The last Innovation Forum on ‘Urban Poverty’, organized by the Social Innovation Lab, managed to bring together people with a wealth of experience and insights into the nature of development challenges in urban areas. The forum raised a whole bunch of questions and allowed participants to compare notes on cross program/cross country challenges and opportunities of working with urban poor. Their opinions and analyses culminated in a list of recommendations to help BRAC develop an ‘urban strategy’. To further facilitate the development of a coherent strategy, a short, thematic piece on the urban context and BRAC’s activities is to be presented at the Board Meeting in April. The Social Innovation Lab would welcome participation in the editorial process (i.e. thinking and writing)! Please send us an email – innovation@brac.net – this week if you’d like to be a part of this opportunity. We plan on meeting once every 2-3 weeks until the end of March to get the piece completed.
Plans for a more open forum for later this year to keep the larger conversation going are up for consideration as well!