A sea of sunflowers in Kalapara, southern Bangladesh.

3500 bigha (1000+ acres) of these were cultivated here this year. This block is the largest, at 550 bigha (180 acres).

They're beautiful, but also - critically - salt-tolerant, as the soil here gets saltier every year.

Excited to welcome Julia Roberts to the BRAC family, as the new CEO of BRAC USA!

Terrific results: Reading glasses boost income by a third in low-income communities, according to a new study by BRAC VisionSpring Queen's University.

The most basic tools can catalyse immense change.

bracusa.org/new-report-rea…

Ella Gudwin

The revival of jamdani, the delicate woven fabric from Bangladesh that was the pinnacle of fashion centuries ago, is a story of cultural success. When you make art work for artisans, you can expect wonders. New feature by Sara Miller Llana The Christian Science Monitor. Must read.

csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Ar…

I often struggle to hold back tears hearing the sacrifices of staff like Shamima. I'm left wondering - what drives us to work so hard?

On days like this, I recall - its the ache for justice we inherited from our own struggle.

Happy birthday, Bangladesh.

youtube.com/watch?v=FEm5XA…

We're looking for someone to spearhead our operations strategy: lnkd.in/gpuBreTt

Education is the strongest equaliser, which is why it has always been at the centre of BRAC's work challenging inequality and poverty. Excited that we are now a Global Partnership for Education grant agent and can take this work even further across the world with Laura Frigenti

Women in India's Maharashtra state are having hysterectomies as young as 25.

We see the same in Bangladesh because of salinity-related uterine diseases.

At the heart of both is climate change.

How much more must we pay?!

iied.org/sites/default/…

IIED

Climate change is robbing women of their hair.

With clean water a precious resource, women are bathing in saline ponds in Bangladesh, which is not just causing infections but making their hair fall out.

What kind of a value can we put on hair?

independent.co.uk/climate-change…

Bangladesh has seen huge success in reducing birth rates, from over 6 kids avg in the 70s to just above 2 now.

A new study shows climate impacts may be undoing that, with high child mortality in flood zones prompting mothers to opt for larger families.

news.mongabay.com/2024/02/as-cli…

Great to host Elena Bourganskaia, VP, Corporate Support IFC in Bangladesh last week. We focused on end-to-end solutions, solving complex challenges with multiple interventions + incentivising private sector involvement in areas like gender, climate and crisis response.

We know investing in women brings transformative change. We also know how to best invest. What’s needed now is to act collectively to urgently scale proven approaches.

Rudo Kayombo shares evidence-based approaches that can provide the big push for women:

project-syndicate.org/commentary/gra…

A timely find from Somini Sengupta🥭 for #IWD2024 :

A 1° celsius increase in long-term avg global temp strips female-headed households of 1/3 of their income.

Lesser known is that only 2.3% of climate finance intends to principally support gender equality.

nytimes.com/2024/03/05/cli…

Excited to share that BRAC Healthcare is expanding, with a second location open in Bangladesh today!

BRAC is committed to providing empathetic, compassionate, high-quality #healthcare , just like a member of the family - particularly in light of recent healthcare tragedies.

Seawater is increasingly being forced inland in Bangladesh, ruining soil, destroying crops and infiltrating freshwater. Lesser known however are its devastating health impacts. Thanks BBC Earth for covering these, and BRAC's work.

#OurPlanetEarth

facebook.com/bbcearth/video…

Spoke at the Human Capacity Initiative in Riyadh last week, focusing on how civil society orgs working with the government made a transformational impact in Bangladesh - and how, with new challenges ahead, this collaboration is needed more than ever.

مؤسسة الملك خالد Human Capability Initiative

Five days now since 46 lives were lost in a building fire in Bangladesh, in what was described as ‘a hell with all exits closed’. We've made big progress in safety in our RMG sector - now we need to rapidly expand that, before the news cycle moves on to the next crisis.

Locally-led and locally-driven development is crucial in Bangladesh. I'm looking forward to seeing some real impact from this project.

USAID Bangladesh

The Bangladesh America Maitree Project is a project I'm really excited about - a five year, $48 million initiative to advance locally-led development in #Bangladesh .

USAID