Brac seeks govt funding in NGOs for development

Brac Executive Director Muhammad Musa today said that the government should invest in the non-government sector accelerating its development programmes to turn the country into a middle-income one.

“Foreign funding in the country’s non-government sector has been declining. And thus, the government should step up with funding accelerating development programmes in the sector,” Musa said.

The Brac executive said this while addressing a programme at the Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka’s Mohakhali area this noon.

He said the declining trend in foreign funding will continue as Bangladesh is heading towards a middle-income country. 

On March this year, the United Nations (UN) said that Bangladesh has fulfilled the criteria required to graduate from the status of a ‘Least Developed Country (LDC)’.

Foreign funding in the non-government sector through the NGO Affairs Bureau sharply dropped by 15 percent year-on-year in fiscal 2015-16, Musa said. 

During the period, he said the NGO Affairs Bureau released $640.55 million in grants, down from $749.86 million a year earlier.

The issue bears significance as NGOs have been playing a vital role in the country’s socio-economic development especially in health, education, microfinance and women empowerment, he added.

The Brac executive was addressing while unveiling annual of the organisation of 2017 at the Brac Centre Inn in the city’s Mohakhali area this noon.