Freedom from Want

Unlike Grameen Bank, the microcredit giant whose Nobel Prize heaped it with accolades and publicity, its Bangladeshi cousin BRAC is barely known outside the country. Author Ian Smillie predicts that BRAC, which is arguably the world's largest, most diverse and most successful NGO, has little time left in the shadows. The spread of its work dwarfs any other private, government or non-profit enterprise in its impact on development, on women, on children and on 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.