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Cover Story

Muhammad Yunus
Give Peace a Chance

Nader Rahman

“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 cannot 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.” -- Norwegian Nobel Committee

Bangladesh has not had much to cheer about since independence, with the exception of a cricket match here and there. Yet on the 13th of October 2006, all of that turned on its head. Professor Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and with that news 140 million people celebrated. Far greater than the prize itself, he has made us proud to be Bangladeshi again. A feat which had not been achieved since liberation, 35 years ago.

Where does one start and what does one say about possibly the greatest Bangladeshi ever. His humble beginnings gave him the perspective that was needed to change the social order of the world. And it all started with a $27 dollar loan that helped 42 people.

In his Nobel Prize lecture he spelled out where he came from, what he achieved and where he thought the future lay. By now it is common knowledge that just under 7 million people borrow from Grameen Bank and that 97% of them are women. He could not hide his pride as he took nine women straight out of the villages in Bangladesh with him to Oslo to receive the prize on behalf of the Grameen Bank. That is where his greatness lies, he does not seek the spotlight. He merely wants the issue of chronic poverty to be addressed. One gets the feeling that he received the award for more than just Grameen Bank and Bangladesh, with him he carried the hopes and dreams of the “poorest of the poor” as he puts it.

His Nobel speech outlined exactly what he hopes to achieve in the future. As we are about to enter a new year, those plans should be remembered and the promises should not be forgotten.

Yunus has repeatedly said that poverty is a denial of human rights as he says, "The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives." It was with this logic in mind that the Nobel committee gave him the prize. While here in Bangladesh people make the connection quite easily between poverty and peace, international recognition now merely shows how far we have to go to eradicate poverty and gain peace.

During his Nobel lecture he put forward many interesting ideas and plans. He said beggars can turn to business, proposed information technology for the poor, fought for the free market economy, and outlined his plans behind Grameen's social business, the social stock market as well as the role social business can play in globalisation.

Norwegian Ambassador Ingebjørg with Professor Yunus and his wife

His ideas behind the social business are unique. He claims that even profit-making businesses can be designed as social businesses, by handing over a majority of the ownership to the poor. Yunus claims that foreign donors could also help to create such businesses. When a donor gives a loan to build, lets say, a bridge in the recipient country, a "bridge company" owned by the local poor could be created. Management companies could be given the responsibilities of running the company, while the profit would go to the local poor as dividend. Later that would also go towards building more bridges. He claims that many infrastructure projects, like roads, highways, airports, seaports, utility companies could be built in this manner.

His case in point is Grameen's recently opened joint venture with Danone. They have opened a yogurt factory, to produce fortified yogurt to provide nutrition to malnourished children. Yunus says, "It will continue to expand until all malnourished children of Bangladesh are reached with this yogurt." Yet another project is a chain of eye-care hospitals. It hopes to undertake 10,000 cataract surgeries per year at different prices for the rich and the poor. Proving that his theories are actually practical.

Yunus also called for a social stock market, which could help link investors with social businesses. There the shares of social businesses could be traded. An investor could come to the stock-exchange with a clear intention of finding a social business, which has a mission of his liking.

Celebrating after the announcement of the Peace Prize.

To enable a social stock-exchange to perform properly, he says one will need to create rating agencies, standardisation of terminology, definitions, impact measurement tools, reporting formats, and new financial publications, such as," The Social Wall Street Journal."

Globalisation currently works under the rule of "strongest takes it all." The Nobel laureate claims that it must be replaced by rules which ensure that the poorest have a "piece of the action" without being elbowed out by the strong. He warns that "globalisation must not become financial imperialism."

After all is said and done this year will be remembered as the year of Yunus. He took his vision and opened it up to the world. Just like when 30 years ago he conceived the idea that changed the life of millions. His suggestions should not merely be theorised upon but implemented. Who knows, their effect may be even greater than that of microcredit. He has turned theory into praxis before, one hopes it will happen again.

This year Professor Muhammad Yunus famously said that we could put poverty into museums. With that comment in mind he also took the first step towards a new profession. One feels he would much rather give up being banker to the poor to become the curator at the Museum of Poverty.

"All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance"
-- John Lennon