Grameen winning the Nobel Peace Prize speaks to possibilities of Gap shrinking

ARTICLE: "Microloan Pioneer and His Bank Win Nobel Peace Prize," Associated Press, found at NYT

Nice to see. So very bottom-of-the-pyramid. And so very female focused:

Today the bank claims to have 6.6 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women, and provides services in more than 70,000 villages in Bangladesh. Its model of micro-financing has inspired similar efforts around the world.

Another good example of the phenomenon by which non-Westerners are giving the biggest and most fruitful hints about how shrinking the Gap developmentally will actually occur, meaning not at American prices.

Comments

[Matt R.]

Been a while since I have commented, but this one really struck me.
I heard about the Grameen bank in a Third World Economics class that I took back as a sophomore. It was an amazing class, taught by examining case studies that compared and contrasted the economic structures and strategies employed by the developing world. Even as a naive 19 year old, I saw the true value in empowering each person to make their own choice and giving them a means to a better a future as the true way to end the cyclic nature of poverty.

[Ken Liffiton @ Grameen Foundat]

Thanks for posting the excellent news of the honor earned by Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. At Grameen Foundation, we're excited to see this news help the word spread about microfinance, as we're working to bring the Grameen Bank microfinance model to the poorest of the poor around the world. And, for more details on the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus has published the very useful Grameen Bank at a Glance.