Excerpt of a speech by NRECA International’s Sr. Vice President Dan Waddle, delivered at the 2025 NRECA International Luncheon
In 1974, torrential flooding, poor feeder roads, and massive crop failures combined to result in one of the worst famines of the 20th century in Bangladesh. The famine claimed over one and one half million lives.
The famine occurred just three years after Bangladesh gained its independence. With help from international development agencies, Bangladesh began to strengthen rural infrastructure and modernize agriculture. Many solutions were identified to strengthen food security but none was more important than the need to move from single-cropping to multiple cropping systems and that required irrigation. And irrigation in low-lying areas required energy. Until the mid-70s, all irrigation was powered by diesel-fired pumps that had become increasingly unaffordable.
The solution was to power irrigation with electricity, so the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board was established in 1978 – sponsored through a USAID-financed project designed by NRECA International.
I’m very proud that we played a significant role in supporting the establishment of the BREB and the electric cooperatives it financed. We designed the electrification template that BREB used to build and operate the electrification infrastructure; we designed the distribution networks, managed procurement and construction and we trained BREB staff, the boards and cooperative employees for early-stage cooperatives. Those we trained at BREB later took leadership positions and managed an incredible expansion to reach all rural areas of Bangladesh. Today, 80 electric cooperatives now provide service to 36 million member-owners through a remarkable distribution network that also serves thousands of tube-well irrigation pumps and many large rural industries. The small investment our government made in Bangladesh more than 50 years ago created the conditions for food self-sufficiency and economic growth that would never have happened had we not responded to the need in 1978.
I am sharing the Bangladesh electrification origin story because it relates directly to the values upon which our program was founded and the value we have offered to our partners around the world. In a few minutes, we will hear from two of my colleagues about the value of productive use programs that are most often discussed in the context of the income generation benefits they provide. However, productive use activities like irrigation support more fundamental needs, such as reducing grain spoilage, preservation of agricultural and food products and, in the case of irrigation, contributes to food security. Simply put, electrification service not only improves the quality of life, it provides life-sustaining services to rural communities.
Many of you in this room have the direct, first-hand experience of contributing to small but life-changing electrification projects. Some of you have worked in Guatemala, others in Bolivia. And our guests from the Philippines, Costa Rica, and Chile all know too well about the importance of electrification projects, the benefits they yield and the difference they make to the communities they serve.
These projects provide better resources for primary health care, for primary and secondary education; they support improved security for community members; they support a greater sense of community spirit. And when we engage in these projects, we are also impacted. We learn what generosity yields. We learn that to be generous is humbling – because it brings us into contact with those who receive the benefits, and we understand their needs more directly. Our participation with rural communities through our work gives us the opportunity to directly experience the true qualities of sharing our lives with those who need our help – we are given the opportunity to be human with one another.
I’ve had the privilege of working on electrification projects for most of my career and much of that time has been with NRECA International. I’ve had the good fortune to work with many very gifted colleagues, as well as gifted counterparts in Latin America, in Asia and Africa. And while I realize that political winds change and how we allocate our resources is subject to changes in public policy– what has been clear to me is that there is a fundamental truth about the work we have done that is undeniable. Helping others whether they are proximate or distant neighbors is an expression of human goodness. It nourishes us perhaps more than it benefits those we serve.
Our program has had a remarkable partnership with the US government that has lasted over 60 years. While almost all of our projects with the government were discontinued a few weeks ago, we intend to stay true to our mission and hope to reengage with the government at some point in the future. I believe it is important for us to continue to support our neighbors. It is part of our cooperative legacy. It allows to us to provide important experiences for our membership. But is also one way that that our hearts and souls express themselves – through sharing our knowledge and experience to help others learn the benefits of cooperation.
As Jim mentioned, I will retire from NRECA International this year. I want to express my gratitude to all my colleagues over the years, to our board and leadership at NRECA, but mostly to all of you in our cooperative family. I have learned so much in my life about how little we can do individually compared to what we can do as community members – and most of that has come from understanding what it truly means to be supported by the cooperative business model. Thanks to all of you for your contributions, your lessons and your support over all these years!