create opportunities by brining life-changing services to 10 million people. We will concentrate on three strategic objectives: education and empowerment, equitable economic development and access to health services. BRAC s practical experience and strong research history has huge relevance for policy makers and will inform programme development for other organisations. Additionally we want to foster new partnerships across all sectors. Fundraising will concentrate on European bi-laterals and multi-laterals, foundations, corporates and individual donors. High-quality grant management, monitoring and evaluation and financial accounting will support all donations. We will raise 50 million over the next five years. Effective communications and media relations will play a pivotal role in raising the profile of BRAC across Europe and support fundraising. BRAC has been embracing business-based approaches to poverty at scale for four decades. We have extensive experience developing social enterprises, especially in Bangladesh, and would like to support similar development and market linkages further afield in Asia and across Africa. BRAC UK also has a crucial role to support all country offices and BRAC International. 5

How are we different? Sustainable solutions We take a business-like approach to ending poverty. In Bangladesh, 70 per cent of our programmes are funded by profits from our 16 social enterprises and microfinance operations. The science of delivery Solutions to some of the world s biggest problems exist; it s just a matter of getting them to the people who need them the most. We test, measure and modify our programmes to ensure we re effective and reaching as many people as possible. Our operations internationally are designed to be long-term, to achieve depth and to reach people in remote locations. Community engagement An organisation that started in Bangladesh, we are familiar with the constraints particular to people living in low-income countries. We work together with communities to build trust and ensure local needs are met in ways that make sense for them. Holistic approach We amplify our impact by combining services to meet people s needs. We use frugal innovation to find simple, cost-effective ways that help people improve their lives. 6

BRAC UK works as part of the international BRAC family to raise awareness and funds for our low cost, high impact approach. We develop partnerships in Europe with non-governmental organisations, academics, research institutes, the private sector and governments. 7 Boy eager to learn in a school in Juba, South Sudan

Education and empowerment Enable out of school children to access quality education and reintegrate into mainstream school, and empower adolescent girls Enable 100,000 children to access quality education and reintegrate into mainstream schooling. Empower 1.4 million adolescent girls with access to financial literacy, life skills, health and livelihoods training and knowledge about their rights. BRAC UK will support the scaling of education services with a particular focus on post-conflict countries, which have limited government capacity to educate all children of school age. Interventions will be time limited whilst we work with governments and local organisations to build capacity and resources to provide education themselves. Building on BRAC s one room-one teacher community-based school model, BRAC UK will support innovations in sustainable education models and developments in Public Private Partnerships to help schools graduate from grant funding. BRAC has successfully developed a ground-breaking model that has been proven to impact the life chances of adolescent girls currently working in South Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. BRAC UK will continue building on this work and expand to additional countries - with a focus on Pakistan. BRAC s practical approach to realising the rights of marginalised people through barefoot legal services and advice and information services has gained recognition in Bangladesh. There is significant need for similar services in other BRAC countries and BRAC UK will support the process of developing these services and adapting them to local contexts. 8

Najjemba Jackline, who is 17, runs a small fruit shop by the main highway leading to Kampala in Lukaya, central Uganda. 9

Equitable economic development Increasing the incomes of millions of people through access to financial services and livelihood support. At least one third of the target clients will be categorised as ultra-poor Increase the incomes of 3 million people by 30 per cent through access to financial services and livelihood support - at least one third of which are categorised as ultra-poor. BRAC uses micro-finance as the entry point into communities, utilising our network of sustainable micro-finance branches to provide education, health and livelihood services at low cost. Building on BRAC s unmatched experience in the provision of micro-finance services BRAC UK willl support the development of new financial services and products that enable the very poorest to access the finance they need to develop businesses, grow their livehihoods and cope with crisis. We will focus on supporting the scaling of BRAC s ultra-poor 10 approach that has been proven to enable the very poorest to climb out of extreme poverty and stay out. 1.5 billion of the world s poor live in rural areas and rely on smallholder farms for their livelihoods. They provide 80 per cent of the food in sub-saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. A focus on enabling smallholder farmers to increase their productivity and profits has a dramatic impact on poverty and is the foundation for rural economic growth. BRAC UK will focus its support on initiatives that assist smallholder farmers - especially women - to improve their productivity and access to markets for their produce.

A group of men and women attend a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in Kaposhatia, Bangladesh to identify families who are ultrapoor. 11

Wellbeing and resilience Enabling millions of people to access essential and reproductive, maternal and new-born health services. Reducing diarrhoeal disease and enabling access to hygienic sanitation and clean water Enable 4 million people to access essential and reproductive, maternal and new-born health services. Reduce diarrhoeal disease by enabling 1 million people to access hygienic sanitation and 500,000 people to access clean water. BRAC has a strong track record in innovation in health services in Bangladesh, from the Oral Rehydration work in the 1980s that dramatically reduced child deaths from diarrhoeal disease to the Shasthya Shebika community health worker model - employing 48,000 rural women and reaching 120 million people in Bangladesh. BRAC UK has supported the piloting of new models of health services such as the Manoshi project in Sierra Leone, which provides safe 12 delivery centres and referrals to women giving birth in slum environments. BRAC Uganda s partnership with Living Goods addresses the last mile delivery challenge. BRAC UK will focus on scaling successful models and developing sustainable approaches and business models that support healthcare delivery. BRAC has achieved impressive scale in enabling people to access drinking water and hygenic sanitation (WASH) in Bangladesh - with over 60 million people reached in the last ten years. So far, BRAC s WASH work has only been in Bangladesh and there is an exciting opportunity to apply the lessons learnt and experience from Bangladesh to the other countries where BRAC works.

Joyce Kunihira, a BRAC community health volunteer, visits Rose Takuwa and her family in Iganga, Eastern Uganda. 13