The Impact of Passion (Anne Jiao, 06.09.08)

When you speak to someone truly passionate about their work, you really know it—their passion impassions you—their fire becomes yours. This was the effect of Imran Matin’s words to our group today. His message was one of social revolution—changes that affect mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons—a movement that moves and mobilizes generations of people. As the head of Research and Development at BRAC, Imran spoke to us about everything from the internal structure of BRAC, to the global applications of the BRAC model in countries such as Afghanistan and Uganda, from the great milestones BRAC has made in the past, to the new goals and objectives it dares to take on in the future.

I remember sitting in many introduction economics classes at Duke and reading textbooks that always addressed the great debate in economics between utilitarianism and egalitarianism—whether it is more important to profit maximize or establish equity. From Imran’s lecture, this dichotomy is both present and relevant at BRAC. BRAC has programs in microfinance, social development, education, health, agriculture, and environment—all of which contribute to the past accomplishments and the future vision that BRAC has in reducing poverty in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Yet most investors (from large I-Banks such as Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan) and people simply interested in BRAC have a very narrow idea of what BRAC actually is—most identify BRAC purely as the largest microfinance institution in Bangladesh. Microfinance has an association with self-sustainability (BRAC is currently 80% self-sustainable) that maximizes profit, yet there are the education and healthcare programs that impact millions of lives in absolutely essential ways but rarely ever make a profit or draw as much attention from others abroad. So while microfinance is a catch word at BRAC, it is so much more—it provides soap, arsenic free water pumps, goats, prenatal check-ups, and primary, adolescent education to those who can’t afford public education. It provides human rights and legal classes, community libraries, and even more importantly, sustains these developments—empowering a people, and in Imran’s words, transforms “passive recipients to active participants.”

What distinguishes BRAC to me, is the completely grassroots mentality of a huge workforce—the can-do mentality, the constant improvements and response to feedback and criticisms it receives. BRAC is certainly an active participant in alleviating poverty—they are the creators of a large ripple effect, and “it will constantly be about making big change and a real difference” in the world by truly waging a “holistic assault on poverty.”