Caption for image (above): Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International, joins others at UNFPA’s side event “Building an Equitable Future through Women-Centric Innovations: Equity by Design in Action”. PC BRAC. After a week of discussing the status of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the lack of progress at the United Nations General Assembly … Continued
This research was originally published on the J-PAL site and was last updated in October 2023. A multifaceted livelihood program that provided low-income households with a productive asset, training, regular coaching, access to savings, and consumption support led to large and long-lasting positive impacts on their standard of living. Additionally, recipient households were better positioned … Continued
By Shameran Abed, Executive Director, BRAC International and Joanne Carter, Executive Director, RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund This opinion article was originally published on the OECD Development Matters blog on September 27, 2023. The World Bank is evolving, but can it widen its mandate without losing focus on ending extreme poverty? Cascading crises that include COVID-19, the Ukraine war, … Continued
Dear friends, We are writing to share a brief update on our shared aspirations. BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative is in its third year of a large and flexible Audacious grant, with the aim of catalyzing governments to scale an evidence-based approach to reducing extreme poverty. Our goal of reaching 4.6 million households remains our driving … Continued
The Government of Finland, the Government of Ghana, the Government of Norway, the Government of Vietnam, and UNFPA, the United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency organized this high-level side event on the margins of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, titled “Building an equitable future through women-centric innovations.” The 90-minute in-person … Continued
Devex at UNGA 78 – Day 1 Shameran Abed, Executive Director, BRAC International Raj Kumar, President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex
This opinion article was originally published on Devex on September 19, 2023. World leaders are gathering at the United Nations this week, at the midway point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to evaluate stalled progress and talk about how to get us back on track. This means doing more of what has already been proven to … Continued
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 90 percent of all businesses globally, 50 percent of GDP, and more than 70 percent of the workforce, but they are most vulnerable during economic crises. They also continue to face considerable limitations due to racial and gender inequities that persist across the ecosystem. With the threat of … Continued
This text is from Chapter 25 of the Oxford Handbook of Program Design and Implementation Evaluation. By Annie Duflo, Heidi McAnnally-Linz, Anu Rangarajan Abstract This chapter describes an approach to scale-up that focuses on delivering effective programs to increase the reach of program services. Program scale-up can occur along a number of dimensions—organizations can expand … Continued
Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies recently came together for the 2023 G20 summit in New Delhi, India to discuss some of the world’s most pressing economic issues and produce a final document that highlights leaders’ commitments to challenges ranging from inclusive growth to gender equality. To better represent the needs of those most … Continued