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in_the_pages 's review for:
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
by Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is quite simply a visionary.
I have known about microcredit for some time but was curious to learn more and was eager to read Professor Yunus's, "Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty".
Within the first few pages, I read the following...
"There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference. Life sleep, death by starvation happens so quietly, so inexorably, one does not even sense it happening. And all for the lack of a handful of rice at each meal."
Professor Yunus was an economist and quite clearly saw a disconnect from his day-to-day life of higher learning and the application on that knowledge...
"If a university is a repository for knowledge, then some of this knowledge should spill over to the neighbouring community. A university must not be an island where academics reach out to the higher and higher levels of knowledge without sharing any of the findings."
"What I did not yet know about hunger, but would find out over the next twenty-two years, was that brilliant theorists of economists do not find it worthwhile to spend time discussing issues of poverty and hunger. They believe that these will be resolved when general economic poverty increases. These economists spend all their talents detailing the processes of development and prosperity, but rarely reflect on the origin and development of poverty and hunger. As a result, poverty continues."
I was quite simply fascinated that Professor Yunus was able to make the leap from discussing economic principles in theory to reaching out and attempting to apply those theories and develop new ones to help the poor in his communities. And the foundation and methodologies that Grameen Bank developed were interesting and quite brave especially since during the early years his ideas surrounding this approach would not have been easily supported.
"..Grameen assumes that every borrower is honest. There are no legal instruments between the lenders and the borrowers. We were convinced that the bank should be built on human trust, not on meaningless paper contracts. Grameen would succeed or fail depending on the strength of personal relationships. We may be accused of being naive, but our experience with bad debt is less than 1 percent."
Many reviewers indicated that Professor Yunus has a bit of a pompous attitude and perhaps he does, but I cannot imagine how I would come across after having to advocate my beliefs over and over and over again and gain support. And given how successful Grameen has become perhaps we can afford him this personality trait.
I am extremely interested in poverty eradication efforts and aid efforts that take place around the world. Reading this book will provide you with a clear understanding of the challenges that faced micro-lending and the success of Grameen. The book is dated now though and there has been a lot of challenges and changes in the micro-lending landscape so I would recommend this book as a jump-off point to further your studies and interests in this area. At times, a slightly exhausting read (it perhaps could have been shortened) but nevertheless, an important read for anyone interested in learning more about this important aspect to lift the world's poor populations up.
I have known about microcredit for some time but was curious to learn more and was eager to read Professor Yunus's, "Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty".
Within the first few pages, I read the following...
"There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference. Life sleep, death by starvation happens so quietly, so inexorably, one does not even sense it happening. And all for the lack of a handful of rice at each meal."
Professor Yunus was an economist and quite clearly saw a disconnect from his day-to-day life of higher learning and the application on that knowledge...
"If a university is a repository for knowledge, then some of this knowledge should spill over to the neighbouring community. A university must not be an island where academics reach out to the higher and higher levels of knowledge without sharing any of the findings."
"What I did not yet know about hunger, but would find out over the next twenty-two years, was that brilliant theorists of economists do not find it worthwhile to spend time discussing issues of poverty and hunger. They believe that these will be resolved when general economic poverty increases. These economists spend all their talents detailing the processes of development and prosperity, but rarely reflect on the origin and development of poverty and hunger. As a result, poverty continues."
I was quite simply fascinated that Professor Yunus was able to make the leap from discussing economic principles in theory to reaching out and attempting to apply those theories and develop new ones to help the poor in his communities. And the foundation and methodologies that Grameen Bank developed were interesting and quite brave especially since during the early years his ideas surrounding this approach would not have been easily supported.
"..Grameen assumes that every borrower is honest. There are no legal instruments between the lenders and the borrowers. We were convinced that the bank should be built on human trust, not on meaningless paper contracts. Grameen would succeed or fail depending on the strength of personal relationships. We may be accused of being naive, but our experience with bad debt is less than 1 percent."
Many reviewers indicated that Professor Yunus has a bit of a pompous attitude and perhaps he does, but I cannot imagine how I would come across after having to advocate my beliefs over and over and over again and gain support. And given how successful Grameen has become perhaps we can afford him this personality trait.
I am extremely interested in poverty eradication efforts and aid efforts that take place around the world. Reading this book will provide you with a clear understanding of the challenges that faced micro-lending and the success of Grameen. The book is dated now though and there has been a lot of challenges and changes in the micro-lending landscape so I would recommend this book as a jump-off point to further your studies and interests in this area. At times, a slightly exhausting read (it perhaps could have been shortened) but nevertheless, an important read for anyone interested in learning more about this important aspect to lift the world's poor populations up.