The Association for Social Advancement (ASA) of Bangladesh recently topped Forbes magazine's first-ever list of the world's best microfinance banks. This is an extraordinary achievement for an organization that started life as a revolutionary movement aiming to bring a peasant-led government to the newly created and desperately poor South Asian nation of Bangladesh. This book tells the story of how ASA's determined but practical-minded founder and leader, Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, steered his organization through the maze of competing ideas about how best to develop poor countries. The book sets Choudhury's accomplishments in the context of Bangladesh's chaotic but inspiring postcolonial history and is rich in its understanding and descriptions of how ordinary village and slum dwellers deal with the complicated web of politics, international donations, and development expertise. The author's long and intimate knowledge of ASA and of Bangladeshi microfinance makes this one of the best case studies of a development organization available to the general public.
The Association for Social Advancement (ASA) of Bangladesh recently topped Forbes magazine's first-ever list of the world's best microfinance banks. This is an extraordinary achievement for an organization that started life as a revolutionary movement aiming to bring a peasant-led government to the newly created and desperately poor South Asian nation of Bangladesh. This book tells the story of how ASA's determined but practical-minded founder and leader, Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, steered his organization through the maze of competing ideas about how best to develop poor countries. The book sets Choudhury's accomplishments in the context of Bangladesh's chaotic but inspiring postcolonial history and is rich in its understanding and descriptions of how ordinary village and slum dwellers deal with the complicated web of politics, international donations, and development expertise. The author's long and intimate knowledge of ASA and of Bangladeshi microfinance makes this one of the best case studies of a development organization available to the general public.
Foreword:
Prologue
1: Bengal's Peasant Rebels
2: Credit and Poverty in Bengal
3: Bangladesh
4: Development as Struggle
5: Development as Delivery
6: The Turn
7: The Decade of Growth
8: Peaks and Troughs
9: Renewing the Pledge
10: An International Brand
Notes:
Index:
Stuart Rutherford is the founder of SafeSave Bangladesh, an
organization that provides reliable basic banking services,
profitably, to poor men, women, and children in Dhaka. He became
interested in how poor people manage their lives and their money as
a result of working in developing countries as an architect and
then for NGOs. From this perspective he became involved in
microfinance as a practitioner (in Bangladesh), teacher,
consultant, and writer. He
is the author of The Poor and Their Money (Oxford University Press,
2000) and is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Brooks World Poverty
Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He lives in Japan.
"Stuart Rutherford is the single most astute observer of how
microfinance really works."--Thomas Easton, Asia Business Editor,
The Economist
"This insightful and powerful book about ASA, one of the world's
great microfinance institutions, gives a rare view into the real
world of microfinance. With his deep knowledge of Bangladesh,
microfinance, ASA, and the economics of poverty, Stuart Rutherford
uses a variety of perspectives to show how ASA developed and how
millions of poor people benefit. The Pledge reveals, at multiple
levels and over a 30-year period, the stages of ASA's
development.
And it does this in astute juxtaposition with the changing
environment of Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in Asia.
This book is a gem."--Marguerite S. Robinson, author of The
Microfinance Revolution
"Stuart Rutherford's The Pledge is an outstanding contribution to
the microfinance literature. ASA is generally accepted to be the
most efficient and successful microfinance institution in the
worl--and therefore worthy of careful study. There are few authors
able to capture the complex nuances and issues of microfinance and
write on them with such entertaining clarity...and Rutherford is
particularly well placed to document ASA's story, as he has
worked with the organisation for nearly two decades. The Pledge
provides valuable insights and will be one of the top five 'must
read' books for anyone and everyone interested in
microfinance."--Graham A. N.
Wright, Programme Director, MicroSave
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
