The wider impacts of BRAC poverty alleviation programme in Bangladesh

Over the decades of the 1980s and 90s many poverty alleviation programmes have been implemented in developing countries. Evaluations of such programmes have traditionally looked at their success in increasing the income levels of participants but less at the wider goals of human well‐being. This paper looks at the poverty alleviation programme of BRAC, a large non‐governmental organisation in Bangladesh, and, based on carefully designed studies, presents its impact on selected components of ‘human well‐being’. This study found better child survival and nutritional status in households served by the programme. Simular impacts were also found in other areas such as expenditure patterns, family planning practices and children's education. The studies also looked at the impact on the rural power structure and found a substantial change in the networking relationship of health providers. The likely influence of ‘selectivity bias’ on the above results is also discussed.