Celebrating heroes in our midst

• Miscellaneous
• 22nd February 2011
• YC

Dr Muhammad Yunus, the founding chair of the world famous, Grameen Bank, is a globally known public intellectual and an activist. Based on his work of long 35 years, the Grameen Bank and Dr Yunus were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace. In 2009, he became the only Bangladeshi (and perhaps the only Asian) to receive the United States President's Medal of Honor. In 2010 he was honoured again by the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest civilian award in America for which a super majority of congressional representatives must agree. In presenting the Presidential medal, President Obama described Dr Yunus's lifework.

"With his belief in the self-reliance of all people, Professor Muhammad Yunus has altered the face of finance and entrepreneurship. As an academic, he struggled with pervading economic theories and their effects on the people of his native Bangladesh. Yearning for a new way of lifting people out of poverty, he revolutionised banking to allow low-income borrowers access to credit. In the process, he has enabled citizens of the world's poorest countries to create profitable businesses, support their families, and help build sustainable communities. In doing so, Muhammad Yunus has unleashed new avenues of creativity and inspired millions worldwide to imagine their own potential."

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed is the founding chair of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). For his outstanding contributions to the society, especially the poor, he has received the Magsaysay Award, the Clinton Global Citizen Award, and recently was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St George (KCMG) in recognition for his life-long work in successfully battling the scourge of poverty at home and abroad.

The organisation that Fazle Abed built and managed for nearly forty years operates in nearly every village in Bangladesh, providing relief and long-term assistance to over 100 million people. BRAC's programmes are highly innovative, comprehensive and integrated - from primary education with a focus on educating girls, basic healthcare, micro-credit, agricultural support, human rights, legal services, and entrepreneurial support to small business. The Dhaka-based organisation continues to increase its global footprint by expanding its work in several countries in Asia and Africa. In recent years, BRAC has been invited to assist development and poverty alleviation efforts globally, and has built schools and replicated its programmes in rural Afghanistan.

In the early 1970's, both Yunus and Abed were young men living overseas where they had gone for their higher studies - Yunus was teaching in a university in the United States, and Abed was in England at the time the Liberation War begun in 1971. They both campaigned vigorously to garner international support for the fledgling movement to liberate the nation from military dictatorship. As soon as they were able to, both returned home. They gave up their long-term plans in their chosen fields - economics and accounting - and instead decided to serve their country by working directly with the poor in the countryside. This was an act of courage. Giving up the normal route to success in their chosen profession is not something for the faint hearted. Both Yunus and Abed dedicated the next thirty years helping rebuild their country from the bottom up, starting with the very poor, the women and the children. After toiling for decades, each built world-class institutions - the Grameen Bank and BRAC - that have improved the lives of tens of millions of Bangladeshis. In all of these years, they have stood out as honest leaders and patriots, who have never been interested in personal recognition or power.

The story of Muhammad Yunus's work is a legend memorialised in numerous articles, books and even documentaries. For more than 30 years, this former college professor, has toiled among the poor women of villages in Bangladesh spreading his gospel of self-reliance and entrepreneurship. He wanted to help, but had no concrete models. He experimented, made mistakes and learned from these until he perfected the model of micro-credit. Today it is well-known and copied all over the world. However, it took a genius to figure out the correct model, and to implement it on a sustained manner.

Dr Yunus has been called the most important social entrepreneur of his times. In his frequent visits to the United States and other nations, he is idolised as a bona fide visionary, a world leader of the rank and stature of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. He is a regular invitee to former President Bill Clinton's annual fundraiser event that has helped raise billions of dollars for good causes across the globe. Dr Yunus is a member of the fellowship of "elders," an informal team of some of the most respected global leaders (including, Kofi Annan, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu) who work behind the scenes for global peace. Every Bangladeshi should be proud of these achievements of one of its citizens.

Recent decades have witnessed the wonderful rise of the East on the world's stage. Thanks to the creativity and patriotism of citizens like Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Abed, Bangladesh, too, is on the rise. Although the nation does not yet have the resources and the industrial might of China or India today, Bangladesh is blessed with people with great work ethics, and importantly, visionary citizens like Yunus and Abed who have built great organisations to help those who are at the "bottom of the pyramid." They have empowered the poor with their hopeful message: You are poor today, but you have the power, the creativity, and energy to become prosperous one day. The future is in your own hands to build.

The life and work of these two (and many other leaders) are Bangladesh's greatest assets. They are in many ways the face of this nation for the rest of the world, and Bangladesh's most honoured ambassadors-at-large on the global stage. The government, the political leaders, and the civil society can take advantage of this important national asset in a number of ways. First, we must recognise and celebrate their achievements.

When Professor Yunus received the Nobel Prize in 2006, the entire country seemed to come together and celebrate in this wonderful achievement. A stamp was issued to commemorate the occasion.

Similarly, when Mr Abed was knighted, the nation felt the joy and pride in his achievements. Have we done enough? How do other nations celebrate their heroes? Take the example of the fallen American civil rights leader Martin Luther King. In most major American cities, roads, government buildings, and schools bear his name. In most states, his birthday is a state holiday. The curriculum in elementary schools includes his life story and achievements along with that of other famous Americans. The purpose is to inspire young people to greater achievements. The same is true for Mahatma Gandhi in India. I am not suggesting we do the same for our heroes but we can learn how others honour their heroes.

Second, since these are living heroes, as a nation we must take advantage of their ideas and talents. We can do this in a number of ways. For example, the global name recognition and contacts of Dr Yunus and Mr Abed could be of enormous service to the nation. Already, Dr Yunus has responded to the call from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to speak on behalf of the industry in the US Senate hearings. He pleaded the case that Bangladesh deserves the same access to the American markets as is given to other poor (and some rich) nations.

Those who fought and gave their lives for liberation believed they were fighting for a just society. They fought for a nation that would work to overcome poverty and oppression. Can we re-commit ourselves to be more respectful of our friends and opponents? Can we decide to honour those among us, living heroes like Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Abed, who have devoted their lives to improve the conditions for the millions of poor in rural Bangladesh? Together, the non-government organisation (NGO) community and the politicians, those in power and those in opposition, can unite on the single goal to eliminate poverty from Bangladesh.

Experts call poverty a "wicked" problem, not because it brings so much despair to so many lives, but because it is a complex issue that does not yield easily to solutions. Would we ever be able to overcome extreme poverty in our midst? Will we ever be able to achieve the dream of the freedom fighters for an oppression-free society? Fortunately, we have in Bangladesh arguably the world's two experienced anti-poverty crusaders. Between them, Dr Yunus and Mr Abed have been able to find solutions to poverty that have baffled great minds and great societies for centuries. As a result, Bangladesh can proudly claim to be among the few nations to have successfully met the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), halving poverty by 2010. These targets seemed like an impossible dream just a few years ago.

It was only four decades ago that Bangladesh suffered a heartbreaking famine and deprivation. Today, it stands as a case study and a model of how with grit, determination, hard work, foreign help, and yes, homegrown creativity, the nation disparagingly labelled the bottomless pit by Henry Kissinger, has arrived at the doorsteps of the club of middle income nations. The life expectancy of all citizens, but especially that of women and girls, is on the rise; millions of women have found economic freedom in the garment sector that exports over ten billion dollars worldwide, and homegrown organisations led by brilliant leaders such as Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Abed are working tirelessly to overcome poverty.

About four decades after gaining hard-earned independence, Bangladesh has much to celebrate and take pride in, not the least being its modern-day heroes.

Dr Munir Quddus is Professor and Dean, Prairie View A&M University, Texas, USA. He can be reached at e-mail : muquddus@pvamu.edu

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=125871&date=2011-02-12