By Guest Blogger Susan M. Davis – August 18, 2008
Thanks for inviting me to blog with you. I only started blogging because of the cyclone that hit Bangladesh in November 15, 2007. A volunteer responded to the crisis by creating www.blog4brac.blogspot.com over the weekend. I got hooked. So what is BRAC, you are probably wondering…and how is it connected to Tonic?
I first met Pankaj Shah, Tonic’s Founder and CEO, last fall. We were introduced by mutual friends so we were predisposed to trust and like each other. I told him about BRAC — this amazing nonprofit development organization that started in Bangladesh in 1972 in the wake of their war for independence that has now become one of world’s biggest and best success stories for helping millions of people improve their lives and escape poverty. They touch the lives of over 110 million people, generate 80% of their $485 million budget through social businesses and microfinance and have won tons of awards but still most people in the US never heard of them. “When can we go visit?” he immediately asked. Within a few weeks we were on a plane to Dhaka. Typical of the Tonic Generation-type person, Pankaj was a man of action: wanting to personally assess and experience, and ready to help with his time, treasure, talent and technology. He visited dozens of villages and slums; he met with lots of women and children — he witnessed their hardships and resiliency. Immediately he saw ways that our web-savvy society could assist BRAC overhaul its website. He rattled off ideas with enthusiasm. I’m happy to say that we’re making progress on some of them. Check out our YouTube page. If you can’t hop on a plane yourself, the next best thing is to see BRAC’s work on video. Also, ten students from Duke University just finished a two-month internship at BRAC where they worked on developing new content for the website to tell the BRAC story through the personal experiences of a few of the incredible staff and people who participate and benefit from its myriad programs in health, education, microfinance. We’ll be uploading it but there’s still lots to do for eager volunteers!
Susan Davis is a thought leader in international development and civil society innovation. She is a founder and current President & CEO of BRAC USA, a newly created organization to support BRAC’s global expansion to Africa and other countries in Asia. She Chairs Ashoka’s Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and serves on its international board committee that selects Ashoka Fellows. She is also Senior Advisor to New York University’s Reynolds Program on Social Entrepreneurship. Previously she oversaw Ashoka’s expansion to the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and served as a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the International Labor Organization. Prior to that, she led the global advocacy group, Women’s Environment & Development Organization. She has extensive micro-credit experience from her years with the Ford Foundation in Bangladesh and from her work with Women’s World Banking. In addition she was a founding board member and Chair of the Grameen Foundation. Earlier she was the Assistant Director of the export trading company of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. In addition to Grameen Foundation, she serves on numerous other boards including Project Enterprise, Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund, and African Women’s Development Fund USA. She is on Mary Robinson’s Advisory Council of Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative. She was educated at Georgetown, Harvard and Oxford universities.