The Global Development Research Center's Spotlight on Grameen Bank has a very handy compilation of material on Grameen Bank. It also has a virtual library on microcredit if you want to get more information about the phenomenon that Grameen started.
In case you didn't know, the official Grameen Bank site is at 
Grameen Foundation USA, a non-profit organization established on the initiative of Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, promotes the work of Grameen Bank as well as other members of the Grameen family of
companies and Grameen Global Network in the Americas. Visit their
site at 
The Grameen Technology Center is an initiative of Grameen Foundation USA with a goal to eliminate poverty by leveraging the power of microcredit and technology.
The
People's Fund was created by Grameen Trust in 1995 to support the
Grameen Bank Replication Program all around the world. The Fund, whose
fiscal agent is the Grameen Foundation USA (see above), has a web site
of its own.
Over 2,900 people, representing 1,500
organizations from 137 countries, attended the Microcredit
Summit in Washington, D.C., February 2 to 4, 1997. Learn more about
the summit and progress made towards realizing the historic decision
taken at the summit from this web site.
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| As you can imagine, Grameen
Bank is the world's most researched development programme. Nongovernment
and bilateral organisations, UN agencies, World Bank, Asian Development
Bank, private and government funded research groups, academics on sabbatical,
graduate and post-graduate scholars, newspapers, magazines, freelance journalists
from all over the world - in short anyone with an interest in 'development'
has done research on Grameen and published books, research papers, and study
reports. There are literally tens of thousands of such publications.
List of publication: An up to date list of major books and publications
on Grameen is maintained on the Internet by a research group in Japan
at the following Web address:
Grameen Bank Site at Dept of Social Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Reference Library United Nations Information Centre Library at
46 York Street in Sydney (tel. 61 2 9262 5111, fax 61 2 9262 5886) has
a very good collection of books, papers and CD-ROMS.
Recommended Books & Publications
- "The Price of a Dream" by David Bornstein
Publishers: Simon & Schuster, New York, ISBN 0-684-81191
-X
Universities Press Limited, Dhaka, ISBN 984-05-13761
In this 370 pages, hard-bound book, the master storyteller Canadian
journalist looks at Grameen Bank from borrowers' point of view.
The book is absolutely captivating from first page to the last. If
you can afford only one book on Grameen, this is the one to buy.
Retail Price: $ 48 - $ 54, depending upon the value of A$
and retailer's profit margin. Order through your local book shop or
through Simon & Shuster.
We have bought a small number of copies direct from the publishers
at $20 each for our members. You are welcome to a copy from us at
the cost price ($20) plus postage.
- 'Women at the Center - Grameen Bank Borrowers After One Decade'
Publishers: Westview Press, New York, ISBN 984 05 1377 0
Universities Press Limited, Dhaka, ISBN 984 05 1377 0
Helen Todd, an English journalist, did a 10-year study of Grameen
Bank. In addition to statistical information and analysis, she documents
detailed account of the women in her sample.
Her persuasive style of writing is influenced by a personal tragedy:
just two months before Helen left for Bangladesh for her final year
of data-gathering, her son was shot and killed by the Indonesian army
in Dili, East Timor, where he went to observe UN-sponsored elections.
Price: US edition: US$ 50, Order through your local bookshop,
Asian edition US$ 15, Order from the Malaysian distributor, gibbons@pc.jaring.my
- "Participation As Process" by Andreas Fuglesang and Dale
Chandler
Norwegian Ministry for Development Cooperation funded a detailed
study of Grameen Bank. Subsequently, Norway lent large sums of
money to the Bank. In this book, Fuglesang (Norwegian) and Chandler
(Canadian) researchers provide technical details of the "Grameen
Model." Available in Norwegian, English, and Bengali languages.
Price:$ 20 (US$ 15). Available from this Support Group.
- "Managing to Empower" by Susan Holcombe, United Nations
Development Programme
Publishers: Zed Books London & New Jersey, ISBN 85649 315
6
Universities Press Limited, Dhaka, ISBN 984 05 1292 7
An extremely detailed work of research which attempts to explain
the fascinating technical details of how Grameen Bank which operates
in 37,000 villages and employs 14,000 staff is managed to empower
its 2.1 million "poorest of the poor" clients.
Price: $ 50. Order through your local bookshop.
- "GRAMEEN BANK: Experiences & Reflections" by Professor
Muhammad Yunus
Professor Vunus, the founderof the Bank, has written numerous books.
This book provides a fascinating history of his struggle.
Price: $ 2 including the postage. Available from this Support
Group.
(Note: books published in Bangladesh are incredibly cheap)
- Grameen Bank's newsletter,"Grameen Dialouge"
Reports on the progress being made towards the goal of taking micro-credit
to half of the world's poor in the next nine years (by the year 2005).
Immensely informative and inspiring. Yearly subscription: $20. Write
to this Support Group.
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2004
- Grameen Bank gives beggars phones
instead of cash.
Grameen Bank is empowering the poor by arming beggars with mobile phones so they can sell a roving service for
cash.
Beggars would need to be a member of a Grameen Bank project to be eligible to get a mobile phone.
Each mobile phone will cost USD143.The bank will also provide 500 taka (USD 8.41) in cash to each "cell-class" beggar
so they can sell snacks, chocolates, cookies and nuts for additional income.
Read the full story.
- Jose Ramos-Horta,
Nobel Peace Prize winning Foreign Minister of East Timor mentions Grameen Bank as a model on ABC, Australia
Jose Ramos-Horta was on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope on 10th of May 2004 and when being asked what he did with his
Nobel Peace Prize money, he said he used it in a Grameen replicator programme in his native East Timor.
Read all about it at Jose Ramos-Horta on Enough Rope
- Nightly Business Report has put Professor Mohammed Yunus in their list of
25 Most Influential Business People of the Last 25 Years.
This is what they are saying about Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus:
"Mohammed Yunus is proof that small money can lead to big changes. Yunus is the founder of Bangladesh`s Grameen Bank, a village bank set up in 1983 to provide micro credit loans, small amounts of money to the rural poor in an effort to fight poverty. Grameen now has more than a thousand branches, many in villages like this, and has loaned more than $2 billion. Experts say Yunus` ideas on coupling capitalism and community service have changed the face of rural economic development forever."
Read more and see the full list at Bios of 25 Most Influentials.
2003
-
Grameen Micro-Credit & How to End Poverty from the Roots Up - an informative article by Paul Sinclair
of (One World One People for Peace) 29/10/03
The facts and figures in this article are updated regularly.
- San Francisco Chronicle, in a business feature article
named 'Starting small' on June 7, 2003,
descibes Grameen Bank's role in providing seed money to eradicate poverty and also Grameen Technology Fund's quest to
raise US$ 10 million.
Read the article here.
- In an article titled 'Engineers can help alleviate poverty', the journal Engineers Australia, in it's May 2003 issue, has described Grameen Bank and it's microfinance programme as a shining success in improving the quality of life for rural poor (for a full report on Grameen Bank Housing Programme prepared by the Support Group, please click here).
It has also published two images to show the difference that Grameen's housing project can bring to a villager's life.
Here, we are reprinting the images with Engineers Australia's permission.
- "The poverty in India is disconcerting," says Vikram Bayana Akula, "I just thought I must do something."
And as Outlook India puts it, inspired by Mohammad Yunus' Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, he did something about it in the interiors of arid Andhra Pradesh.
Read more about this fascinating story at Telugu bidda from upstate NY
2002
- 'Gram Bangla Auto Van' launched - unbelievable! Grameen has named its locally developed three-wheeler as Gram Bangla. More amazing is the fact that Mohammad Rafique, an ordinary vehicle mechanic and resident of Sherpur upazila of Bogra, designed the new vehicle.
2001
- Iqbal Quadir: Opportunity Comes Calling - part of a riveting cover story by Asiaweek on 'Bridging the Digital Divide' about the Bangladeshi ex-patriate who helped establish Grameen Phone (and Village Phone) that turned the telecom landscape in Bangladesh on its head.
- Banking on people NewsHour's Fred De Sam Lazaro's reportage on Grameen Bank which was initially broadcast on April 24, 2001 and rebroadcast on August 9, 2001. A video clip of the programme is also available on NewsHour's site.
- Unesco's entry on Grameen Bank
1999
- The December 1999 issue of iMP (Information impacts magazine) has an article on Grameen Phone: Empowering the Poor through Connectivity.
1998
-
Microlending in Bangladesh Brief article on Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus in the New Economy section of WIRED's February 1998 Issue 6.02 - ultra cool.
-
Wealth and Poverty - An interview with Professor Yunus on GrameenPhone published on FastCompany magazines's December/January 98 issue.
- Here's a Business Plan to Fight Poverty Article on Grameen Phone Ltd published on FastCompany's December/January 98 issue.
1997
- "CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE - Giving the poor a new start"
- Article describing the success of microcredit schemes in Philippines and also touching on Grameen Bank as the initiator published on Asiaweek on 28th Nov 1997.
-
Controlling the Purse Bangladesh is emerging from its misery, thanks in part to a visionary plan that is empowering women - Time, April 21, 1997.
- FOCUS INTERVIEW- Muhammad Yunus
Following Dominique Schwartz's story on Grameen Bank in Bangladesh two weeks ago (see the following link),
George Negus interviews the founder and Managing Director of the Bank Professor Muhammad
Yunus on episode 27 of ABC's 'Foreign Correspondent' broadcast on 25.3.97.
- BANGLADESH :The Grameen Bank
Reporter Dominique Schwartz's story on Grameen Bank in Bangladesh on episode 24 SERIES 6 - 11.3.97 on episode 24 of ABC's 'Foreign Correspondent' broadcast on 11.3.97.
- "Casting about for an economic stimulus that doesn't cost a lot of money, the Clinton Administration has hit upon a solution from Bangladesh..." Read the February 3, 1997 Time Daily article titled Fighting Poverty At the Grassroots Level.
1995
- Prof Yunus is one of the twenty great Asians as selected by Asiaweek in 1995.
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The prestigious Sydney Peace Prize is awarded to those who have made an impact towards securing world peace. Professor Yunus, by contributing towards alleviating poverty has also contributed immensely towards the cause of world peace and hence had the honour to be the inagural recipient of the prize in 1998.
Here is the list of the recipinets of the Prize so far:
- 1998: Professor Mohammad Yunus - Founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh
- 1999: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa
- 2000: Xanana Gusmao - Leader of Independence Movement of East Timor
- 2001: Sir William Deane - Former Governor General of Australia
- 2002: Mary Robinson - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
- 2003: Dr Hanan Ashrawi - Founder and Secretary General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH)
- 2004: Arundhati Roy - Indian novelist and human rights campaigner
- 2005: Olara Otunnu - United Nations Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict
- 2006: Irene Khan - Secretary General of Amnesty International
You can also find a complete list of recipients of the award at http://www.spf.arts.usyd.edu.au/peace.html
Previous posting:
July 1998 - The presentation of inaugural Sydney Peace Prize to Prof Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh will take place on Friday 27th November 1998. The Governor General is going to present the award to Prof Yunus in the Great Hall of The University of Sydney in the evening.
The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) of the University of Sydney is one of the major initiators of the award.
The following information is quoted from their Newsletter (vol 1, no 1).
"The Sydney Peace Prize is a CPACS initiative in collaboration with members of the Sydney community, such as bankers, journalists and Sydney City counsellors. The prize will be a bi-annual award in recognition of creative endeavours that enhance life in all forms: multicultural and multi-denominational, crossing religious, ethnic, political and legal divides, regional and national boundaries.
The first Sydney Peace Prize will be awarded to Muhammad Yunus on 27th November, 1998. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh which empowers rural communities by lending money to the poor - to women in particular. His humanitarian achievements have been recognised worldwide.
The ceremony will be the feature of a fundraising dinner for CPACS in the Great Hall."
February 1998 - Grameen Bank Support Group/Australia and Sydney University are working towards instituting Sydney Peace Prize. This biennial prize will be awarded to someone in the world whose work has made a significant contribution to peace and human development. Dr Yunus has been invited to accept the very first Sydney Peace Prize.
The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday 27th November 1998 at the Sydney University (watch this space for the time and venue as we come to know it).
In the same ceremony, he will be awarded an honorary doctorate degree.
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Nobel Peace Prize for Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank
Well, the wait is over. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize have been awarded to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, the microcredit-lending bank he helped establish in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1976.
The Nobel committee mentions that the recipients have been awarded "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below".
This is the first time in Bangladesh's history for one of its citizens to be honoured with the prestigious award.
Previous posting:
Dr Muhammad Yunus is yet to receive a Nobel prize but claims of him already being multiply nominated for a Nobel in economics or peace are already beyond the realms of rumour and can be found mentioned on quite a few sites.
Some say, now it is just a matter of time.
Here is a list of sites which mention Yunus's Nobel nominations in some details:
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