Brac to empower 3 million women farmers with rockefeller foundation support

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded a USD 300,000 grant to BRAC to support the development of a new programme aimed at empowering three million women smallholder farmers across Bangladesh, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda by 2030.

With smallholder farmers facing growing threats from erratic weather and rising salinity, BRAC's initiative aims to enhance climate resilience and economic independence through a comprehensive package of support. Piloting the model first in Bangladesh's coastal and drought-prone regions, it will later expand to African countries where BRAC already operates.

"This support takes an important step in showing that locally driven innovation, when scaled up, can unlock pathways for millions of people to build resilience," said Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC.

The programme will deliver climate-smart agricultural technologies, real-time weather data, adaptive financial services, and market linkages tailored to women-led households. With a bottom-up, community-first approach, BRAC aims to promote long-term sustainability rooted in local knowledge and cultural context.

"Smallholder farmers are on the frontlines of climate disruption," said Deepali Khanna, Head of Asia at The Rockefeller Foundation. "Through our support of BRAC, we are empowering them not only to withstand these shocks, but also to advance scalable solutions that generate lasting economic opportunity."

BRAC aims to raise USD 300 million to scale the initiative, ultimately reaching 14 million people across the four countries. The Rockefeller Foundation's funding will help BRAC build an adaptable framework for replication and scale.

This partnership reflects the Foundation's broader vision to expand economic opportunity through community-led, data-driven development models.