Landless Bangladeshi women win back land illegally occupied by powerful landowners. Indigenous people in Guatemala,s poorest region have a 98% repayment record on loans to finance small industrial projects. Ugandan women abandoned by their husbands struggle for their rights to property and to custody of their children. In this book, journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America present the views of ordinary men and women striving to improve their lives with the help of non-government organizations. People speak with pride of gaining control over their lives. They also speak candidly of the problems: men,s resistance to women,s independent initiatives, organizations strapped for funds, and national and international economic ills.