Another Deserving Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Muhammad Yunus, Head of the Grameen Bank, recognised at last
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
There's a quiet revolution going on in the third world, and it's name is micro-credit. The concept is simple. Small loans with no collateral are granted to those who need it most - small stallkeepers, rickshaw drivers, basically anyone who has a pittance to their name but could turn their lives around if only they had a little capital. The amounts are generally tiny in real terms, perhaps just enough to buy a new cart or more profitable stock. The aim is to allow for commercial expansion on the smallest scale. The loans aren't interest free, but they aren't usurious either - they're roughly equivalent to the rates you'd pay in the first world rather than the 50-200% you might pay at a loan shark.
It's revolutionary because it actually seems to work. In areas where microcredit has been established for years the level of poverty is much reduced. It's not like traditional aid, where foreigners come in to make things all better and leave the buildings they've constructed to fall apart due to lack of repair. It merely makes it possible for individuals to improve their own situation and, eventually, help to improve the situations of others too by joining loan cooperatives or even hiring staff.
It's an admirable 'new' banking institution in a world where banking has increasingly become a byword for corruption and greed.
The efforts of Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank are to be congratulated and he well deserves to join the ranks of other notable Peace Prize recipients like Bishop Belo or Jose Ramos Horta
Congratulations Grameen Bank. You deserve it.
It's revolutionary because it actually seems to work. In areas where microcredit has been established for years the level of poverty is much reduced. It's not like traditional aid, where foreigners come in to make things all better and leave the buildings they've constructed to fall apart due to lack of repair. It merely makes it possible for individuals to improve their own situation and, eventually, help to improve the situations of others too by joining loan cooperatives or even hiring staff.
It's an admirable 'new' banking institution in a world where banking has increasingly become a byword for corruption and greed.
The efforts of Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank are to be congratulated and he well deserves to join the ranks of other notable Peace Prize recipients like Bishop Belo or Jose Ramos Horta
Congratulations Grameen Bank. You deserve it.
