Fighting the Good Fight
By Connie Evans
Many of us who have worked in microfinance or more broadly, to help alleviate poverty in our communities know the great and almost insurmountable challenges that come along with trying to affect "change."
Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank more than thirty years ago, is one who has taken these challenges head on, diligently fought on behalf of the poor in Bangladesh by making small loans and financial services available to the poorest of the poor, and is one who has successfully gained important ground on beating poverty in his home country.  His model of financial assistance provided through Grameen Bank has spread throughout the world, and it has effectively allowed Bangladeshi innovation to help attack social problems here in the United States. His work is an inspiration to many of us in the U.S. who are working to improve the lives of the underrepresented and impoverished in our own communities.
Professor Yunus' model and success influenced my own work, and in 1986 I began the Women's Self-Employment Project in Chicago, the first urban microenterprise development organization in the U.S to adapt the Grameen Bank model to a U.S. urban setting. My five visits to Grameen starting in 1988 had a profound effect on the development of my vision and leadership, and the lessons were long-lasting as I continue to work to address poverty and unemployment along with AEO members across the country: we are making a difference for many who are faced with poverty through our work in microfinance.
It is disturbing, therefore, to read in the news this week that this first revolutionary and successful leader in microfinance is under character assault for his work in Bangladesh and is now under investigation for corruption charges after a Norwegian documentary raised suspicions of past activities. It is important to note that even the Norwegian officials have even dismissed these charges. Alex Counts, president, CEO and founder of Grameen Foundation writes more about the charges waged against Professor Yunus in his blog.
As Counts states, "The price of leadership is the attention it brings, both deserved and undeserved, and Prof. Yunus is a remarkable leader who has not been afraid to speak his mind and challenge the status quo."
He is right. The status quo has been changed, and cannot, and should not be reversed. However, the motives to bring Yunus down are questionable and the damage this attack has had on his character and his work to help the poor through microfinance will reverberate throughout the world.But I expect the world to care and to respond. It is a fact that we cannot make progress if the poor are left out of our development plans and excluded from economic opportunity and financial services. Whenever we attempt to close the gap between the haves and the have-nots, we enter into a political-economic-social vortex. Whether we live in Chicago, Johannesburg, Rio or Dhaka supporting financial inclusion and economic opportunity through microfinance helps all of society. The model that Professor Yunus started and carried out for more than thirty years demonstrates the critical need to close these gaps, and the great impact it can have on society. It would be a huge blow to all of our efforts should his work be tarnished with the false campaign underway now.
It is encouraging, however, than many of us looking in on Bangladesh from the outside can see through this attack on Yunus and recognize other motivations-like a government takeover of Grameen bank-may be at play. As Nicholas Kristof writes in the New York Times this week:
Look, Professor Yunus is no more above the law than anyone else. He and Grameen deserve close scrutiny. Microfinance should be debated. But the present campaign against Yunus doesn't ring true to me, or to some others who are watching... But it's also clear that Grameen and Dr. Yunus have had an enormous positive impact upon Bangladesh and the world. He deserved that Nobel Peace Prize. The international community needs to make sure that funny business in Bangladesh doesn't savage one of the great successes of development.
I agree with Kristof. Professor Yunus did deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, and those of us watching need to speak out on behalf of the injustice of these charges against him. I am reminded of a quote by another great visionary and activist wrongly accused, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Source: http://www.aeoworks.org/index.php/site/blog_single/fighting_the_good_fight/
