88% of Khas land illegally occupied by rich and influential: December 2016
Eighty-eight percent of khas and low lying land (water body) of the country is illegally occupied by the rich and the influential people. According to Bangladesh Land Status Report 2015 of ALRD the area of khas land in the country is estimated to be 50 lac acres. On the average 661 acres of cultivated land is turning into non-agricultural every day. The report, launched on 22 December, 2016 at the National Press Club, also focused on land rights of women, problems related to land rights of tribal people, land administration and management, land centered livelihood, effect of climate change on food security and role of civil society in land and agricultural reforms.
The discussants concluded that development based on GDP growth is not human development in real sense unless land problem is resolved.
BRAC’s Achievement of Smart Certification: November 2016
BRAC becomes the first organization in Bangladesh to be accredited with Smart Certification for its commitment to client protection in microfinance. The certification is done under Smart Campaign, which is a global initiative of Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), Washington DC. With over 5 million client reach BRAC also holds No. 1 position among 64 such institutions in the world.
The Smart Campaign is a global effort to unite microfinance providers around a common goal: to keep clients as the driving force of the sector.
At a reception to celebrate achieving the Certification BRAC Founder and Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed said that the Bangladeshi MFI/NGOs like BRAC and ASA have expanded their operations to a number of countries in the world. It is a matter of great satisfaction that a former employee of BRAC has taken the initiative to start microfinance in another country becoming the largest MFI in that country, he said.