Bangladeshi economist Muhammed Yunus recorded the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday, 2nd week of December 2006 and urged world's leaders to get involved in the fight against poverty and stop spending money on wars like the one in Iraq.Yunus, named the banker to the poor, and the Gramen (microcredit) Bank that he founded won the peace prize for their work to lift millions out of poverty by granting loans to the poorest of the poor, especially women in rural Bangladesh.
(The New Indian Express, 11 December 2006)
Economist Muhammad Yunus did what others who are in a comfortable financial position do from time to time: Give to those in need. His first notable donation was $27 US for villagers in his native Bangladesh that could help "liberate" them from debt. But then, he turned his sights on turning convention — about banking, about fighting poverty, about helping the poor — on its head. Some 30 years later, after creating a bank that has loaned more than $5 billion to the poorest, he and his Grameen Bank won the $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize in October 2006 for championing "economic and social development from below."
(CBC News; http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/nobel/yunus-microcreditbank.html)
Excerpt from peace prize citation
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights. Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world. Every single individual on Earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.
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