I thought it would be very hard for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to live up to expectations, but it exceeded them. As Dr. Yunus’s motorcade approached (and was broadcast in the room), Oslo City Hall became electric with anticipation. After his entrance with Taslima Begum, a borrower who sits on Grameen Bank’s Board of Directors, the Norwegian royalty arrived and it was time to begin.

Nobel Committee Chairman Ole Danbolt Mjos delivered his speech, which was terrific in explaining and (to critics) defending their visionary choice. He said that the messages they wanted to convey with the prize were: (1) that it was critical to promote dialogue with the Islamic world and learn from it, (2) that empowering women was essential, and (3) that addressing the global poverty crisis should be an international priority. Amen to that!

Then Dr. Yunus and Taslima (on behalf of Grameen Bank) received their medals, which is when Taslima gave a very short, courageous and what appeared to be impromptu speech in Bengali. That’s when Susan started to cry; my moment came later. After the first of two wonderful Bengali dance performances, Dr. Yunus gave his Nobel lecture. It was an incredible moment, especially for those of us who have had the honor of being associated with him for many years. I will not summarize his speech here, though I encourage all to read it. It was striking when a couple behind us said that it would be viewed as “radical.” It sounded like inspired common sense to us, but in a world where common sense is in short supply, perhaps it was radical. Everyone should judge for themselves.

A woman who leads a Norwegian replication of Grameen Bank grabbed me as we collected our coats afterwards and said, “The world is going to change very fast now.” Indeed!

Alex

On Saturday I wrote my wife, “It’s 4 p.m. and dark outside. It’s great to be here to celebrate my radical friend. Here’s an interview from today’s New York Times in which he brings light to the darkness.”

Sam

New York Times
December 9, 2006

Out to Maximize Social Gains, Not Profit
By VIKAS BAJAJ

It was March 2005 and Muhammad Yunus, the microcredit pioneer who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, had just agreed — over a handshake during lunch at a Paris restaurant — to start a “social business” with the head of Groupe Danone, the French food company… more

Yunus was asked at today’s opening press conference if he had any advice for President Bush on Iraq. Yunus replied that “everyone has lots of advice for him I have my piece too.” He went on to explain that military means were not the answer to terrorism. He recommended that one must go to the root cause of terrorism. Why does terrorism happen? He suggested that a basic reason was a strong sense of injustice, as individuals, communities and countries. Whether real or imagined, one must address the causes of these feelings of injustice.

On politics in Bangladesh, Yunus was said to have redefined banking, so any plans to redefine democracy?

He explained that Bangladesh is going through a very turbulent time now and that something was missing in democracy today. He suggested that the people were moving and changing very fast and that the politicians had not kept pace.

When asked if he was planning to form a political party in Bangladesh, Yunus explained that the country is facing an upcoming election and that it also has a reputation for corruption at very high levels and in its day to day administration. He called for clean candidates to run for office so that people had a choice. He added that “it’s not that I’m seriously moving into forming a political party at this time.”

The other hot topic was TeleNor and everyone agreed to stay in “celebration” mode and not discuss the desire by Grameen to own the majority of the company and eventually make the women members who now own Grameen Bank the owners of Grameen Phone. Grameen Phone is the largest taxpayer in Bangladesh and is a joint venture owned 62% by TeleNor of Norway and 38% by Grameen Telecom, a non profit company of Grameen Bank.

Some Norwegians have privately commented that TeleNor executives may have missed a golden opportunity to praise its partner Grameen Bank on the Nobel prize. Widely covered in the Norwegian press, they feel the executives come across as defensive. Yunus talked about the wonderful relationship they had with TeleNor at today’s press conference and their more than 10 million subscribers. He added that the most important were the poor women, now some 300,000, who are wholesalers of phone service in the rural areas. They use solar energy to power their batteries provided by another Grameen company, Grameen Shakti, headed by Dipal Barua.

When Talisma Begum finished speaking Yunus underscored the point that she was here in Oslo not as a borrower but as the owner and governing board member of Grameen Bank. He explained that 9 of the 12 board members were elected from the village borrowers who are also shareholders of the bank. The government owns 6% and appoints 3 members. All of the board is present in Oslo as well as many of the senior staff including three of the original students who started out with Professor Yunus when he was teaching at Chittagong University in 1976.

Susan

Thanks very much Jose Christopher for your nice comment about the Ashoka films we made with Yunus. Now they have been sub titled in almost 100 languages by enthusiasic volunteers around the world to honor Yunus as one of the world’s greatest social entrepreneurs. His autobiography, Banker to the Poor has risen to #23 and now #8 on the New York Times best seller list. To see his film version of Banker to the Poor you can go to www.ashoka.org/100translations as well as see Yunus speaking about Social Business Ventures and Creating Poverty Free Worlds. You can also order the dvds online or watch on Google Video or rent from Netflix.

Another great book on Grameen Bank is David Bornstein’s, The Price of a Dream. He stayed in the villages long enough to tell the story from their perspective. For a definitive guide to the current version of Grameen’s methodology, see Asif Dowla and Dipal Barua, The Poor Always Pay Back, by Kumarian Press. It tells a fascinating story of organizational transformation and what is now called Grameen II.

Susan

This is shaping up to be a three-day party, but one with a purpose. I just had tea with Grameen Foundation’s Board Chair Susan Davis and Muhammad Jameel, arguably the leading businessman and philanthropist in the Arab World today, and someone who has been an active supporter of Grameen and microcredit for years. (My wife Emily also joined and took the picture of the three of us.)

Of course, we basked in the glow of Dr. Yunus and his Nobel Prize. We also discussed with Jameel the just-announced program he is supporting at M.I.T., his alma mater. Named for Professor Yunus, it creates a process and a prize to encourage students to come up with breakthrough ideas to address socio-economic problems in developing countries. Jameel also told us of his very recent visit to Egypt, where he was depressed by the rampant poverty but hopeful after visiting two Grameen Foundation partner organizations there, both led by social entrepreneurs working in the spirit of Dr. Yunus.

Jameel mentioned how a woman with absolutely nothing had built a house using bricks that had fallen off of delivery trucks, and then used a micro-loan to raise ducks and earn additional income. Today she is a respected businesswoman. While this weekend is in part about celebration, it is also about developing strategies to multiply successes stories like this millions of times as a tribute to the achievements of Dr. Yunus and the women his work has already touched. Now, off to a dinner to see old friends from Bangladesh, more than a few of whom have never been to a foreign country before this week.

Alex

At 1 pm today in Oslo, in a packed house with standing room only at the Nobel Institute, a press conference was held with the Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Dr. Yunus and Taslima Begum representing Grameen Bank. Dipal Barua, the Deputy Managing Director and one of the original students working with Yunus over the last 30 years was on the dais and translated for Taslima Begum, a Grameen Bank board member elected by the borrowers who are also shareholders of the Bank. Dipal is from the village of Jobra, the first place Yunus began his Grameen experiment with Sophia Khatoon and 41 other women who needed just 27 dollars in credit to break free of moneylenders.

Taslima shared a little of her story from being distressed and landless to now having savings in the Bank (over 30,000 taka) and many assets (a mango garden, goats, a sewing business and for her husband, a small three wheeler taxi).

Yunus said the Nobel Committee’s decision was a “thumbs up connection” for linking reducing poverty to peace and for linking microcredit to reducing poverty. He said it was an endorsement that the financial system should be all inclusive and leave no one out.

Yunus said, “if Bangladesh can do it, anyone can do it.” He added that “microcredit alone cannot do it but that people should see microcredit as a platform. It unleashes people’s capacity. They also need other things such as technology, health, education, etc. and that we can create a poverty free world. It is possible and I believe it.”

It was thrilling to hear them answer questions from around the world, New York Times, Reuters, Bangladesh TV, German TV, Swiss, etc

More later….

Susan

I arrived in Oslo yesterday afternoon, met by a dear friend who lived and worked in Bangladesh in the late 1980s. I lived in Dhaka from 1987 to 1991 working for the Ford Foundation. As I was met by a familiar Norwegian warmth under their grey cloudy skies with a cold wind whipping about, we remembered first meeting Yunus 20 years ago and visiting Grameen Bank. He worked in a small rented two story building in Shymoli, Dhaka. While already a success, it was the early days before their massive expansion to now serving 7 million borrowers and their families. It was also before they had exported their approach to reducing poverty all over the world, but the seeds of promise were clearly evident.

The Norwegians are very pleased that their government aid funds were invested early on in the Grameen Bank. They also talk with pride about TeleNor’s origins as a state company that promised to bring phone service to the whole country at the same price for remote rural areas as urban centers.

There has been lots of media coverage in Norway about this year’s winner of the peace prize including one out of date slightly negative story that suggested Grameen Bank was dependent on foreign aid. This is of course not true. While there is an important place for charitable contributions and aid in the early stages of microfinance organization development, Grameen Bank is a fully self reliant financial institution owned and governed by the women villagers who depend on their services.’

There is a press conference today to kick off the Nobel celebrations. But everyone in Oslo is already aware of the winner, and so very, very proud to be hosting the event and recognizing Yunus and Grameen Bank.

I am so excited to be a witness.

Susan Davis

On Friday, my day of departure for Oslo started by learning that the op-ed by Muhammad Yunus that the Microcredit Summit team pitched to the International Herald Tribune was published in the weekend edition and titled: Giving Credit Where It’s Due. Bingo! (www.iht.com)

Then I learned that the op-ed by Chris Dendys, the head of RESULTS Canada, was published in the Toronto Star on Friday. Double Bingo! (www.thestar.com)

Actually, we have Microcredit Summit leaders in 48 countries who have agreed to write and pitch op-eds to their largest newspaper this weekend. We’ll see what happens.

I remember a story Prof. Yunus told me many years ago about bringing a Grameen Bank client and board member to Belgium when they received the King Bodoin Award. “She’s never seen an airplane before much less flown on one,” I inquired.

Prof. Yunus shook things up when he replied that he’d recently been with 100 center chiefs (at the time a Grameen Bank center consisted of 40 women) and the meeting was on the second floor. He asked how many of the women had ever been on the second floor before. Only a few had.

A few months later I asked how the client’s visit to Belgium went. He told me that she met the King and spoke at a news conference. What moved people most was this. She said that just before her son died he asked for some sweets, but she didn’t have the money to buy sweets for her son before he died. Then she joined Grameen Bank and her business grew. Now she can buy sweets for all the children in the village, but she couldn’t buy sweets for her son before he died.

This is a small example of the women/owners of Grameen Bank who will share the Nobel Peace Prize with Prof. Yunus.

Sam Daley-Harris, Director

Microcredit Summit Campaign

Back when I was a 20-something just beginning my lifelong journey to help in the fight against global poverty, I didn’t imagine that it would lead to this. Here I am just six hours from boarding a plane to Oslo to see Professor Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank accept the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Since that fateful call on October 13, it has been a whirlwind for everyone connected with Grameen. Thousands, if not millions, of people around the world are showing new or renewed interest in and support for microfinance. If we are to truly end abject poverty, we need to keep the momentum going by building a movement of people committed to realizing this bold vision.

Going to Oslo – a region of the world I have never visited previously – for the Nobel ceremony promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We decided to launch this blog to give everyone a chance to experience the excitement of the ceremony, and to learn more about microfinance and how they can get involved. Together with my colleagues Susan Davis and Sam Daley-Harris, I will be giving on-the-ground updates about the pomp and circumstance of the celebrations, and the pride and joy of the ordinary people whose lives have been changed by what this wonderful man — and seven million women — have done. I’m looking forward to your comments and questions. Now, it’s on to Oslo.

- Alex Counts, president of Grameen Foundation