At the end of Bangladesh’s War for Independence in 1971 the country went through a very complex social and political upheaval.

The country needed major infrastructure reconstruction but the overall situation was not suitable for conducting nation building activities. Indeed, the country was faced with instability in the political, social, cultural and economic fields.

The main political constraints were frequent agitations, political unrest and numerous changes of governments, which were too inexperienced to keep the political situation stable. In such circumstances, policy formulation or planning for development was difficult.

Moreover, the traditional bureaucratic administrative structure, which followed a top-down approach for development, was not connected with the actual socio-economic reality since the institutional structures could not reach the downtrodden people.

With this as the backdrop, a new kind of organization emerged that focused most of its work in the development sector. Some of those national and international organizations, called NGOs (Non-Government Organizations), started different programs to help the poor to introduce positive changes in their lives.

Following the philosophy and the needs of the times, ASA was established in 1978 to materialize these goals through different kinds of development programs.