Brac boss to commission multi-billion education scheme

A visiting World Brac Microfinance President Sir Fazle Hasan Abed will commission a US$47million (about Shs122billion) education scheme for vulnerable children in Uganda.

The scheme is funded by MasterCard foundation, an independent private foundation based in Canada.

In Uganda, it is being implemented by Brac, an international micro finance institution.

The scheme, aims at enabling 5,000 students get free education.

“We want to assist young people because they constitute the biggest assets Uganda has today and are the future,” Sir Abed said upon arriving at Entebbe Airport.

He said: “We want to scale innovative microfinance programmes in Africa to improve the lives of people living in poverty.”

He said they have been looking for under-privileged but bright students to enable them get quality education. Those who have been identified, according to Sir Abed, have enrolled in different schools around the country.

Sir Abed says the scheme will emerge as the face of a changing Uganda – a new generation of mentors, role models, policy makers, entrepreneurs, civil servants and leaders who can combine their intellect with empathy and humility to build the country’s future.

Mr Scott MacMillan, Brac’s communications manager said in the first quarter of this year, 613 scholarships were given to students in 49 districts.

mssebuyira@ug.nationmedia.com