A Meeting of Great Minds

I had an amazing meeting last night, and I thought I would share a bit about it. Nike has been a generous funder of the SoFEA project I’m working on, and last night two of the primary NIKE foundation contacts came to meet the BRAC staff, so tensions were a bit high. Also at the table sat a most amazing woman, Susan Davis, the CEO and president of BRAC USA (which funds projects in Asia and Africa), economist Dr. Imran Matin (BRAC international), Dr. Shafiq Islam (head of educational programs at BRAC), my boss and her team, and me. I was a mere fly on the wall, and it was strange to be in a somewhat high-stakes conversation that I knew little about.

I have had little exposure in the past to donor meetings, so this was great for me to observe. The NIKE women asked pointed, interesting questions about the direction of the program, and it was fascinating to see how the funding dance proceeded. The women also wanted the staff’s two cents as to why Bangladesh has been able to become such an amazing innovator and success story for the poor. I smiled and said I had the same question, which is why I am here. I hope to meet other funders in such forums and to learn why they have decided to give substantial amounts of funds to BRAC and other sister organizations. I also found it interesting how the economists in the room and the MBAs asked entirely different questions relating to girls’ livelihoods, and I was equally fascinated by both ends of the spectrum. I hope to keep this dialogue going, although I’ve been a bit shy so far as it pertains to introducing myself to people (particularly high-ranking men at BRAC), but now that I’m more used to cultural norms, I plan on arranging for meetings. This afternoon I head to a village called Mymensingh to begin my livelihood market assessment and couldn’t be more excited to go to the field. Let’s hope for benevolent mosquitoesJ