BRAC has partnered with Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion (HI) in Bangladesh to launch a pilot Disability Inclusive Ultra-Poor Graduation program targeting the ultra-poor populations in four (4) districts of Bangladesh and signed an agreement on 24th November 2020 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Shameran Abed, Senior Director, Microfinance & Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) from BRAC, and Rajesh Chandra, Country Director of HI signed this agreement. BRAC is committed to strengthening the inclusion of ultra-poor and people with disabilities including their families in its Graduation program, hence in 2018, BRAC had collaborated with Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion United Kingdom (UK) at the global level to bring in disability inclusion in its program activities.
HI will tailor its technical assistance to the specific needs of BRAC’s UPG program, and BRAC will implement this pilot program targeting 1,200 participants with disabilities or a family member with disability to enhance their socio-economic development in four (4) districts of Bangladesh. This two-year partnership will cater to the needs of the participants and their households throughout the twenty-four months’ program cycle.
Terming the partnership between BRAC and HI as a “milestone” in BRAC’s endeavor to make the Graduation program more inclusive to the most marginalized and vulnerable groups, Mr. Shameran Abed said that “the strategic partnership will strengthen our collective effort to lift persons with disabilities out of ultra-poverty. This will enhance BRAC’s capacity to implement a disability-inclusive Graduation approach in scale in Bangladesh and globally and assist respective governments to adopt the approach based on the country context’.
Mr. Rajesh Chandra from HI also said “Aligned with its worldwide strategy to ‘leave no one behind’, Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is delighted to extend in Bangladesh its global collaboration with BRAC. This technical partnership will support the economic empowerment of people with disabilities in four (4) districts of Bangladesh. HI, along with Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs), aspires to support the Government of Bangladesh to ensure inclusion of people with disabilities in development”.
It should be noted that, in Bangladesh, since its beginning in 2002, BRAC’s UPG program, through its groundbreaking Graduation approach, has served almost 2.1 million ultra-poor households to achieve socio-economic resilience, in order to progress along a pathway out of extreme poverty.
