View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by BRAC University Institutional Repository BRAC University Journal, Vol. III, No. 2, 2006, pp.35-40 SCALING UP: THE BRAC EXPERIENCE Salehuddin Ahmed BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh [email protected] and Micaela French Student-Intern from Marlboro College Marlboro, VT, USA [email protected] ABSTRACT BRAC, a development NGO based in Bangladesh, has demonstrated an extraordinary aptitude for program expansion, or ‘scaling up’. Only thirty-four years old, the organization is today the largest NGO in the world, with programs serving an estimated 110 million people. This paper identifies the seven key principles of scaling up responsible for BRAC’s success: Listening to the People, Vision, Piloting, Training, Down-to-Earth Management, Evaluation and Adaptation, and Advocacy. The expansion of BRAC’s widely imitated Non-Formal Primary Education furnishes concrete examples of these principles in practice. It is our hope that these lessons, accumulated from BRAC’s long experience, will prove useful to other organizations as they endeavor to expand. Key Words: Scaling up, expansion, BRAC, NGO. INTRODUCTION1 BRAC has accumulated extensive expertise in the process of program expansion, or “scaling up”. As BRAC began as a small relief operation in northern each new BRAC program has gone from concept to Bangladesh in 1972, just after the country achieved pilot to full-scale implementation, BRAC has its independence. Today, BRAC is the largest NGO gained insights into the necessary components of a in the world with programs in microfinance, successful project launch. These insights may be education, health, and social development that distilled into seven key principles of scaling up: serve an estimated 110 million people.2 Thanks to Listening to the People; Vision; Piloting; Training; its innovative program support enterprises, its Down-to-Earth Management; Evaluation and annual budget of US $300 million is 76% self- Adaptation; and Advocacy. This paper aims to financed, and its network of 3,000 area offices elucidate these principles, highlighting the history covers the entire country. The pace of BRAC’s of BRAC’s Non-Formal Primary Education growth has been staggering. In 1980, it employed program (NFPE) as a concrete example of their 471 full-time staff; ten years later, this figure was implementation. nearly nine times as large, at 4,222. By 2005, full- time staff numbered over 37,000, making BRAC BACKGROUND the second-largest employer in Bangladesh after the government (Quelch and Laidler-Kylander With a population of nearly 150 million living in 2006, 87). an area the size of the U.S. state of Wisconsin (145,000 square kilometers), Bangladesh ranks as one of the most densely populated countries in the 1. This paper is based on a lecture by Dr. Salehuddin world (World Bank 2006). Located in a river delta, Ahmed at the Wilton Park, London Conference on with flat fertile land, the country is prone to June 14, 2006. flooding and other natural disasters. Agriculture 2. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics and figures accounts for 20% of the GDP and employs 52% of relating to BRAC operations are taken from BRAC the labor force, although these figures are steadily Annual Report 2005. declining (Asian Development Bank 2006). The Salehuddin Ahmed and Micaela French country is predominantly Muslim, with a Hindu Poverty Reduction – Targeting the Ultra Poor minority, and linguistically homogeneous. (CFPR-TUP), a program specifically designed to reach the extreme poor so often bypassed by most Bangladesh has made great strides in development, microcredit and poverty alleviation programs. In but there is still much work to be done. Population 2001, it opened the doors of BRAC University, an growth is under control at 1.4%, and the infant institution dedicated to the education of the next mortality rate has decreased dramatically (ADB generation of Bangladesh’s innovative, pro-poor 2006). But with 50% of the population living leaders. Other new projects include BRAC Bank, below the poverty line, malnutrition is pervasive, BRACNet, and international expansion through and 48% of children under five are underweight projects in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, (WB 2006). Primary school enrollment has reached Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, and Malawi. gender parity, although the overall literacy rate among women still languishes at 31% (ADB 2006). SCALING UP: BRAC’S NON-FORMAL Fortunately, in the face of these challenges, the PRIMARY EDUCATION PROGRAM NGO (non-governmental organization) community is vibrant, with hundreds of active organizations. All BRAC programs undergo a similar process of Sector leaders include BRAC and Grameen Bank, scaling up, but one of the best examples is its Non- both pioneers of microfinance. Formal Primary Education (NFPE) program. Since the program was founded with a small pilot in BRAC’s twin objectives are the alleviation of 1985, its growth has been remarkable. Today, over poverty and the empowerment of the poor, 31,000 primary schools and 16,000 pre-primary especially women, and its programs address a wide schools operate throughout Bangladesh. The range of economic and social development issues. quality of the education is just as impressive. Its well-known microfinance program spurs BRAC primary schools complete the national five- poverty alleviation through the provision of savings year primary education in four years, using mostly and credit services for poor rural women. Over four BRAC’s own textbooks, and most students million village women are currently receiving loans continue their education in the formal system after from BRAC, and loan disbursements since the graduation. The five core subjects are Bengali, inception of the program total US $6 billion. To English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. complement these loans, BRAC also runs support Special efforts are made to include hard-to-reach programs to facilitate micro-enterprise populations, including children with disabilities development in poultry, livestock, aquaculture, and ethnic minorities, and sixty-five percent of sericulture, agricultural extension, and agro- students are girls. The evolution of this program forestry. Services include training, improved from its first inspiration to its current national breeds, technical assistance, monitoring, and success (and continuing growth) illustrates marketing. concretely the seven elements of BRAC’s strategy for scaling up. Social programs address issues like education health, and legal awareness. BRAC’s Non-Formal 1. Listening to the People Primary Education (NFPE) program operates schools for 1.42 million children not reached by the The first principle of scaling up—indeed, of any regular system. Its paraprofessional community development project—is listening to the people. health workers deliver basic healthcare services to Villagers are often the source of the best program 31 million villagers, dealing with issues of ideas, and their input ensures the relevance of nutrition, sanitation, family planning, and program goals and methods. Technical or immunization. The tuberculosis control program theoretical expertise can only be useful to the casts an even wider net, reaching 83 million. extent that it is attuned to the needs of the people it Finally, social, legal, and human rights awareness is meant to serve; an NGO that does not seek or is propagated through legal literacy courses, legal heed the guidance of its clients runs the risk of aide clinics, theatrical performances, and other investing in programs that turn out to be programs. inappropriate or even counterproductive. BRAC’s horizons continue to expand. In 2002, BRAC has taken great care not to fall into this trap; BRAC launched Challenging the Frontiers of to the contrary, it prides itself on being a learning 36 Scaling up: The BRAC Experience organization, constantly soliciting and acting on requiring attention, and often suggesting potential feedback, criticism, and suggestions from its solutions—but an ambitious vision is what members. Some even suggest that BRAC’s challenges an organization to take these ideas to the members should really receive at least half the next level. Vision puts the work of the organization credit for the success of the NGO, since they in a larger, longer-term context, providing a sense generate so many of the ideas for new programs, of purpose and potential to fuel the drive to scale and their commitment and enthusiasm have been so up. BRAC’s vision is particularly well-developed; integral to program implementation. never content with isolated local progress, BRAC consistently takes a national, long-term approach to The creation of BRAC’s non-formal primary development and the empowerment of the poor. schools, like many other programs, was prompted by requests from village women. By the early The transition from local relief to national-scale 1980s, BRAC had earned a reputation among development was first realized in BRAC’s villagers as an effective organization and had built campaign against diarrhea in the early 1980s. At trust with its village organization members. that time, diarrhea claimed nearly one in eight Women who were concerned about high dropout children in Bangladesh before their fifth birthday. rates among their school-age children turned to Diarrhea can be effectively treated with a simple BRAC for a solution. “Can you do something for homemade oral rehydration solution (ORS), but our children’s education? Our children do not most rural mothers did not know how to make ORS survive the public system,” they entreated. In and instead put their trust in unreliable and response, BRAC undertook a study to gather ineffective store-bought remedies or quack doctors. information from the villagers in a formal and BRAC, at first independently and later in systematic way. Why did so many children drop collaboration with the Bangladeshi government, out of—or never attend—government schools? In decided that the best way to address the problem addition to big classes, long school days, and was a grassroots education campaign.