Bankir bagi kaum miskin
Banker To The Poor Autobiography of Prof. Muhammad Yunus
http://www.grameen-info.org/Muhammad Yunus, seorang dosen Ilmu Ekonomi di
Universitas Chittagong, Bangladesh, sehari-hari mengajarkan bejubel teori-teori
ekonomi kelas wahid kepada para mahasiswanya sementara pada saat yang sama di
desa-desa di sekitar tempat ia mengajar ribuan penduduk Bangladesh hidup dalam
kemiskinan/keterpurukan ekonomi.
Suatu hari ia mengunjungi salah satu desa, desa Jobra, di dekat kampus
Chittagong, untuk melihat langsung keadaan ekonomi penduduk di sana dan lewat
perbincangan hati ke hati dengan para wanita di desa itu, Yunus menemukan
bahwa ia harus bertindak untuk membantu memperbaiki ekonomi masyarakat desa
Jobra itu. Dimulai dari sakunya sendiri uang sebesar sekitar USD27 dipinjamkan
kepada sekelompok (42 orang) wanita untuk membantu usaha kerajinan bambu
mereka, beternak ayam, menjual telur, dlsb..............
30 tahun kemudian upayanya ini telah terbentuk menjadi sebuah Bank perkreditan
yang dinamai Grameen Bank, dengan 2.422 cabang, mempekerjakan lebih dari 20.000
karyawan, dan sejak berdiri telah meminjamkan lebih dari USDollar 6 Milyar
kepada 7juta peminjam. Tahun 2006, M Yunus terpilih sebagai penerima hadiah
Nobel Perdamaian.
Hadiah Perdamaian Nobel 2006 untuk Muhammad Yunus dan Grameen Bank
Komite Nobel Norwegia telah memutuskan untuk
memberikan Hadiah Perdamaian Nobel 2006 kepada Muhammad Yunus dan Grameen Bank.
Muhammad Yunus dan Grameen Bank mendapat anugerah Hadiah Nobel Perdamaian
2006.Foto: Fabrice Cofrini / Scanpix
Dalam pengumumannya, Komite Nobel mengatakan bahwa Hadiah Perdamaian Nobel
2006 akan dibagi menjadi dua bagian yang sama, antara Muhammad Yunus dan
Grameen Bank atas upaya mereka menciptakan pembangunan ekonomi dan sosial dari
masyarakat bawah. Perdamaian yang berkesinambungan tidak akan dapat dicapai
kecuali populasi dalam jumlah besar menemukan cara untuk keluar dari
kemiskinan. Salah satu caranya adalah kredit mikro. Pembangunan dari bawah juga
memajukan demokrasi dan hak asasi manusia."
Perdana Menteri Norwegia, Jens Stoltenberg memberikan ucapan selamat kepada
Mohammad Yunus dan Grameen Bank Bangladesh yang mendapat anugerah Hadiah
Perdamaian Nobel 2006. "Selama 30 tahun mereka telah memberikan pinjaman
kepada masyarakat miskin, dan terutama kepada wanita, sehingga mereka dapat
memulai usaha mereka sendiri dan berupaya keluar dari kemiskinan, kata Perdana
Menteri.
Saya sangat senang bahwa Komite Nobel Norwegia telah memberikan penghormatan
kepada Professor Muhammad Yunus dan the Grameen Bank, kata Menteri Luar Negeri
Norwegia Jonas Gahr Støre. Mereka telah memberikan bantuan nyata dan membumi,
yang memungkinkan jutaan orang keluar dari kemiskinan. Grameen Bank merupakan
salah satu contoh paling penting tentang bantuan pembangunan yang sukses.
Grameen Bank telah menciptakan model mikro kredit yang telah ditiru di seluruh
dunia."
Hal ini merupakan kontribusi yang sangat kreatif terhadap debat pembangunan.
Merupakan hal nyata bahwa memperbaiki taraf hidup seseorang merupakan faktor
penting dalam menciptakan perdamaian. Oleh karena itu saya sangat senang bahwa
Komite Nobel memberikan perhatian mereka terhadap permasalahan ini. Kredit
mikro merupakan hal yang mendapat prioritas dari pemerintah dan akan
mendapatkan prioritas yang lebih lagi di masa mendatang, kata Menteri
Pembangunan Internasional Norwegia, Erik Solheim.
Grameen Bank memiliki perwakilan di seluruh Bangladesh, dan 97 persen dari
enam juta krediturnya adalah wanita. Model pinjaman berdasarkan penghormatan,
dan kepercayaan akan apa yang dapat dicapai oleh para wanita miskin dan
kemampuan mereka menciptakan masa depan yang lebih baik untuk mereka sendiri
jika mereka diberi kesempatan. Ini merupakan konsep yang pertama kali
diperkenalkan di banyak tempat.
Sumber: http://www.norwegia.or.id/policy/peace/nobelpeaceprize.htm
Nobel Perdamaian Jatuh ke Muhammad Yunus
Jum'at, 13 Oktober 2006 | 16:26 WIB
TEMPO Interaktif, Oslo:Hadiah bergengsi Nobel perdamaian tahun ini diberikan
kepada Muhammad Yunus dari Bangladesh dan Grameen Bank yang memberikan pinjaman
kepada warga miskin tanpa jaminan.
"Kedamaian abadi tidak dapat dicapai kecuali kelompok-kelompok populasi besar
menemukan cara untuk menghentikan kemiskinan. Kredit mikro adalah salah satu
alatnya," ungkap pernyataan dari Komite Nobel Norwegia yang mengumumkannya
pukul 09.00 GMT atau pukul 16.00 WIB.
Yunus mendirikan Grameen Bank yang terkenal karena memberikan pinjaman kepada
warga miskin tanpa pinjaman, khususnya wanita, sehingga mereka dapat memulai
bisnis mereka sendiri.
Pemenang Nobel mendapatkan hadiah US$ 1,07 juta.
Business Week has named Dr. Yunus as one its "Greatest Entrepreneurs of All
Time."
Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940)
Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, founded a banking system 30 years
ago to lend small amounts of money to the rural poor in Bangladeshi villages.
Most of the low-interest microloans go to women, who use them to start their
own profit-making enterprises, mainly in agriculture, crafts, or services.
Grameen Bank now has 2,422 branches, employs more than 20,000 people, and
has loaned more than $6 billion since its founding. Borrowers own most of the
equity in the bank. The company has been profitable in all but three years
since it was founded.
Key takeaway: Yunus imagined what would happen if a bank extended credit to
those people who would never traditionally receive it. In the process, he
created a system that empowered the poor by helping them become entrepreneurs.
Read the
Business Week article on :
The Greatest Enterpreneurs of All Time
from WIKIPEDIA: M YunusYunus and Rural Development Yunus first got involved in
fighting poverty after observing the disastrous effects of the famine of 1974.
During this time, he established a rural economic program as a research
project. In 1975, he developed a Nabajug (New Era) Tebhaga Khamar (three share
farm) which the government adopted as the Packaged Input Programme.[2] In order
to make the project more effective, Yunus and his associates proposed another
project called 'Gram Sarkar' (the village government).[6] The government
adopted it in 1980, but the succeeding regime later lifted it away.
Founding of the Grameen Bank In 1976 during his visits to the poorest
households in village of Jobra near the university he discovered that very
small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. His
first loan consisted of US$27 from his own pocket, which he lent to 42 women in
the village of Jobra near Chittagong University who made bamboo furniture.
They had to take out usurious loans in order to buy bamboo. They then sold
these items to the moneylenders to repay them. With a net profit of .50
Bangladeshi taka (.02 USD), the women were unable to support their families. He
quickly realized that an institution needed to be created to lend to those who
had nothing. [7] However, traditional banks were not interested in making tiny
loans at more reasonable interest rates to poor people, who were considered
repayment risks.[8].
In December of 1976 Yunus finally succeeded in securing a loan from the
government Janata Bank to lend it to the poor in Jobra. The institution
continued to operate by securing loans from other banks for its projects. By
1982, the bank had 28,000 members. On October 1, 1983 the pilot project began
operations as a full-fledged bank and was renamed the Grameen Bank (Grameen
means "of rural area", "of village") to make loans to poor Bangladeshis. The
Grameen Bank has issued more than US$ 6 billion to 7 million borrowers. To
ensure repayment, the bank uses a system of "solidarity groups". These small
informal groups apply together for loans and its members act as co-guarantors
of repayment and support one another's efforts at economic self-advancement.[9]
As it has grown, the Grameen Bank has also developed other systems of alternate
credit that serve the poor. In addition to microcredit, it offers education
loans and housing loans as well as financing for fisheries and
irrigation projects, venture capital, textiles, and other activities, along
with other banking services such as savings.
The success of the Grameen model has inspired similar efforts throughout the
developing world and even in industrialized nations, including the United
States. The Grameen model of micro financing has been emulated in 23 countries.
Many, but not all, microcredit projects also retain its emphasis on lending
specifically to women. More than 96% of Grameen loans have gone to women, who
suffer disproportionately from poverty and who are more likely than men to
devote their earnings to their families.[10] For his work with the Grameen
Bank, Yunus was named an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Global Academy
Member in 2001.[11]
Nobel prize Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with
Grameen Bank, for "their efforts to create economic and social development from
below."
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