Back in the times when I was a little kid (quite a long time indeed) I did as most children did – trying to be the brilliant kid and get your parents to pay you a certain amount of money every week. I can’t even exactly remember the precise amount I was receiving, but it must have been around one guilder (approximately forty euro cents) a week. Of course this amount increased over time, as the favors I did in exchange. Since this was the only income I had at that time, I had to spend it wisely and consider every expense very carefully. Over time the amount I received increased and every consideration before a purchase became less… Since I knew there would always be a next week.
This must have been the incentive of Professor Muhammad Yunus to start the Grameen Bank and to provide micro credits to the poor in rural areas instead of providing the money for free. His idea is based on mutual trust where the borrowers are organized into small homogeneous groups, where the advantage of a group is the social bonding that creates a responsibility towards the other members. By using the combination of this social system while providing credits, the Grameen bank has been able to help almost four million people while maintaining one of the highest payback rates in the world.
A great initiative, in my opinion, that only works because they make the borrowers aware of their responsibility. Because of this responsibility, it triggers their creativity on spending the money wise and effective.
But what do we get presented today from Live 8, to do in favor of the poor countries?
- double the aid sent to the world’s poorest countries,
- fully cancel their debts,
- change the trade laws so that they can build their own future.
Of course a great gesture I can only and will applaud. However, knowing the above and looking at the second point, leaves me with some serious doubts. Do we really help and stimulate them to take more responsibility and creativity with this gesture? And besides, is it fair to countries that have been working really hard to pay off their debts? I am not so sure…