by

The effectiveness of participatory education in rural development by NGOs has come into question by many researchers and scholars. Participatory education involves facilitators listening to and learning from the needs of beneficiaries. Once needs are assessed, facilitators work together with beneficiaries to find solutions to problems in the community. Scholars and researchers protest that these participatory education methods used by NGOs are not socially empowering their beneficiaries. Social empowerment involves assisting people to realize their individual and collective sense of who they are and their place in the society and their political power so that they can make positive changes in their society. NGOs in Bangladesh and other countries have come under scrutiny for their inability to socially empower rural beneficiaries. A non-government organization known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) works with rural populations in Bangladesh. BRAC works to help alleviate poverty and empower rural populations through different programs suc