Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 for their efforts to create economic and social development from below and empower people with the tools necessary to bring about their own development. This effort has been achieved through the development of micro-credit, allowing Yunus and the bank to provide loans to the poorest of the poor.
Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not be fully achieved unless all members have the potential and the right to live a decent life.
Their long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world and while this vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a crucial role.
Photo By: (P. Rahman/Scanpix)
