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From the Associated Press earlier today:
Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his
Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their pioneering
use of tiny, seemingly insignificant loans--microcredit--to lift
millions out of poverty. Through Yunus's efforts and those of the bank
he founded, poor people around the world, especially women, have been
able to buy cows, a few chickens or the cell phone they desperately
needed to get ahead.
Grameen Bank was the first lender to hand
out microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did
not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed
and repayment is based on an honor system. Almost anyone can qualify for
a loan--the average is about $200--but recipients are put in groups of
five and once two members of the group have borrowed money, the other
three must wait for the funds to be repaid before they get a loan.
Grameen, which means rural in the Bengali language, says the method
encourages social responsibility. The results are hard to argue
with--the bank says it has a 99 percent repayment rate.
Since Yunus gave out his first loans in
1974, microcredit schemes have spread throughout the developing world
and are now considered a key approach to alleviating poverty and
spurring development. In the years since, the bank says it has lent
$5.72 billion to more than six million Bangladeshis. Worldwide,
microcredit financing is estimated to have helped some 17 million
people.
Today the bank claims to have 6.6 million
borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women, and provides services in more
than 70,000 villages in Bangladesh. Its model of micro-financing has
inspired similar efforts around the world. The success has allowed
Grameen Bank to expand its credit to include housing loans, financing
for irrigation and fisheries as well as traditional savings accounts.
Pretty damn cool. And I gotta say, they are more deserving of the
Nobel Peace Prize than a certain Irish singer is... |
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