Brac mobilises Tk15cr fund responding to virus fallout

NEWS DESK 

The world's largest non-governmental organisation Brac has allocated Tk15 crore for the low-income people in response to novel coronavirus fallout.

Starting from Thursday, the NGO will cover 1 lakh families in the first phase, where each family will get Tk1,500 as an emergency food assistance, said a Brac press release. 

The fund will be disseminated to the families in urban slums, semi-urban and hard to reach areas through Brac's Urban Development Programme, Ultra Poor Graduation Programme, Integrated Development Programme and Humanitarian Programme.

Executive Director of Brac Asif Saleh said they will reach out to the families with support from the local public representatives and administration so that any duplication [while providing assistance] can be avoided.

Families in 12 city corporations, eight municipalities, 38 Sadar upazilas, haor villages, river port neighbourhoods and Rohingya refugee host community in Cox's Bazar will receive this assistance.

"Our emergency assistance targets the families who have lost their sources of income due to the spread of coronavirus," commented Asif Saleh, adding, "According to the World Bank data, only 15 percent Bangladeshis earn more than Tk500 a day. Most villagers depend on remittances from the cities or abroad."

Apart from the public health dimension, Asif Saleh said the Covid-19 outbreak has a dire economic consequence in countries such as Bangladesh.

He urged affluent individuals and organisations to come forward and help them to scale up in reaching out to more people.

The BRAC has also launched a fundraising appeal to ramp up the effort and increase the coverage.