This week we’re celebrating being awarded International Charity of the Year 2016 by Charity Times Magazine. The trade publication recognise outstanding professionals and organisations and promote leadership.
“We are humbled to have received such an honor, particularly in a field full of exemplary organisations,” said Lewis Temple, CEO of BRAC UK, the organiaation’s affiliate in the United Kingdom. “This award is a tribute to BRAC’s founder, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, and the thousands of BRAC staff, around the world, working together to end poverty.”
For more than 40 years, BRAC has fought to end poverty with a holistic approach, implementing a diverse set of services, that range from micro-finance to education and healthcare to gender justice, to give people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. The award highlighted the organisation’s history of designing and implementing solutions at scale, particularly BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation approach, which helps the poorest graduate out of poverty.
Recognising that people in extreme poverty were unable to access and benefit from traditional programs, in the early 2000s, BRAC developed a sequenced set of interventions, delivered in 24 months and adapted to meet local needs, to help people obtain sustainable livelihoods. After years of testing, the Graduation approach was successfully scaled to reach 1.6 million women, with 98 per cent staying on an upward economic trajectory years after the programme ended.
“Since its founding, BRAC has devoted itself to impact, innovation and sustainability,” said Temple. “BRAC takes a holistic approach to fighting poverty, treating it as a system of interrelated barriers that must be addressed at the same time. Our dynamic, research-driven programs are changing the way the world fights poverty.”
This was the 17th year for the awards, which were held at the Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge. The event also works to shine a celebratory light on the sector, raise standards and offer ongoing professional development to the thousands engaged in charitable work in the UK. BRAC was pleased to share the short list for International Charity with six outstanding organisations, including Hospices of Hope, Send a Cow, Shivia, United World Schools, Vision for a Nation Foundation and Y Care International.