Shafiqual Haque Choudhury and a team of people who were then working for other established NGOs,[2] but who themselves were arguing for a more radical way to alleviate the exploitation of rural villages caused by the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities.

[3] The founding framework of ASA was aimed at empowering rural landless villagers from the "bottom up" through "people's organizations".

[3] These were run by volunteers who advocated that a consciousness for solidarity amongst the village poor would lead to collective social action.

Since then, it has become a fully self-sufficient microfinance institution – operating mainly in Bangladesh, but with presence in Africa and South America.

ASA has not had to undergo large-scale internal reorganisation or training because the basic product and its delivery have remained largely unchanged.

[8] Also, savings 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.

As of June 2014, ASA's Operational Self Sufficiency (OSS) was 202.72%, Financial Self-sufficiency (FSS) 127.03% and rate of loan recovery 99.63%.