Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Review

It all started with and a goat.

An engaging read into the world of micro-finance and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh that first proved that bottom-of-the-pyramid solutions work when delivered holistically.

Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, goes about breaking down several myths on poverty and the poor. He bemoans that 'national development' is viewed in terms of GDP or income levels, while a more meaningful metric could be the number of people elevated out of poverty. He posits that the poor remain poor not because they are lazy, but because we have erected structures that don't lend to the poor because they have no collateral. He takes exception to governments and donor lending agencies that focus on big-ticket aid projects that do not necessarily benefit the poor. And he forcefully argues that government interventions in social programs result in inefficiencies and nepotism, and that the role of the government lies in creating policies and framework for the growth of 'social-consciousness-driven-enterprises'.

While the flow of the book could have been structured better, the reader is left in no doubt that the pioneering principles of Grameen and its willingness to invert the prevalent lending practices are what have enabled numerous micro-finance movements in several countries. Grameen is profitable - but as Yunus says, "this is not about money. It is about unlocking human dreams and enabling the poorest to achieve dignity, respect and meaning in their lives."

Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Feature

• ISBN13: 9781586481988
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Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Overview

A new edition of the New York Times Bestseller by the Nobel Peace Prize-winner.

This autobiography of Nobel Peace Prizewinner Muhammad Yunus spent ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was also a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Now repackaged in the spirit of his new book, Creating a World Without Poverty, this classic work on the birth of microfinance will contain excerpts from the new book.

Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Specifications

It began with a simple loan. After witnessing the cycle of poverty that kept many poor women enslaved to high-interest loan sharks in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lent money to 42 women so they could purchase bamboo to make and sell stools. In a short time, the women were able to repay the loans while continuing to support themselves and their families. With that initial eye-opening success, the seeds of the Grameen Bank, and the concept of microcredit, were planted.

After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.

The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than 0) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.

Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a conversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen Bank is now a .5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit model has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea, Norway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that poverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most determined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live healthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their partners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do today." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. --Shawn Carkonen

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The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Review

Jeffery Sachs seems like a perfectly intelligent man full of passion and legitamate concern for the severely impoverished persons throughout the world. This book is quite useful particularly the chapters detailing Sachs travels throughout the world assisting various governments with their economic problems. He has much correct about the economic problems facing the developing world, such as his notion that poverty cannot and should not be treated with a one size fits all approach and that there are no magic bullets when it comes to dealing with the problems of the world.

As I read this book, I couldn't help but think of Hannah Teeter-U.S. Olympic Snowboarder who won medals in Torino and Vancouver and the piece NBC did on her during the Olympics about her various charitable causes in Africa and other parts of the world including helping to provide clean drinking water and other facilities for a village in Kenya. Weren't various international organizations aware of these problems throughout Africa and other areas for years if not decades and it takes private citizens just to provide a well for basic drinking water and Sachs demands we give these agencies more money...uh huh yeah.

However Sachs solution of increasing foreign aid through the UN, IMF, World Bank, and other organizations would seem to be no solution at all. Need I remind Mr. Sachs of the numerous occasions in which the UN and its various agencies have let us down before including various genocides and other relief efforts. Pardon me if I don't have the greatest confidence in the international governing structure. Furthermore, what are we to do, if this big idea does not work? Another quibble is the notion of poverty, my mom makes about 14,000 a year...under Sachs definition we would only be moderately impoverished because we can afford basic needs and an occasional splurge, but I would certainly not call it comfortable knowing that if one thing goes wrong, maybe we won't be able to afford food...government assistance isn't that great.

That being said, Jeff Sachs does get many things right beyond a liberal or conservative bias. The lead-up to the idea is great because it provides a framework that allows the Western reader to see poverty as a worldwide concern that has a stake in the life of even the most jaded wealth possessed Western consumer. The so called solution though, needs work.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Overview

Marrying vivid eyewitness storytelling with concrete analysis, Jeffrey Sachs provides a conceptual map of the world economy and the different categories into which countries fall, explaining why wealth and poverty have diverged and evolved as they have and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the cruel vortex of poverty. Sachs plunges into the messy realities of economies, leading his readers through his work in Bolivia, Poland, Russia, India, China, and Africa, and concludes with an integrated set of solutions to the tangled economic, political, environmental, and social issues that most frequently hold societies back.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Specifications

Celebrated economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. To do this, Sachs proposes nine specific steps, which he explains in great detail in The End of Poverty. Though his plan certainly requires the help of rich nations, the financial assistance Sachs calls for is surprisingly modest--more than is now provided, but within the bounds of what has been promised in the past. For the U.S., for instance, it would mean raising foreign aid from just 0.14 percent of GNP to 0.7 percent. Sachs does not view such help as a handout but rather an investment in global economic growth that will add to the security of all nations. In presenting his argument, he offers a comprehensive education on global economics, including why globalization should be embraced rather than fought, why international institutions such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank need to play a strong role in this effort, and the reasons why extreme poverty exists in the midst of great wealth. He also shatters some persistent myths about poor people and shows how developing nations can do more to help themselves.

Despite some crushing statistics, The End of Poverty is a hopeful book. Based on a tremendous amount of data and his own experiences working as an economic advisor to the UN and several individual nations, Sachs makes a strong moral, economic, and political case for why countries and individuals should battle poverty with the same commitment and focus normally reserved for waging war. This important book not only makes the end of poverty seem realistic, but in the best interest of everyone on the planet, rich and poor alike. --Shawn Carkonen

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A Framework for Understanding Poverty

A Framework for Understanding Poverty Review

This book is dynamic. It is reader friedly and you will not want to put it down. The information is very practical and helps to guide one's understanding about the struggles of poverty.


It provides the types of vinettes that those in poverty face and enlightens others who would not know of the challenges of poverty if they have not experienced it. This book should be shared with anyone who deals with helping others who might be faced with struggles because of a life in poverty. I can help others to become more empathetic and understanding to the needs of others. In addition, those in poverty should read to see what is being said and to help them aspire to the next social class. I making this statement as a teacher who lived in poverty and has moved to the middle class and aspiring to a life of wealth.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty Overview

A Framework for Understanding Poverty was Dr. Ruby Payne's first book, written for teachers with adaptations for work and community members. Its purpose is to educate people about the differences that separate economic classes and then teaching them strategies to bridge those gulfs. Ruby discusses at length the social cues or "hidden rules" that govern how we think and interact in society – and the significance of those rules in a classroom. Other topics include why students from generational poverty often fear being educated, discipline interventions that improve behavior, and the eight resources that make a difference to success.

More than 180,000 copies sold!

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