Senior Correspondent
Dhaka: The 88th birth anniversary of late Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of BRAC, is Saturday. He was born on April 27, 1936 in Baniachong village of Habiganj. Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), established with the aim of eradicating poverty under the leadership of Fazle Hasan Abed, has become the world’s largest non-governmental development organization in the last four decades.
Under his leadership, BRAC has become the world’s largest private development agency. At present, lakhs of BRAC employees in 11 countries of the world including Bangladesh are working to improve the lives of 13 crore people.
Fazle Hasan Abed passed Matriculation from Pabna District School and Higher Secondary Examination from Dhaka College. After that, he studied naval architecture at Glasgow University in Britain. Later he also received a degree from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London.
After his education, Fazle Hasan Abed returned home and joined Shell Oil Company and was promoted to head of the finance department. While working at Shell Oil Company, in November 1970, a catastrophic cyclone hit the coastal areas of the country. At this time, he formed an organization called ‘HELP’ with his friends and stood beside the victims.
When the liberation war started in 1971, he went to England with his friends and formed two organizations called ‘Action Bangladesh’ and ‘Help Bangladesh’. Through these two organizations, he worked in various European countries to support, promote, collect funds and form public opinion for the liberation war.
Fazle Hasan Abed returned to the newly independent country in December 1971. At that time, he started relief work with money from the sale of his flat in London. He chose the Shalla area of Sylhet, which became a ruin during the liberation war, as his work area. In continuation of these activities, BRAC was developed.
In 2010, Fazle Hasan Abed received the UK’s prestigious ‘Knighthood’ in recognition of his contribution to poverty alleviation. In 2011, he received the world’s highest award ‘Wise Prize’ in the field of education introduced by the Qatar Foundation. Apart from this, he has been awarded numerous awards at the national and international level.
Sarabangla/MO
