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Brae must be accountable to the grassroots

Says Rehman Sobhan

Star business Report
Brae should ensure accountability in its activities with the grassroots to widen its development network, said economist Rehman Sobhan yesterday.
The leading nongovernment organisation should also reconstitute its entire institutional format and transform it into a corporation of the poor, he said.
“Brae has a major contribution to the country's poverty alleviation and it engages the poor with income generation activities. In addition, it has established itself as a selffinanced organisation over the last three decades," he said.
Sobhan was speaking at a function organised by Brae in Dhaka to mark the launch of two books -- Freedom from Want, and Brae: Unnoyoner Ekti Upakkhan -- both written on the journey of Brae towards development.
“Now it's time for Brae to concentrate on skill management of the poor as a tool to alleviate poverty. In addition, it should link the rural poor with the owner-
ship structure of the organisation,” he added.
Mentioning the contribution of Brae to empowering rural women through microfinance, and creating awareness of health issue among the grassroots, Sobhan said: "Now the organisation should help develop skill management of the poor."
He stressed the need for developing relationship between the government and NGOs, as they both deal with similar issues like poverty elimination and awareness creation among the rural poor.
Prof Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said Brae has contributed to poverty elimination through various programmes incorporating microfinance, education and health issues that all are connected to development.
"In its long journey, the organisation has tried to discover the inherent causes of poverty, which is very important in poverty alleviation effort. And then Brae has initiated different programmes that have engaged a huge number of rural poor to fight poverty," he said.
He also said the organisation has also taken some important measures, including triangulation and developing partnership with other development organisations to fight poverty.
Dr Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister, said women who borrowed from Brae and set up their own shops have already overcome the social barriers. They will not return to the claustrophobic social space, he added.
“It is unfair to treat Brae only as a microcredit organisation and not to differentiate it from other traditional microcredit institutions engaged only or mainly in small loan operations. Brae has a more comprehensive approach to development, and credit is one of the many elements in it,” he said.
Dr MM Shawket Ali, former adviser to the caretaker government, Dr Syed Manzurul Islam, professor of Department of English at Dhaka University, and Mahbub Hossain, executive director of Brae, among others, were present at the function.