BRAC, arguably the world’s largest, most diverse and most successful NGO, is little known outside Bangladesh, where it formed in 1972. Author Ian Smillie predicts, however, that this is bound to change. BRAC’s success and the spread of its work in health, education, social enterprise development and microfinance dwarfs any other private, government or non-profit enterprise in its impact on tens of thousands of communities in Asia and Africa.

Freedom From Want traces BRAC’s evolution from a small relief operation indistinguishable from hundreds of others, into what is undoubtedly the largest and most variegated social experiment in the developing world. BRAC’s story shows how social enterprise can trump corruption and how purpose, innovation and clear thinking can overcome the most entrenched injustices that society can offer. It is a story that ranges from distant villages in Bangladesh to New York’s financial district on 9/11, from war-torn Afghanistan to the vast plains of East Africa and the ruins of Southern Sudan. Partly an adventure story, partly a lesson in development economics, partly an examination of excellence in management, the book describes one of the world’s most remarkable success stories, one that has transformed disaster into development and despair into hope.

Table of Contents:

Preface; Introduction: The Age of Ambition; 1) Sonar Bangla; 2) Arms and the Man; 3) The Plan; 4) The Problem; 5) Learning and Unlearning; 6) Dulling the Edge of Husbandry?; 7) The Learning Organization; 87) A Chicken and Egg Problem; 9) A Simple Solution; 10) Of Pink Elephants and 9/11; 11) The Mulberry Bush; 12) Water and Milk; 13) Millennium Development Goal 6 (Target 8); 14) Educating Bangladesh; 15) Challenging the Frontiers; 16) A University; 17) On Being Ready; 18) The Democratic Deficit; 19) Afghanistan; 20) The Source of the Nile; 21) In Larger Freedom; Glossary; List of Acronyms; Selected Bibliography; Index; About the Author.