Visionaries of the 20th Century’ is an anthology of the lives and works of a hundred great men and women who offered inspiration, hope and healing to the world near and far around them.

The 20th Century was marked by wars and environmental negligence. Yet many individuals kept alive the hope of a more sane and sustainable future through their example, ideas and vision. Their influences helped to bring an end to colonialism, imper-ialism, apartheid and authoritarian regimes. Their work fostered the re-emergence of a collective ecological, holistic and spiritual consciousness, which continues to grow.

The book, Visionaries of the 20th Century, is insightful and inspiring. It shows us that everyone is capable of acting responsibly and creating positive change. It includes biographies and quotes from both renowned and more obscure figures, from such eminent social visionaries as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, to ecological activists like Sir Jonathon Porritt. It is a heartwarming reminder of the goodness of people, celebrating the achievements of some of our civilisation’s biggest changemakers. The following extract, taken from the book, is Andrew Pring’s profile about an economic pioneer who has transformed the lives of the poor ñ Muhammad Yunus.

Muhammad Yunus was born and raised in Bangladesh. He studied at the universities of the West before returning to his home country as a professor of economics and government adviser. He began to question whether the economists had got their theories right. After all, 50 years of international aid programmes aimed supposedly at poverty reduction had made little impact on the poorest. He went out to investigate.

One example of what Muhammad found was a woman who worked for a few pennies a day making baskets. He asked her why she earned so little, when the baskets were of such beauty and good quality. She told him that she supplied them to the merchant who gave her the materials. He asked her how much she would need to buy these materials herself. It was next to nothing, so Muhammad gave her a small loan.

Freed from the merchant, she was able to buy her own supplies and to double her income by selling baskets herself. Within a few days she repaid the debt. Muhammad did this again with others and soon found that credit worked well for the poor.

He went to commercial banks to ask them to help in this project but they refused, saying it might work with one or two people but it would not work with everyone.’ After all, it was they who understood banking best. So, he experimented with ten people, then a hundred, and then in different localities to prove it worked. Yet the banks continued to refuse to take his success seriously.

Eventually he came to accept that he would have to take this project on himself. After 30 years the Grameen Bank has more than five million borrowers and in 2005 lent as much as 600 million dollars. Its borrowers come from the ranks of the poorest ñ the landless. To join Grameen you must be without assets. The initial loans average only £60 and yet this has enabled 75 per cent of borrowers to lift themselves out of poverty.

Muhammad found it was women who were the most successful and who would pass on benefits to their families. So, around 95 per cent of Grameen loans are given to women. Through a network support structure and insurance against misfortune, the system ensures that 98 per cent of loans are repaid with fair interest óa success unmatched by commercial banks with secured lending.

Given time, Grameen’s borrowers soon became savers. They were able to borrow larger sums to improve their homes, buy land or expand their enterprises. Further, the borrowers universally adopted a community-based programme for social change. They refused to allow the benefits to be swallowed up by a dowry system which they rejected out of hand. They improved their sanitation and health.

Given the success of the Grameen Bank, microcredit has since been introduced elsewhere in the world. It finances appropriate technology for threshing, milling and stove-building, and to purchase looms and sewing machines. Already there are 170 such micro-enterprise projects worldwide, including the deprived inner cities of the US, in the midst of a culture of crime and drugs. In the search to promote successful business through good practice, Muhammad set up the Grameen Trust to train those wishing to set up microcredit projects and enable them to adapt their schemes to local needs.

For some years now Muhammad Yunus has also worked closely with Results, an international grassroots lobby organisation working to gen-erate the will to end poverty. With Results’ help, he was given 2 million dollars for the Grameen Trust from the US government and the World Bank, the first outright gift of its kind. He was a key figure in the setting up of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) which further raised 100 million dollars in seed money for similar work and to which the UK government has now signed its support.

The Results organisaton has developed a non-confrontational approach to lobbying that builds relationships between ordinary people and their politicians. They have initiated serious discussion of microcredit within the European Parliament.

If we want a world of peace and unity, then we need to remove the sources of conflict. There is no greater source of conflict than poverty. There is no better way of addressing poverty than by extending credit to the poor. Microcredit costs nothing once initial backing is given. Funds are constantly recycled, offering more and more opportunities. The small locally-controlled enterprises created are at the root of truly sustainable development. It can help release poor economies from the vagaries of transnational companies within the global trading system. People can choose how to develop businesses that they control and that best serve local community needs.’

Contact: Grameen Bank Bhavan,
Mirpur-1, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh
Website: www.grameen-info.org

Andrew Pring is a Peace Studies graduate from the University of Bradford

This extract has been printed with kind permission of Resurgence Magazine.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Muhammad Yunus waves to his fans in Dhaka. Photo: © Reuters/Rafiquar Rahman