{"id":1401,"date":"2020-08-13T20:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T20:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brac2019.customwplab.com\/?page_id=1401"},"modified":"2023-04-09T03:30:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T03:30:37","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ar19.bracusa.org\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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BRAC USA
\n2019 Annual Report<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Letter from the President & CEO<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When the founder of BRAC, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, passed away last December, I couldn\u2019t help but reflect on the millions of people touched by his life, while also recalling the first time I met Abed and how much he changed mine. I had visited Bangladesh in early 2016, before joining BRAC USA, as part of a consortium of organizations whose missions supported financial inclusion. BRAC hosted a week of meetings on the topic, concluding with visits to its Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) program.<\/p>

As I sat with the various groups of women participating in the UPG program and learned more about it, I remember being incredibly impressed by the scale and scope of BRAC\u2019s work in Bangladesh and beyond. Millions reached. Millions more leaving poverty behind \u2013 for good.<\/p>

And there, on the last day of the trip, in his humble office, was the man behind it all: Sir Fazle. What struck me then was his defiance of the mantle. He displayed no ego. Informal and intimate, Abed had a quiet energy that gently hummed with possibility. As if he alone could see into the future and grasp the vast potential of ending poverty.<\/p>

But there is a tendency to get caught up in the great man theory of leadership, and no one denied this characterization more vociferously than Abed. He understood it was people themselves that held the key. Just last August, in a letter to staff upon his retirement, he wrote:<\/p>

\u201cThe passion of my lifetime has been to work with people living in poverty and to see them, with the right resources and opportunities, transform into agents of change in their own lives, families and communities. The inequalities that create divisions of rich and poor, powerful and powerless, are made by humans. So change is also possible through human acts of compassion, courage, and conviction. I have spent my life watching optimism triumph over despair when the light of self-belief is sparked in people. As a team, I want us to keep lighting these sparks.\u201d<\/p>

Because of his moral leadership, Sir Fazle believed individual choices mattered most. Never has this belief mattered more. When 2020 began, the coronavirus seemed a distant threat. Today, the devastation that COVID-19 has wrought is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen. The impact on lives and livelihoods around the world is devastating, and has only invested our work with more urgency than ever.\u00a0<\/p>

In the pages below, you\u2019ll see some of that work, from our expansion into Rwanda to new emphases on disability-inclusion and digital innovation in our programs. What I hope you will also find is Abed\u2019s call to action to spark light manifested in improvements in the lives of millions of people. That is what I see: The collective impact of individual actions.<\/p>

Your support, your contributions, and your advocacy for vulnerable people is what makes this progress possible. Four years ago, when I met Abed, his vision inspired me. Today, I am privileged to join you in carrying it forward \u2013 to create opportunity for people living in poverty to realize their potential. Or, as Abed would have said: to spark light.<\/p>

Keep the light,
Donella Rapier<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cThe passion of my lifetime has been to work with people living in poverty and to see them, with the right resources and opportunities, transform into agents of change in their own lives, families, and communities. The inequalities that create divisions of rich and poor, powerful and powerless, are made by humans. So change is also possible through human acts of compassion, courage, and conviction. I have spent my life watching optimism triumph over despair when the light of self-belief is sparked in people.<\/strong> As a team, I want us to keep lighting these sparks.”<\/h4>

\u00a0<\/h4>

\u2014Sir Fazle Hasan Abed<\/h4><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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