Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Aga [Paperback]

Ian Smillie (Author)

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Product Details

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Kumarian Press (April 1 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1565492943
ISBN-13: 978-1565492943
Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 1.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 408 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #213,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #59 in Books > Nonfiction > Economics > Microeconomics

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Product Description

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 Wanttraces 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.

About the Author

Ian Smillie is an Ottawa-based development consultant and writer. He has lived and worked widely in Africa and Asia, and his knowledge of Bangladesh spans more than three decades. Author of several books on international development, he was a founder of the Canadian development organization, Inter Pares, and was Executive Director of CUSO. In addition to his other work, he is associated with the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University and serves as Research Coordinator on Partnership Africa Canada's 'Diamonds and Human Security Project'. He is a participant in the intergovernmental 'Kimberley Process,' which has developed a global certification system for rough diamonds.

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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "no country should be written off, no people are beyond redemption", April 25 2009

By Monica I. Restrepo "misabel" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Aga (Paperback)

These are the words of Fazle Hasan Abed, an extraordinary and authentic leader who has transformed the lives of millions of people through meticulous `experiments' that have grown into highly scalable solutions to poverty. If you've never heard of Abed, that's precisely the reason for his success - he has built an organization without political interests on the world stage, with the sole motivation of tackling poverty at its root. It's an extraordinary journey.

Considering the complexity of the organization, Ian Smillie has presented the story in a both easy-to-read and thorough way (he has plenty of experience in development and has typically been critical of western NGOs). If you're interested in microfinance, you'll learn how BRAC has managed to reach the poorest of the poorest, people that no other NGO (including Yunus' Grameen) could reach. If you're interested in health, you'll be captivated by BRAC's efforts to eradicate Tuberculosis (the cure rate in Bangladesh is now 90%). If you're interested in education, you'll see how BRAC has managed to salvage the education of thousands of young children who've fallen out of the public school system. This is all managed by one man, one organization, and to scale.

Most encouraging is the fact that Abed is now taking BRAC beyond Bangladesh. In Afghanistan they were the first microfinance organization to thrive, and have paved the way for others to enter. They are now also engaged in Africa. The secret to their success in such destitute and often war-torn countries, as Smillie explains, is that "BRAC's modus operandi is very different from that of most Western NGOs. It isn't part of the standard expatriate community...BRAC's Kabul office is not in the best part of town; and beyond Kabul, most staff live at or near one of BRAC's 247 offices. One result of all this is that the organization is not well known or understood amongst other international aid workers. But if they were going to succeed, this is the way it had to be done: they had to be in the village, and of the village; they had to be able to go to the homes of the people they wanted to reach."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great adventure story on the evolution of an amazing organization, April 17 2009

By M. Chaplin "MLChaplin" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Aga (Paperback)

Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Against Poverty

Freedom From Want is an amazing adventure story that starts with a fight for freedom and the fight to help a country survive a devastating cyclone. Then, BRAC founder Fazle Hasan Abed takes relief a step further, joining the fight against poverty by using a unique combination of ingenuity and social entrepreneurship to enable people to empower themselves to climb out of poverty.

The book is an insightful look into how a good idea and some perseverance can be cultivated into the largest anti-poverty organizations in the world. Listen to what the likes of Bill Clinton, Amartya Sen and Pierre Omidyar are saying - this is a great read about an amazing organization that many have probably never heard of!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Freedom from Want, Jun 3 2009

By JAJ - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Aga (Paperback)

Freedom from Want is the most in-depth book about BRAC that has been written in many years. It gives a useful background of the historical context in which the organization was founded. It also gives a cogent explanation of 2 important aspects of the organization's success:(1) how BRAC is much more than microfinance, and (2) how its development/creation of every step along the production/marketing chain of a new profit-making enterprises.

I have heard many people speak of BRAC as a paradigm of successful development work, and anyone interested in such work would find something interesting/beneficial in this book.

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