ADAB (Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh)  founded in January 1974 as a loose coalition of several voluntary agencies, with the aim of co-ordinating non-government organisations - local, national and international - involved in development activities in Bangladesh. ADAB has been created to establish a strong and efficient NGO sector in the country capable of playing a pro-active role in establishing a just, democratic and secular society in Bangladesh, free from poverty, environmental pollution, gender disparity and oppression. The activities of ADAB are implemented under the following programmes: Democracy and Good Governance, Social Justice, Members Relation, Grassroots People's Organisations, NGO Sectoral Relations, Women Empowerment and Equitable Gender Development, Human Resources Development, Transparency, Information and Monitoring, Disaster Preparedness and Management, and Environmental Protection and Ecological Agriculture.

The constitution of ADAB defines the general members as its highest authority. They discuss and approve annual work plan, budget, annual report and audit report of the organisation in an annual general meeting, where they also elect the executive committee for a term of two years. The executive committee comprises seventeen members, of whom sixteen are elected members. An appointed director works as the ex-officio member secretary.

ADAB operates through a 17-chapters network, each administered by a seven member steering committee. The chapter co-ordinator works as its ex-officio member secretary. The chapter steering committees operate under the chapter operational rules and are elected by the chapter members every year. The chapters are located at barisal, bogra, comilla, chittagong, dhaka, dinajpur, faridpur, jessore, kushtia, khulna, mymensingh, manikganj, patuakhali, rajshahi, rangpur, sylhet and tangail.

In June 200l, the total number of members of ADAB stood at 1125. Of them, 258 were members at the central level while the remaining were located at its different chapters. ADAB is a member-lead organisation whose members are primarily responsible for providing the necessary funds for running the organisation. However, contribution of the members is not sufficient to cover the overall expenditure of ADAB and therefore, funds are sought from external donors. ADAB's budget for 2000-2001 amounted to Tk 39.36 million, in which its own contribution was roughly 6%. [Shamsul Huda]