• Become a member of the Grameen Bank Support Group
• Rationale behind banking with Grameen Bank
• Do banking with Grameen Bank
• People who are already banking with Grameen Bank
• Educate a poor student from rural Bangladesh through Grameen Shikkha
• Lend your expertise - Showcase: Grameen Phone

Grameen vision is to remove poverty from the face of the earth by year 2020. It is not a loud talk. Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has shown with proven result that by providing a loan fund of only US$ 150, a poor family of five members can get out of poverty shackles forever within 6-8 years time by dint of their own ability and entrepreneurship after repaying the original loan. Grameen Support group firmly believe that Grameen's successful model can make world free from poverty by the target year of 2020. The Support Group is trying to popularise this unique programs of the Bank to the wider community for their awareness and participation.

Anyone who shares the views and vision of the Grameen Bank can become a member of the Grameen Bank Support Group. There is no joining fee, or recurring annual fee. Members are encouraged to deepen their awareness, and disseminate information to others in the community. In terms of practical action, some of us invest in the Grameen Bank. For details on investing in Grameen Bank, please see the following item.

If you are reading this from outside Australia and are interested in becoming a member, you should do so with the Grameen Bank Support Group in your country. If there is not any, FORM ONE.

Inspite of all the obvious signs of despair, it can be said now with conviction that Bangladesh has a hope and possibly will have a better future than many other countries. One Bangladeshi economics professor, Muhammad Yunus, has come up after trials and errors, by practical experimentation ,with an affordable and proven model of solution of the most acute and the fundamental problem of Bangladesh i.e.poverty. The solution is a lot simpler and affordable when looked at closely with minute scrutiny. Poverty can be removed completely from Bangladesh within the next ten to fifteen years and this can be done without any outside help if Bangladeshis really want to achieved that outcome. It appears so simple that many Bangladeshis have difficulty in grasping the idea and as a result they allow this golden opportunity to pass by in default. Concerned Bangladeshis need to have curiosity to look at seriously in this proposition.

Here is a chance for overseas Bangladeshis to participate and help to solve the most heinous scourge of Bangladeshi life i.e. poverty. Once Bangladesh is poverty-free, the next stage of ultimate economic development will be lot easier to achieve. How it can be done?

If you open an interest free current account in the Shovapur Savar Branch of the Grameen Bank with a minimum amount of US$ 150, the bank will use this fund to give loan to a poor member ( Average family size of five ) who will be able to generate sufficient income by using this fund to come out of poverty. You can withdraw your money anytime in Taka Currency only. But if you keep at least for a year, this will facilitate five people to come out of poverty forever. This is already happening in 3.5 million Grameen Members or 16.5 million poor people in Bangladesh. If one half of a million overseas Bangladeshis out of several millions now living abroad open one account each with US$150 , we shall be able to bring half a million members out of poverty each year and in the next ten years five million members. At this moment Bangladesh has almost five million very poor households left behind out of this type of microcredit programs. Grameen Bank and other NGO's have already covered five million members out of total 10 million very poor households in Bangladesh. One can now see how it is possible to solve this big problem with such a small step, if taken by all of us together, we would be able to take Bangladesh in a different economic dimension and there would not be any need to seek help from outside world for this gigantic task. In fact, Professor Yunus has given us the key to the solutions of most of our problems.

The most ordinary people ,women and men of Bangladesh, have taken over the responsibility of basic economic development of the country along with their own economic upliftment and have shown the remarkable achievements in this field. How then it looks when we, the well off, sit down and observe from a safe distance, the hardship they go through in this nation building work? Is it too much to ask from us, the fortunate ones, this token consideration? Endless drawing room discussions would not solve the problem. It needs action oriented urgent academic discourse.

By taking this step what one expect to lose? At the present interest rate, one may expect to forgo a few dollars per year at most. Can you afford then not to take this golden opportunity to get rid off your anguish, anxiety shame and frustration! I bet you can not.

Can't we make a pledge to free Bangladesh from poverty by 2015 ? Let us participate in the international movement to achieve that goal. The hope is showing on the horizon.

Though our appeal is directed particularly to Bangladeshis living abroad, other nationals can also open Taka Current Account with Grameen. In fact, one German national has already opened an account after visiting our website.

For a $ 1,000 deposit with Grameen Shikkha you can support one poor student in a village in Bangladesh with a scholarship of Tk 250 each month. This scholarship programme will continue, if you wish, upto perpetuity. It's that easy to help poor students to go through school. Think about it. You can discontinue the programme after five years, if you want to do so, and get the principal amount back, in Taka. Your money will be guaranteed by Grameen Bank.

For more information : email to Grameen Shikkha or visit the website: Scholarship Management Program

Related story:One man's battle with life and helping Bangladesh
Over the last couple of years, Dr Shafiqul Hassan, a resident of Quakers Hill, NSW, Australia has achieved something that very few of us would ever succeed in doing: in addition to battling cancer successfully, he has also raised about A$1500 by selling beans that he cultivated in his backyard.
Then, with this money, he ensured a bright future for a student in Bangladesh by offering him a scholarship through Grameen Shikkha.

left: Dr Hassan measuring harvest (in May 2003) with daughters Nowshi (left) and Rodoshi (right), middle: Vegetative growth of bean plants, right: Joyful Nowshi (April 2004)

Let's hear it from him directly: "I have been enjoying gardening since the beginning of my home ownership at Quakers Hill in 1998. As a result of that, soon I almost materialised a revolution in producing excessive beans (shim in Bangla) in my backyard.
Later, I thought whether this excessive produce could do any benefit to the poor people of Bangladesh as it is very expensive in local Sydney market.
Realising this I thought of selling all the beans to friends/shops and raise some money to help the needy people in Bangladesh.
Then from November 2002, the proceeds from all bean sales were accumulated including my own consumption. So far I have sold about 231 kilograms of beans and raised a total of $1442.
Basically I have only devoted my labour and some materials to this project.

As you know, the management of money is a difficult task in Bangladesh, so Grameen Bank, for its reputation, attracted my attention and I thought Grammen Shikka is an ideal first project as the principal money will never run out, it will just continue even in my absence.
Finally, I managed to transfer the amount for one scholarship (Taka 50,000) to a High School in my own area - Gouripur R.K. Government High School, Gouripur, Mymensingh.I passed my SSC as a student of this school.

The program will provide TK250 per month to a talented and needy student.
Send an e-mail to Dr Hassan if you are interested in buying some beans from him or just want to say something to him.

If you think you have the expertise and an idea that goes well with the Grameen philosophy, why not contact the relevant Grameen company, tell it first hand to them and take it up from there ?

For instance, Iqbal Quadir - is a Bangladeshi ex-patriate who helped establish Grameen Phone (and Village Phone) that turned the telecom landscape in Bangladesh on its head.
Read Quadir's seminal paper on 'Connectivity is productivity' here.

So, visit the Grameen Bank site  , go through the Grameen's daughter concerns and take your pick.