“Poor people are poor because they are powerless,” said Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of BRAC, the world’s largest development organization. Those working on global poverty have often found that the roots of poverty lie not just in inadequate education, healthcare and employment opportunities, but also in a lack of adequate social networks – the real world social networks through which people support one another in their struggle to lift themselves out of poverty.

At this event, development practitioners will discuss how building social networks through education both inside and outside the classroom, particularly for women and girls, leads to both social and financial empowerment.

Event will include multi-media presentation followed by a moderated discussion between Scott MacMillan (BRAC USA), Farzana Kashfi (BRAC Education Program), Christen Brandt (She’s the First), and Lynne Patterson (Pro Mujer).