What does BRAC stand for?
When BRAC started in rural Bangladesh as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation project, it was called the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee. Since then we have expanded across the country into not only rural but also urban areas. We have also recently taken our programmes to other countries in Asia and Africa, such as Afghanistan and Tanzania. Therefore, at this time, the name of our organisation has been changed to simply BRAC, which is no longer an acronym. Why is BRAC’s approach to microfinance unique from other approaches? One of BRAC’s economic development interventions is microfinance. BRAC launched microfinance activities in 1974 to encourage the increase of income for the poor through the setting up and expansion of income generating activities and micro-enterprises. Like some of the other MFI’s operating in Bangladesh, BRAC’s microfinance programme provides collateral free financing and door-to-door service to collect loan installments from its members. BRAC’s m
