THE POVERTY BUSTERS: Grameen Bank founder Dr Muhammad Yunus - Wednesday 3rd October, 2007
It is the morning rush hour here in Dhaka, a clangourous place
of 11 million. Like most sub-continental Asian cities, Dhaka bustles
but today it's deceptively peaceful, given what's been going on in
these very streets of late. Back in August, thousands rioted here in
Dhaka angry at what they saw as the unelected government's reluctance
to reintroduce democracy in Bangladesh. As a result, all political
activity was banned and the major cities placed under strict curfew.
Over the past year, not one but two former prime ministers, both of
them women, have been jailed.
Since the military-backed takeover in January, the government has
detained more than 250,000 Bangladeshis, with reports of torture and
killing rife. Apart from the political upheaval that's gripped the
place for a year now, Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations on the
planet. Half its population lives on less than a dollar a day.
To say the least, economically, geographically and now politically it's
a tricky place to carry on the normal stuff of life. But if there's
such a thing as a good-news story to be found here these days, you
might find it a short journey out of town in places like this, the tiny
semi-rural village of Dholla.
Dholla's a classic example of Mohammed Yunus's now world-renowned
poverty busting microcredit projects in local action.
We made it to Dholla, appropriately enough, by boat. We were, after
all, in Bangladesh's notorious flood-ridden Ganges Delta where most of
this densely populated country's people are crammed.
GEORGE NEGUS: Thank you.
The Grameen Bank was already open for business. The word 'grameen', by
the way, actually means 'village'. Our guide from the bank was the
general manager, Nurjahan Begum.
NURJAHAN BEGUM, GENERAL MANAGER, GRAMEEN BANK: So he'll put
down their
number and money, how much he's collecting.
They bring their cash each week and pay their loan money back.
NURJAHAN BEGUM: Yes. So he will write down in this passbook.
There's
the money.
Dholla's microbusiness women were gathered in this simple tin
shed to
pay the regular weekly instalments on their loans. They don't go to the
bank, the bank comes to them. They're all far too busy making money.
Hardly a fortune, it has to be said, but more than Bangladesh's dirt
poor villagers normally live on. The annual per capita income in the
country is just over A$500, with millions on much less.
WOMAN, (Translation): Yes, we had a very hard time. We had
just a small
meal every three of four days. Now we have no hardship at all.
You would have noticed the almost complete predominance of women here.
That's because something like 97% of the close enough to $3 billion
Grameen has loaned over the last 30 years has been to women.
GEORGE NEGUS: And no collateral? They don't have to bring
anything in?
NURJAHAN BEGUM: Did any of you need to offer collateral to get
a loan.
WOMEN, (Translation): No.
The reality is these modest village enterprises give a whole
new
definition to small business. In fact, they're the smallest of the
small, all of them built up over a few years starting with a
no-collateral microloan equivalent in takas, the Bangladeshi currency,
to a lousy couple of hundred Australian dollars. Grameen-inspired,
they're many and varied, be it sewing the country's traditionally
colourful saris, selling them locally at affordable prices, or handmade
mats from bamboo husks. No formal education or training, as such, is
required. Point being, these women and 6 million others just like them
throughout Bangladesh, have neither of these things. But, thanks to
their microbusinesses, they told us, now their kids will.
NURJAHAN BEGUM: So now she has a house.
What else have you achieved for your family?
WOMAN, (Translation): I have proper housing now. I have three
daughters, no son.
NURJAHAN BEGUM: She has three daughters.
WOMAN, (Translation): Two daughter already married, One
already goes to
the school.
NURJAHAN BEGUM: She's reading in class 7.
Precariously, if that's the word for being careful not to put
foot
wrong, we rounded off our visit Dholla with a quick visit to a business
the locals are especially proud of, a cow-fattening farm.
NURJAHAN BEGUM: He can earn per cow 10,000 to 15,000.
GEORGE NEGUS: So the men work on the farm with the cows, and
the women
still handle the loan money?
Were they very poor before?
NURJAHAN BEGUM: She doesn't have anything.
GEORGE NEGUS: Just a very, very basic life. Now they have a
business, a
thriving business.V\
Well, I guess you could say this has been a tantalising glimpse, a
crash course, if you like, into how this way of financing incredibly
modest small businesses, small village businesses like this one, and
how it least has some sort of impact on what the rest of us have always
felt as being a futile attempt to reduce the amount of poverty in the
world.