The Association for Social Advancement (ASA) is a non-governmental organization based in Bangladesh which provides microcredit financing. It was established in 1978 to alleviate the exploitation of rural villages caused by the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. The founding framework of ASA was aimed at empowering rural landless villagers from the “bottom up” through “people’s organizations”. These were run by volunteers who advocated that a consciousness for solidarity amongst the village poor would lead to collective social action

For many years, ASA sought to combine social development (in health, education, nutrition, and sanitation) with credit provision, but in 1991, these were abandoned, and ASA shifted its focus solely to microcredit lending. This was because they wanted to stop “donor dependence” and become specialised and financially self-sufficient. Since then, it has become a fully self-sufficient microfinance institution – operating mainly in Bangladesh, but with presence in Africa and South America.

 

ASA offers a wide range of financial services to its clients – including micro-credit, small business credit, regular weekly savings, voluntary savings and life insurance – and follows a simple, standardized, low-cost system of organization, management, savings and credit operations. Its funding has evolved smoothly: first came generous donors, then some small commercial bank loans, then low-cost loans from a subsidised wholesaler, and finally, as outreach expanded and surpluses piled up, client deposits and retained earnings. But by far the most important of the stable conditions in which ASA has prospered has been the expanding demand from an enormous client pool for the very basic service that ASA offers. The core service has remained the low-value year-long weekly-repayment loan, the staple of its successful growth. ASA has not had to undergo large-scale internal reorganisation or training because the basic product and its delivery have remained largely unchanged. Also, savings mobilised from clients are used to provide security against default by protecting the small loan portfolio, instead of being used in more risky ventures like raising capital.