ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the evaluation work of the Bangledesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which has significantly contributed to poverty reduction in Bangladesh. The evolution of the BRAC model for poverty alleviation was based on several important principles: BRAC, like other nongovernmental organizations operating in Bangladesh, must have permission from the government to conduct its development activities. The core human development package and sector programs together are known as the Rural Development Program (RDP) package, which is BRAC's major poverty alleviation program. BRAC set up its Research and Evaluation Division (RED) in 1975 to gain a better understanding of rural society and to design more effective programs. RED conducted four impact studies of BRAC programs in rural development, human rights and legal education, and informal primary education, as well as its two most significant evaluations to date, which were major impact assessment studies of the RDPs completed in 1996 and 1998.
