Yunus wants global move to tackle rising food prices
Unb, Dhaka – The Daily Star – Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Collated by Brother Shafi Chowdhury
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has proposed a coordinated global initiative to ease the pressure on the poor due to rising food prices.
He requested British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take leadership role within the European community and the G-8 for addressing the poor’s extreme difficulties created by the global rise in prices of essential food items.
The micro-credit guru made the proposal when he met the UK prime minister at 10 Downing Street on Monday, according to a message received from Yunus Secretariat.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner pointed out that a powerful breakthrough is needed in agri-technology to raise the production level in the shortest possible time.
Gordon Brown announced that the UK government would work with the Grameen Group and other partners to give access to and unlock the power of financial services for Africa’s poor.
They discussed the public and private sectors’ work to help unlock the power of micro-credit to improve the lives of millions, particularly in Africa, where the world’s development emergency hits hardest and nearly 300m people still live on less than $1 a day.
With foreign investment into micro-credit across the globe tripling to $4 billion between 2004 and 2006, and through the work of organisations like the Grameen Trust, which reaches over 4.7 million families through 141 partner organisations in 38 countries, the impact of micro-credit is being felt all over the world.
Yunus said that there is an urgent need to improve business and management skills in the micro-finance industry in Africa to make sure this money is used to help people from the world’s poorest communities.
As a first step, the UK government will provide £500,000, towards bridging the skill gap in the micro-credit industry in Africa, which will be more than matched by the private sector.
The initiative will bring together civil-society organisations and the private sector to contribute the funding, knowledge and skills required to bring micro-finance to those who need it most.
by RSS
[...] money in circulation is generated as credit, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus who recently visited the Prime Minister says “access to credit should be recognised as human [...]
By: The Twelvth Mitchell Way « In the Spirit of the Forum for Stable Currencies on May 4, 2008
at 7:55 am