1) Arms and the Man; 2) The Plan; 3) The Problem; 4) Learning and Unlearning; 5) Dulling the Edge of Husbandry?; 6) The Learning Organization; 7) The Chicken and Egg Problem; 8) A Simple Solution; 9) Of Pink Elephants and 9/11; 10) The Mulberry Bush; 11) Water and Milk; 12) Millennium Development Goal 6 (Target 8); 13) Educating Bangladesh; 14) Challenging the Frontiers; 15) A University; 16) On Being Ready; 17) The Democratic Deficit; 18) Afghanistan; 19) The Source of the Nile; 20) In Larger Freedom.
Ian Smillie is an Ottawa-based development consultant and writer. He has lived and worked in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Bangladesh. He was a founder of the Canadian development organization, Inter Pares, and was Executive Director of CUSO. In 2000 and 2001, Smillie served on a UN Security Council expert panel investigating the links between illicit weapons and the diamond trade in Sierra Leone. Today he serves as Research Coordinator on Partnership Africa Canada's 'Diamonds and Human Security Project' and is a participant in the intergovernmental 'Kimberley Process,' which is developing a global certification system for rough diamonds.
"BRAC changed the lives of many people, not least those of its
founders. It is these personal stories that make this book such a
fulfilling read."
"BRAC s entrepreneurial approach to creating decent work for poor
people is sorely needed in the world today. Smillie reveals BRAC s
success in organizing the most vulnerable, particularly poor women,
for their own self-empowerment, rights, protection, work and
collective voice."
"Ian Smillie shows how BRAC has turned development orthodoxy on its
head, challenging 40 years of conventional thinking about how to
end poverty and, in the process, how it reached tens of millions of
people with good education, better health and sustainable
livelihoods."
"Ian Smillie's book is a celebration of hopefulness and success in
the face of intracable difficulties. This book wonderfull
exemplifies the theory of 'human agency, ' but does so without the
cold abstractions of academic discourse. Rather, the 'will to
power' is demonstrated over and over again through the lens of
human activity, whether it be milk production, white
leghorn-raising, worm-rearing or caterpillar-grazing on mulberry
leaves. In all these activities designed to combat poverty, women
are centre-stage, seizing each and every opportunity to escape the
social structures imposed on their gender."
"In this beautifully written book, Smillie examines perhaps the
most successful program in the world for empowering women and
families and truly alleviating poverty in a sustainable way. The
book confirmed my strong conviction, born of countless visits to
remote villages and urban slums, that when ordinary people are
given a chance, they seize it to change their lives, and
extraordinary results follow. It should help convince those who
still doubt that empowering people is key to successful economic,
social and personal development."
"This is a great international story about what I consider the
world's most successful and unusual non-governmental development
organization, advancing the frontiers of health, education and
microfinance, with a particular focus on women. It truly is an
astounding record."
"This is a well-told account of an unlikely NGO leader who learns
early on that development is a humbling business... "Freedom from
Want" pays well-deserved tribute to an exemplar of indigenous
development and its magnificent leader."
"We ve seen BRAC in action in Bangladesh and can attest that
Smillie s book captures the magic of the organization and the
transformation that happens person by person.
A gripping account of how the practical intellect of one person and
the trail-blazing activities of an organization have been able to
achieve something close to a miracle.
BRAC is the most astounding social enterprise in the world. This
story combines the raw excitement of how a huge business can spring
from one man's acumen with the emotive charge that comes when
poverty and oppression are routed. Business can be exhilarating,
and reading why can be a pleasure.
Ian Smillie insightfully chronicles the work of BRAC and its
founder, Fazle Hasan Abed, whom I was proud to present with a
Clinton Global Citizen Award. BRAC s enormous contributions to
health, education, and economic development have improved the lives
of over 100 million people across the globe. Dr. Abed s story
proves just how much people with vision and commitment can change
the world.
The billion dollars in micro loans that BRAC extends each year to
poor people is just the beginning of the story of this remarkable
organization. In 35 years BRAC has become the biggest development
organization in the world, and it is also, arguably, one of the
best.
This book has been crying out to be written. It is a powerful
counterblast to cynics and pessimists. It challenges all of us
working in development to raise our sights, aim high, and aspire to
do the undoable.
This book is a must for anyone who thinks that foreign aid doesn t
work, that ordinary people can t pull themselves out of poverty, or
that sustainable development can t happen at a large scale. This is
why I asked BRAC to come to Liberia at the Clinton Global
Initiative. Its inspiring story gives us hope that Liberia can use
citizen power to rebuild and transform the lives of the poorest to
bring about health, wealth and greater well-being.
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