Journal Entry 1 by yourotherleft from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania USA on Sunday, March 07, 2004

I think that this is book that many should read, but few have even heard of. It's Muhammad Yunus's semi-autobiographical book about his role in creating the Grameen Bank, an organization that lends money to the poorest of the poor in an effort to improve their quality of life. It's easy to see in this book the passion Yunus has for creating a poverty-free world and the book chronicles both his sucesses and failures with this kind of grassroots approach to eliminating poverty by way of the Bank. It is a powerful statement of the potential for even the poorest of people to eliminate their own poverty when given the means to do so, and I would recommend this read to anybody who cares about widespread poverty in our world. 

Journal Entry 2 by yourotherleft at Postal Release in Postal release, Postal Release -- Controlled Releases on Friday, August 20, 2004

Released on Friday, August 20, 2004 at Postal Release in Postal release, Postal Release Controlled Releases.

To kayote in trade. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 3 by kayote from Urbana, Illinois USA on Monday, August 23, 2004

It came. I like the bright orange BC label. :)

Will post more when I've had a chance to read it.

From the back: "In 1983 Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. He aimed to help the poor by supporting the spark of personal initiative and enterprise by which they could lift themselves out of poverty forever. It was an idea born on a day in 1976 when he loaned $27 from his own pocket to forty-two stoolmakers living in a tiny village. These women only needed enough credit to purchase the raw materials for their trade. Yunus's small loan helped them break the cycle of poverty for good. His solution to world poverty, founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right, is brilliantly simple: loan poor people money on terms that are suitable to them, teach them a few sound financial principals, and they will help themselves.

"Yunus's theories work. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen methodology, placing Grameen at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement towards eradicating poverty through micro-lending." 

Journal Entry 4 by kayote from Urbana, Illinois USA on Monday, January 10, 2005

This is an excellent book, and unexpectedly easy to read. Usually non-fiction books I have to read slowly, but this one was very smoothly written. I had "heard" of micro-credit before reading this book, but wasn't really clear on what it was or how it worked.

I was pleased he talked about the differences between countries where micro-credit loans were being made. I had expected this to be mainly a non-developed country thing (as I could see how it worked there, but wasn't sure how it would work here). The definition of "micro" goes from $20 to $300, but the income earned by the people on the money goes up similarly.

I had figured there were too many regulations surrounding businesses and such in the US for it to work. Which, I see I am not completely wrong. It seems the welfare laws are actually the wosrt, though, since people loose money so fast if they start to make any on their own. Which makes me sad. I like a social safety net, but it shouldn't make programs like this hard to implement.

One of his main points that I found interesting was the fact he dismisses training as a starting point. The poor know how to survive, he says, they just need the credit to do it. Job training is useful, but getting them credit is a better first step. They have skills, they know how to use the skills they have, they just need some credit to use the skills. And, while I instinctively disagree with him, I think he's right. Actually, he's shown he's right!

I would like to see more micro-credit going on in the US. (And elsewhere, but the US is my country, so I'm closer to people here). It seems like an efficient (when properly done) use of money to combat proverty.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more detail as to the changes they found nescessary. Between Grameen and Grameen 2 he detailed what they changed, but during Grameen much was also changed, since he noted repayment problems due to lots of changes in some areas. But he didn't mention what those changes were. He discussed some things which didn't work, so maybe it was the sum of all of those, but it seemed like there was something else, but maybe not. It was nice he discussed some of the failures and problems and mistakes that were made on all sides.

I found it interesting that even in the heavily Islamic Bangladish, his focus was, even from early on, to loan to the women. Which was difficult as they would answer "No one is home" if their husband's weren't, and they couldn't come out to talk to a male. But he found very early on that if a woman made money, it went to the family first, raising their standard of living as a whole. If a man made money, it went to him first, and maybe some to his family. So Grameen always focused on women as the borrowers. They loan to men as well, but their recruitment and focus is on women.

Similarly, he makes a point in passing I think more people need to listen to. The world population is getting too big too fast. The response of some people has been scare tactics in third world countries (who have the higher birth rates). A better response, and one shown to work, is to educate the women and give them some economic ability. Then families start being limited in size by choice. (My note, this is then a good time to make birth control available. As opposed to cutting all funding for it, Mr. President!). Focus on improving the lot of people, and they will limit their own families. This is shown over and over in country after country!

I think the section on a different business model is unique, and useful. It talks about socially aware businesses (which at the moment, is hard to do as it is technically illegal to do anything that doesn't contribute to shareholder value) and forming them. The author makes the note these can still be profitable--they need to be feasible--Grameen is, but just because they are profitable doesn't mean they can't also be socially aware and focused.