City News
The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Awards for Human
Development, will be presented on December 15th at the New York
Historical Society. Every two years, UNDP holds a ceremony to recognize
excellence in the efforts of groups who are working on human
development issues around the world.
Among
the honorees this year is the Human Development Report team from West
Bengal, India (others are Colombia, Latvia, the Roma, and Zambia).
Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC (formerly known as the Bangladesh
Rural Advancement Committee), has been named as the winner of the 2004
Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development.
Mr. Abed was selected by an esteemed panel of judges for this award for
his achievements in offering the rural poor tools to combat hunger,
disease and illiteracy on a massive scale. BRAC’s work in health care
has made a a significant contribution to Bangladesh’s achievement of
the fastest decline in infant mortality rates in Asia. It’s work in
education is an important factor in Bangladesh’s success in increasing
primary education from 55% of the population two decades ago to 85%
now.
This award is named in honor of Mahbub ul Haq (1934-1998), the leading
development thinker who pioneered the human development approach and
founded the global Human Development Report. Dr. Haq’s distinguished
career included serving as Chief Economist of the Pakistan Planning
Commission, Director of the World Bank’s Department of Policy Planning,
and Planning and Finance Minister of Pakistan and Special Adviser to
the Administrator of UNDP.
The award is presented biennially to the world leader who has most
successfully put human development at the heart of the political
agenda. In 2002, the award was presented to President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso of Brazil
Fazle Hasan Abed, a former Shell Oil executive, founded BRAC (formerly
known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) in 1972 to provide
relief assistance to refugees returning from India after Bangladesh's
Liberation War. The relief and rehabilitation work was soon finished,
but the poverty and vulnerability remained. He then led the
organisation’s expansion to provide a broad range of services to people
whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty, discrimination and
exploitation. BRAC, now the world's largest non-governmental
organization, is recognized internationally for its pioneering efforts
to promote health, alleviate poverty, and educate and empower the poor.
In the area of health, BRAC serves more than 30 million people – almost
a quarter of Bangladesh's population. Care is provided at 90 health
clinics and 2,200 prenatal clinics, as well as through the 52,000
volunteers mobilized to provide home health care assistance. A central
feature of BRAC’s health programs is the Shastho Shebika – the
community health volunteer – who is chosen by the community, provided
with training in essential health care, and is responsible for making
health services and commodities easily accessible to all community
members.
In the area of micro credit, BRAC works with destitute rural
Bangladeshi women with little or no income earning opportunities. The
programme has disbursed over $2 billion with a 98% repayment rate. One
BRAC program that has attracted considerable attention is an income
generation programme for those living in absolute poverty. Jointly with
the government of Bangladesh, the World Food Program, BRAC has provided
food assistance and savings and credit services to nearly a million
participants over a ten-year period. Two-thirds of these women have
“graduated” from absolute poverty to becoming microfinance clients, and
have not slipped back into requiring government handouts.
In education, BRAC has established over 42,000 primary schools, working
increasingly in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh, with a
special emphasis on girls’ education and involving families in their
children’s school life.
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