21 December 2010, Dhaka. BRAC Advocacy Unit seeks to mobilise youth groups in favour of the Ultra Poor. The Advocacy Unit regularly organises quizzes, seminars and debates from the grassroots to the national level with a view to informing the students about the poverty situation and the ultra poverty scenario of Bangladesh and to sensitise them to take constructive initiatives for poverty reduction As a follow up of ‘Intra School Debate Competition 2010’, Advocacy Unit organised a three-day long youth field visit from 13 to 15 December 2010 in Rajshahi district at Poba and Tanor upazila. Six students and two teachers from Udayan High School and Wills Little Flower School & College participated in the field visit to experience the real poverty situation of Bangladesh. During these three days they observed different BRAC activities like Popular Theater, Pre-primary School, Union Workshop, Community Initiative-Van Distribution, Selection Process of the STUP (Specially Targeted Ultra Poor) Members, Health Support, (Human Rights and Legal Aid Services)HRLS Support and Gram Daridro Bimochon Committee (GDBC) meeting. The students would submit a report on their field visit. We strongly believe such involvement in a national agenda like Ultra Poverty will engage the students as ambassador of social change both at family and community level.

20 December 2010, Dhaka. On the eve of the International Migrants’ Day 2010 BRAC Advocacy Unit’s Safe Migration Facilitation Centre (SMFC) organised a two-day long “Migration and Development Fair” jointly with Government, at Rangpur from 18-19 December, by bringing together all the stakeholders, Government officials, NGO, Civil Society Recruiting Agency and Student Counselors under one umbrella of safe migration.

The main objectives behind organising such a unique fair were,
I)    to promote safe migration in the northern part of Bangladesh (Monga Area) as an alternative to poverty alleviation;
II)     to make the mass aware about safe migration decision making process; and
III)     to motivate stakeholders for decentralising safe migration services to the  doorstep of migrant workers.

Mr. Mia Abdullah Mamun, Additional Divisional Commissioner, Rangpur inaugurated the event where as Mr. B. M. Enamul Haque, Deputy Commissioner, Rangpur chaired the inaugural programme accordingly.  A press conference was held on 17 December at Rangpur Press Club Auditorium. In line with that SMFC had activities in 21 Districts and 36 Upazillas around the country. The activities included rallies, discussion sessions and cultural programmes and exclusive media coverage on migration promotion on ATN News.

Alongside SMFC also participated in the daylong awareness raising campaign with the Government at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium, Dhaka and took part in the fair held in the premises. Sheikh Hasina, Honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh inaugurated the event. A talk show and a special supplement were also published in the national dailies upholding the day.

19 December 2010, Dhaka. An article titled “Deltas in Space: The Space Technology Comes Down to Earth” by Michael Van Der Mark came out in the Dutch Magazine called ‘Deltas in Times of Climate Change’. The article talks about space technology and water management technology and how cooperation between the two sectors can result in many benefits. Space technology predictions can help predict weather and its benefits can even reach everyday farmers with water availability forecasts. The article says organisations such as BRAC can reap benefits from space technology by better understanding variations of weather through reliable and advanced predictions will mean less loss of lives and crops.  The following are a few extracts from the article:

One of the organizations that could benefit from the developments is BRAC, a large organization working to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh and nine other countries in South Asia, Africa and Haiti. Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, BRAC not only provides access to financial services but also to health, education, water and sanitation services. Dr Babar Kabir, BRAC’s Director for Water and for Disaster, Environment and Climate Change, explains that major challenges remain: “We need to ensure food security and reduce vulnerability to natural disasters. It is here that science (from satellite data downwards) can play a significant role, by providing early warnings and help us to better understand weather variability resulting from climate change.” Optimizing the hydrological data supply chain is important, says Dr Kabir, as it would link science to grassroots development: “Researchers have limited themselves to linking to academic institutions. They have ignored the strength of the NGOs and others who work for the development of the common people.” BRAC’s work focuses on the poor, especially women and children, and better understanding of variations in the weather through reliable and advanced predictions will mean less loss of lives and crops.

In the end it will be organizations like BRAC that will be able to issue better seasonal forecasts for local rice farmers, so that the premium on crop insurance can be reduced from four to three percent – a net gain of 25 percent!” Dr Kabir agrees. “Yes, definitely. Farmers, fishermen, small-scale private entrepreneurs – all will benefit. Given that the initial focus will be on weather forecasting and event predictions, the reliability of the data will be critical, whether it is to understand that a disaster is approaching or to provide very specific rainfall prediction. Tracking of the monsoon landfall is very important for agricultural activities in Bangladesh, as many crops are rain fed. Accurate rainfall prediction, when and how much, will help farmers to increase productivity. Once disaster prediction has been perfected, farmers can then be encouraged to engage in crop insurance.” Reliable data will mean that BRAC would be able to save on insurance premiums, enabling them to purchase data from the streamlined process. Nevertheless, Dr Kabir adds, “While BRAC is trying to develop its own expertise to understand the scientific data, it does not wish to duplicate efforts or expertise that already exists elsewhere. We need to find an easy way of coordinating both between and within the scientific community. We need data analysis based on client needs, and reports that are in non-scientific language.”


To read the full article please download : 
http://www.changemagazine.nl/doc/deltatimes/deltas-in-space.pdf
 

12 December 2010, Kathmandu. BRAC was awarded the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) 2009 award in the category of Non Governmental Organisations for the Best Presented Accounts and Corporate Governance Disclosures.

Mr. S.N. Kairy, Director Finance & Accounts, received the award on behalf of BRAC at a ceremony held on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at the Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu, Nepal. Mr. Surendra Pandey, Honourable Minister for Finance, Government of Nepal was the chief guest of the event. BRAC previously received the SAFA Award for the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

SAFA is a forum of professional accountancy bodies committed to developing the accountancy profession in the South Asian region. The Best Presented Accounts awards are conferred on the basis of evaluation administered by SAFA's Committee for improvement in transparency, accountability and governance of published annual reports of entities from South Asian countries.