Brac, a leading development organisation based in Bangladesh, retained its top spot in part due to its robust leadership and governance structure and continued commitment to systemic change.

“We are deeply grateful and humbled to receive this accolade. 2020 will be the first year for BRAC family without our Founder, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. We take this recognition as a reminder to be worthy of his legacy and continue the fight for a world free from all forms of exploitation and discriminaton,” said Ameerah Haq, Chair, Brac Global Board.

After nearly five decades of experience in Bangladesh and beyond, BRAC recently announced a new 2030 strategy that prioritises scaling its global reach, targeting participants with multiple interventions, and developing collaboration and knowledge-sharing leadership across the development sector.

In 2019, it formed a new Global Board to lead and implement this strategy, according to Brac.

“In the Brac Global Strategy, Sir Fazle has set an audacious goal for us, empowering at least 250 million people to have control over their own livelihoods by 2030. We’ll keep striving every day to make his vision a reality,” Haq added.

Jean-Christophe Nothias, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of NGO Advisor, cited Brac’s renewed commitment to innovation and impact and its advanced preparations to transition leadership and governance responsibilities to the next generation of leaders as key factors that contributed to the number one ranking.

“This 2020 list is launched with excitement as the social profit sector keeps growing and transforming the world, but also with sadness as the founder of Brac, Sir Fazle, passed away in 2019,” wrote Jean-Christophe.

“He was a man of outstanding stature and humanity; he was at the forefront of systemic changes we are still aiming for. We have reason to believe that BRAC is on its way to pay a sustainable tribute to its founder by keeping its leading, driving role in the social profit sector.”

NGO Advisor publishes rankings for the top 500 global NGOs each year, drawing upon publicly-available data and focusing on impact, innovation, governance, and sustainability as key factors informing the rankings.

2020 marks Brac’s fifth consecutive year in the number one spot. BRAC shares the top five with several high-impact peers, including Médecins Sans Frontières, Danish Refugee Council, Open Society Foundations, and Mercy Corps.