Dialogue with Professor Muhammad Yunus

Prof Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize awardee had a 3 hour discussion with the heads of UN agencies, NGOs and the Media in Indonesia held in the UN Building last August 10, 2007. He is in Jakarta on a five-day state visit at the invitation of the President of Indonesia.

Prof Yunus shared with us his story of the Grameen Bank--how he started with US$27 as the lending seed money from his pocket which has grown to US$6 billion--how a very simple initiative expanded from 42 women in one village to some 7 million in 78,000 villages then to some 37 countries. It was an amazing story and he is a great speaker---people were really moved by his story. He is now advocating for business for social cause and not just for profit. He thinks that this is the way we can achieve the MDGs and beyond and make them sustainable. He also answered some interesting questions from the audience. One such question was why Grameen Bank interest money should not be considered 'sin' as per Islamic interpretation? He said that the Grameen Bank is owned by the borrower themselves; so how can it be a 'sin for the people who are paying interest to themselves to sustain the programme'?

Another interesting phenomenon he revealed that each of the Grameen Bank branch is established without any seed money. The branch managers are given a village to choose and then they ask the villagers if they want a bank in that village or not. If they want, they are asked to deposit their share and the bank manager is given one year time to reach a break-even point. All running cost, including the salary of the manager comes from the profits (interest) earned. The Bank has not borrowed any money from any donors since 1995.

Prof Yunus said that now he is also focusing on health issues because he believes that ill health and the cost of health care is one of the major barriers to overcome poverty.

written by: Zahid Huque
UNFPA Representative
Jakarta, Indonesia

Read more about GRAMEEN BANK and Prof. Yunus here.

GM crops can help achieve UN Millenium Dev’t Goals

Culled from The Philippine Star
By Rudy A. Fernandez
Sunday, August 5, 2007

JAKARTA — Genetically modified (GM) crops can help humankind attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations, it was asserted here recently by an internationally known research administrator.

“By far, the most important potential contribution of biotech crops will be their contribution to the humanitarian Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and hunger by 50 percent by 2015,” stressed Dr. Clive James, founder and president of the International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

His forum was an international symposium on biotechnology held at the Indonesian Department of Agriculture in this capital city organized by Indonesian biotechnology entities.

The symposium was supported by the Indonesian Biotechnology Consortium, Indonesian Biotechnology Student Forum, Indonesia-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO-BIOTROP), and ISAAA.

The participants included scientists, researchers, members of the academe, industry, and media practitioners, among them this writer.

The UN Millennium Development Goals form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

Eight goals have been identified and set to be accomplished by 2015.

First in the list of the eight MDGs is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, followed by achievement of universal primary education.

The others are promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

Dr. James pointed out that the rapid growth of the world population continues to spawn problems of global dimension, particularly poverty and hunger.

As of 1999, he said, the world’s population hit the six billion mark. By 2050, there shall be nine billion people inhabiting planet earth.

Against the grim backdrop of population explosion is the diminution of crop lands.

Continue reading the article here.