Two BRAC community health promoters at work in one of the settlements in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where more than 650,000 Rohingya have fled since August 25, 2017.
"BRAC continues to chart new territory in [innovation, impact, and governance], pioneering creative, cost-effective, and sustainable interventions that reach millions of the most vulnerable people worldwide." - Jean-Christophe Nothias, Editor-in-Chief, NGO Advisor
GENEVA (PRWEB) March 27, 2018
BRAC, an international development organization and global leader in developing cost-effective, evidence-based programs in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings, was today ranked the number one NGO in the world for 2018. The ranking was done by NGO Advisor, an independent media organization based in Geneva. BRAC took the top spot for the third year in a row as part of the 2018 Top 500 NGOs World rankings.
“We are deeply honored to be ranked as the Top Global NGO for the third consecutive year,” said BRAC Founder and Chairperson, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. “This accolade belongs to all BRAC staff for championing the BRAC values of integrity, innovation, inclusiveness, and effectiveness in everything we do. Our 110 million plus program participants worldwide, who play an active role in their own transformative journeys, are the real winners. We are inspired by their resilience and spirit to continue striving for a just and equitable world.”
NGO Advisor releases the Top 500 NGOs World rankings each year to highlight outstanding organizations in the nonprofit sector. It conducts exhaustive research, evaluates hundreds of NGOs against a rigorous set of criteria, and ranks these organizations according to a robust methodology. This marks the fourth time in five years that BRAC has earned the number one ranking.
“For any organization to be a part of the top 100, not to mention the top ten, they need to score strongly in the three pillars of our methodology: innovation, impact, and governance. BRAC continues to chart new territory in all three, pioneering creative, cost-effective, and sustainable interventions that reach millions of the most vulnerable people worldwide,” said NGO Advisor Editor-in-Chief Jean-Christophe Nothias in a statement.
BRAC is one of the few development organizations based in the global south that operates worldwide. Founded in Bangladesh in 1972 and today active in 11 countries, this distinct perspective ensures success for an organization that runs programs in microfinance, education, healthcare, legal rights, girls’ empowerment, and agriculture; socially responsible businesses; a bank; a university; and one of the world’s largest mobile money platforms, bKash.
BRAC has an annual global expenditure exceeding $1 billion. The organization is also unique in that the majority of its programs are self-financed. In Bangladesh, more than 75 percent of its budget comes from its own social enterprises. In 2017, this was a key determinant for NGO Advisor, which noted this innovative cost-recovery model and focus on sustainability.
“Dynamism is one of our core strengths,” said Dr. Muhammad Musa, Executive Director of BRAC. “BRAC goes beyond the traditional NGO definition and has a unique, integrated model to drive positive social change, including development programs, social enterprises, investments, and a university. This has been a landmark year for BRAC as we have also extended our work in humanitarian crisis management to support almost a million Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals, or Rohingyas, coming into southern Bangladesh. We will continue to evolve and focus on a humanitarian development approach to maximize the impact for both displaced people and host communities. In the long run, we aim to leverage our expertise to support people in crises anywhere in the world."
BRAC is ranked alongside NGOs at the forefront of the international development sector, with Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders; the Danish Refugee Council; and the Skoll Foundation and Ashoka, both of which support and enable social entrepreneurship worldwide.
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Notes to the Editor
About NGO Advisor
A Geneva-based independent media organization, NGO Advisor has published the Top NGOs World ranking annually since 2012, spotlighting the most innovative and impactful organizations in the sector. Co-founded in 2009 by Jean-Christophe Nothias, a journalist formerly with The Global Journal, the organization combines academic rigor with journalistic integrity and autonomy. Over the years, the organization has refined the ranking’s methodology to emphasize not only creativity and innovation but also key operational features like governance, transparency, and sustainability. Using publicly available information, NGOs are scored against 165 individual criteria and can earn a maximum score of 1,400.
About BRAC USA
Based in New York, BRAC USA is the US affiliate of BRAC, formed in 2006 to advance and support BRAC’s global mission to create opportunities for people to realize their potential. BRAC USA provides comprehensive support to BRAC around the world by raising awareness about its work and mobilizing resources to support programs.