The idea behind micro-finance is a belief that many of the world’s poor people could lift themselves out of poverty through small independent entrepreneurial ventures if they had access to high quality financial services such as credit, savings, insurance, and fund transfers.
Micro-credit has proved to be an important force in societies where women, in particular, have to struggle against difficult social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy cannot achieve their full potential unless women have access to the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
Lasting peace in many conflict areas cannot be achieved unless large population groups break out of poverty – micro-credit is a means to achieve this.
In 2006 the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank for their efforts, using micro-loans, to create economic and social development from below. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and has developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty.
Read more at Wikipedia and Grameens’website.
Source: Wikipedia and Grameen
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