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Apr 19, 2008
"We create institutions and policies on the basis of the way we make assumptions about us and others. We accept the fact that we will always have poor people around us. So we have had poor people around us. If we had believed that poverty is unacceptable to us, and that it should not belong to a civilized society, we would have created appropriate institutions and policies to create a poverty-free world." --Muhammad Yunus
Muhammud Yunus on Poverty
Thirty years ago, in a remote village of Bangladesh, a modest economics professor took thirty dollars out of his own wallet and loaned it to a group of women looking to start a small business. Told by nay-sayers that he'd never get the money back, the amount was indeed repaid in full. Muhammad Yunus went on to found the Grameen Bank in 1976, out of a conviction that it is small acts like this one can move people out of poverty. Today he is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who, starting with one simple loan, has influenced millions. This ABC video profiles Yunus and his remarkable work.
BE THE CHANGE
Experiment with microfinance in your own community by gifting small amounts of money to local youth and challenging them to use it toward positive social change. Find ideas here. More ...
