By BRAC Sierra Leone Communications Unit
December 7, 2017
Country Representative, Rakibul Bari Khan, receiving the award on behalf of BRAC Sierra Leone
For the year 2017, BRAC Sierra Leone has been awarded ‘Best NGO for Women’s Empowerment’ by the Council of Chief Executives, Sierra Leone’s most influential and leading association of business leaders committed to sustainable economic growth and human development in the country.
The award comes in recognition of BRAC’s role in empowering women through its programmes, management systems, innovations and in improving the lives of the poor and those most vulnerable in Sierra Leone communities.
In a press release issued by the organization on Wednesday, 22 November, 2017, BRAC Sierra Leone’s Country Representative, Rakibul Bari Khan, described the award as “a great honor and recognition of our determination to empower the women of Sierra Leone. Ultimately, we want to help the country achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5; the attainment of gender equality.” He further notes that: “In turn, the empowerment of women will help us remove inequality and ultimately achieve SDG 1; the eradication of poverty in all its forms, everywhere.”
The release also reveals that “80% of BRAC Sierra Leone staff are women and over half of the programmes are run by women. The Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) programme is completely run by women. All community health workers under the health programme are women and about 95 % of microfinance staff and clients are also women”. Mr. Khan expressed appreciation to BRAC Sierra Leone staff, Advisory Council members and the government, all of whom he said “have been a pillar of support to the organization”.
BRAC opened its offices in Sierra Leone in 2008 and currently reaches 2.3 million people through programmes in health, adolescents’ empowerment, agriculture and microfinance. It follows an integrated approach to development, implementing programmes through 30 branches in 11 districts across the country.
Globally, BRAC, which has been ranked the Number One NGO for two consecutive years, employs more than 100,000 people in 11 countries in Africa and Asia.
In its review of BRAC in January this year, Editor-in-Chief of Geneva-based NGO Advisor, an independent media organization committed to highlighting innovation, impact and governance in the non-profit sector, had this to say about BRAC: “Pragmatic, adaptive, BRAC can now play any game, whether using for-profit or non-profit approaches, to face and challenge systems of inequity.” Jean-Christophe Nothias furthered: “BRAC ticks every box this year, with extra scoring for the clarity of its five-year strategic vision and its willingness to expand its international outreach…Today, BRAC is more than a reference; it is leading the non-profit world toward its next degree of efficiency and leverage.”