Muhammad Yunus gets it right
A U.S.-educated professor of economics, named Muhammad Yunus, started an experiment that would have profound implications. In 1974, during a famine in his native Bangladesh, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a significant difference in a poor person’s ability to survive. At this time, traditional banks were not interested in making tiny loans to poor people, who were considered poor repayment risks. His first loan consisted of $27 from his own pocket which he lent to 42 people including a woman who made bamboo furniture, which she sold to support herself and her family.
The success of this first effort has grown and matured to inspire similar efforts throughout the developing world and even in industrialized nations including the United States. Many, but not all, microcredit projects place their emphasis on lending specifically to women. Statistics support the best practice methods of micro finance by initiating the loans to women, who have been found to be much more likely than men to repay loans and to devote their earnings to serving the needs of the entire family. While many micro finance lending programs were started with men and women, they later focused exclusively on women when data showed they had dramatically lower credit risk.
As Yunus came to understand, the process of receiving a loan and paying it back has a profound psychological impact on the loan recepients. The small loans that microfinance enables women receive allows them to grow their businesses and provide a sense of hope and confidence to the grantees. The positive effects of this change in attitude is imeasurable.
I have made a personal commitment to support the spread of this fast growing economic activity by investing my time, resources, experience and talent in documenting the visual effects of microfinance. My efforts have led to engagements with many non profit and NGO organizations, such as the Global Fund for Women and Womens Trust, whose efforts support the principles and vision of Muhammad Yunus. I can only hope that my contribution and my images capture the acquired sense of self-determination and assurance that women discover in their new ventures.
