Nobel Peace Prize 2006: What’s So Unusual?

Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank have been jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Nobel Committe has done something unusual…taking notice of the pioneering work being done at the grassroots level to promote entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty.

Second, the women are the greatest beneficiaries. “Mr Yunus set up the bank in 1976 with just $27 from his own pocket. Thirty years on, the bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are women, according to the Grameen website, says the BBC.

“Mr Yunus and the bank were being honoured ‘for their efforts to create economic and social development from below’, said the Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, in Oslo.

“Mjoes said the bank’s work in creating opportunities for large numbers of people to get out of poverty created the conditions for sustainable peace.”

” ‘Development such as this is useful in human rights and democracy’, said Mr Mjoes.”

The Associated Press writer Beth Duff-Brown gives a first-hand account from Bangladesh: “Walking alongside rice paddies and water buffalo on the outskirts of Dhaka with Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus was like walking down the red carpet with a Hollywood movie star.

“Women in saris grabbed at the handsome man with thick gray hair, flirting and addressing him with ease. I was surprised, given we were in a conservative Muslim country where rural women typically take a backseat to men.

“But this man, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, had taught them to stand up to their husbands by giving them small loans that now put them in the driver’s seat…”

The World Bank site also procides interesting details about microcredit programme: “The microcredit movement was started in the early 1980s by the Grameen Bank. In the late 1980s, institutional credit providers mushroomed when many non-profit NGOs—recognizing the importance of stable income and capital accumulation in reducing poverty— started targeted savings and credit programs for income generating self-employment.

“During the past five years, the Grameen Bank disbursed about US$2.4 billion to nearly 2.3 million borrowers, while more than 495 NGOs have disbursed about US$4.3 billion to more than 3 million borrowers. Some of these NGOs provide not only money but also technical assistance in the form of skills training and marketing assistance.

“Microcredit programs target those without land or assets, and 90 percent of microcredit recipients are women. Loans are collateral-free, and usually have a maturity of 50 weeks with weekly repayments.

“Borrowers are part of a 15-20 person group that meets regularly Savings is an integral part of the program and financial transactions are recorded in individual passbooks in the presence of the entire group to enhance transparency and self-monitoring.”

One wonders why this programme has not been replicated in India, Pakistan and the neighbouring countries. Maybe the publicity generated by the awarding of Nobel prize could do the trick and help poverty-stricken people in these countries.