A visit to the original Grameen Bank

This morning we went on a tour of the original village where Grameen Bank started, called Jobra. First, a bit of background on Grameen Bank:
It was started in 1976 by Mohammed Unus who won the Nobel Peace prize for his work recently. It is a micro-credit loaning system that is now worldwide. It works the opposite of normal banks by assuming all people have the potential to pay back loans. Because conventional banks are based on the principle the more you have, the more you can borrow, more than half the world's population is deprived of the financial services of the conventional banks.
Grameen bank started on the belief that credit should be accepted as a human right and it built a system where one who does not possess anything gets the highest priority in getting a loan. Their objective is to bring financial services to the rural poor, particularly women (97% of their borrowers are women) and the poorest to help them fight poverty, stay profitable and financially sound.
It is structured by having groups of women work together to decide if people should be eligible for the loan and they meet weekly to do banking. In this village, there were ~5 women per group and 10 groups in the village.
It works by giving someone a very small loan, for example some of the women started out with 60 taka loans (less than one dollar) to invest in some sort of business venture. In this village it was things like ginger cultivation, food to fatten a cow to be sold, purchasing supplies to weave cane mats and stools or the capital for small grocery store ventures. They can then pay back these loans in small amounts each week. Once it's paid back, you can borrow larger and larger amounts and slowly, over many years these women have vastly improved the lives of themselves and their families. None of them know how to read or write, but now their children are attending schools and even Universities.
Here is a photo of some of the women who participate in the village. A few of them told their stories and then there was a Q& A session. There were about 50 women, plus around 20 from our group packed into a very tiny hut:Most of them share their money with their husband and then hide a little of it (some said in rice sacks or in the clothes cupboards--places their husbands would never look!)

There are "16 Decisions" that were developed at the village level between 1980 and 1984. All are required to make continuous strides to implement these decisions.
Here are the 16 decisions from the informational booklet we were given:

• 1) The four principles of grameen bank: Discipline, Unity, Courage and Hard Work - we shall follow and advance in all walks of our lives
• 2) We shall bring Prosperity to our families
• 3) We shall not live in dilapidated house. We shall repair our houses and work towards constructing new houses as soon as possible
• 4) We shall grow vegetables all the year round. we shall eat plenty of them and sell the surplus.
• 5) During the plantation seasons, we shall plant as many seedlings as possible.
• 6) We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures. We shall look after our health
• 7) We shall educate our children to ensure that they can earn to pay for their education
• 8) We shal always keep our children and the environment clean
• 9)We shall build and use pit latrines
• 10) We shall boil water before drinking or use alum to purify it. We shall use pitcher filter to remove arsenic
• 11) We shall not take any dowry at our sons' weddings; neither shall we give any dowry in our daughter weddings. We shall keep the center free from the curse of dowry. We shall not practice child marriage (ed. note: I asked if the practice of giving/receiving dowry has declined much and the answer was not really)
• 12) We shall not inflict any injustice on anyone; neither shall we allow anyone to do so
• 13) For higher income we shall collectively undertake bigger investments
• 14) We shall always be ready to help each other. If anyone is in difficulty, we shall all help.
• 15) If we come to know of any breach of discipline in any center, we shall all go there and help restore discipline
• 16) We shall take part in all social activities collectively.

We would all do well to abide by these principles! Well, maybe us westerners can ignore #9....
There are cartoons to outline these principles so everyone can understand even if they can't read. Here is an image of some of them:

Here are some more images from the village itself....the villagers with children:

Here is a rice paddy with a fish pond in the background:

Here is a very proud woman that wanted to pose with her cow that was purchased from a Grameen loan. She started out with a 70 taka loan ($1) years ago and built up her ginger farm and now has chickens, a cow and savings to live on. There is also a pension plan they can pay into each week for when they are too old to work or something happens to their other family members and they cant support them anymore.
This village was just outside Chittagong and it was a welcome, green, quiet respite (albeit very hot!) from the honking and intensity of the city. We also visited the first branch of the grameen bank nearby (not much to photograph there--just a cement building where we asked more questions of the managers and met a few students who are now going to university on Grameen Education loans). Overall a very interesting and informative trip!