India

BRAC began its journey in India in 2022, building on decades of global experience in advancing livelihoods, inclusion, and resilience for vulnerable communities. The effort marked an important step in adapting BRAC's proven approaches to India's rich institutional landscape and diverse development contexts.

To achieve this, BRAC collaborates with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), and six state governments - Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Bihar. These partnerships combine BRAC’s technical expertise with India’s strong public systems to design and scale programmes that strengthen household resilience and expand opportunities across both rural and urban settings.

Anchored within BRAC's work scaling Graduation through governments, the India team focuses on embedding inclusion, climate responsiveness, and systems thinking into large-scale livelihood programmes.

at a glance

6

States engaged through inclusive livelihood programmes. This includes Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu

33

Districts reached through livelihood programmes

67,000

Households supported through technical partnerships

“This partnership is taking shape at a crucial juncture for DAY-NRLM, which has been steadfastly dedicated to universal and inclusive mobilisation. With 100 million rural poor households mobilised already, our focus now shifts to uplifting 'lakhpati didis' through Samaveshi Aajeevika, an inclusive livelihood programme, while also ensuring the inclusion of the most marginalised in the SHG movement.””

Smt Smriti Sharan Joint Secretary, DAY-NRLM

Our Work

Scaling Graduation through Government

Scaling Inclusive Livelihoods through Government-Led Programmes

The Graduation approach is a proven way to help people graduate out of poverty. Graduation is a sequenced programme that helps people build sustainable livelihoods in two years. Each participant gets support to meet basic needs and receives a productive asset. Assets could be livestock or inventory to start a small business. They also get coaching to build confidence, know-how, and hope.

Our work in India is part of our global effort to help governments and development partners design and scale strategies that enable people facing extreme vulnerability to achieve long-term resilience and wellbeing. It brings together BRAC’s decades of experience in livelihoods, social protection, and gender equality to strengthen public systems and inform policy at scale.

We're translating this global learning into action by supporting the design of inclusive livelihood programmes, strengthening coaching and monitoring systems, and integrating gender and climate responsiveness into programmes.