Two Approaches to Relieving Poverty

¶ … Grameen project (bank) is an enlightened and unique attempt to relieve poverty among the world's poor and disadvantaged. The project began in Bangladesh and is based on the theory that the poor are credit-worthy under the right circumstances and that they have skills that are being under-utilized. The project operates at a grass roots level with little structure and employing the local population in order to create a community style approach. Through strong support and subtle pressures the project builds a system where the borrowers receive pressure from members of the community to repay small loans and, in the process, build their credit.

The project operates in areas where the Muslim religion is very prominent and strong. The standards and traditions established through the centuries in these areas makes any change difficult to effectuate and one of these changes is the presence of women in the workplace. Women in the areas where the project operates are traditionally not employed outside the home and, in fact, are very seldom seen outside the home and never without the company of men. In recruiting women to work for the project the organizers must address these concerns first with the new potential hires and, secondly, with their families. Women in these societies are expected to follow the lead of their mothers and male figures in their families.

As nearly all the borrowers assisted by the project are women it is important that the project recruit women to be part of the lending process. At the beginning of the article the author explains in painful detail the difficulty that the project has encountered in convincing women to become involved in the loan process. It is explained how the women suffer emotionally and physically to bring themselves to act contrary to how they have been expected to behave throughout their entire lives in order to bring themselves to participate in the loan program. The struggle of the women demonstrates the nuances involved in the battle against poverty and how difficult it is to overcome traditions and the barriers established by those traditions.

Contrary to the positions espoused by most world economic and banking institutions, the Grameen project views population growth much differently. Yunus and the Grameen project do not necessarily view population growth as a negative factor in a nation or society's attempt to escape poverty and that, in fact, is some ways population growth can be a positive. Yunus points out that one of the side benefits of the Grameen project is that it serves to limit population growth as more and more women enter the workforce, become better educated, and recognize that they have a purpose other than reproduction, child care, and maintaining a home.