An Open Letter in Support of Grameen Bank, its 8 million women clients and Dr. Yunus
We are writing in support of the phenomenal work that Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank have been undertaking in the field of poverty alleviation and women's economic empowerment in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus and Grameen Bank are today global icons and torchbearers for the mission to eradicate poverty and to provide sustainable choices to poor households across the world. The work of Grameen has been replicated across a 100 countries and has benefitted over 170 million poor women globally.
As South Asians, we are all extremely proud that Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, a veritable honour that highlights the pioneering role that Bangladesh has played in the field of poverty alleviation. We are opposed to the current campaign to maliciously malign the reputation of Dr. Yunus and the government's attempts to remove him from office. We would like to urge the Government of Bangladesh to retract from their position and to allow Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank to continue their work in the field of dignity building.
We have always viewed the Bangladeshi government as a supporter of microfinance programmes and it is through the active support of the government that Grameen and other MF programmes have burgeoned across the country. The current stance of the government is therefor extremely surprizing and equally unacceptable.
Many of us have had the honour of visiting Bangladesh and have been amazed by the generosity and the majesty of its culture and its people. Personally, we have lived and spent time with Bangladeshi women from Rangpur to Patuakhali and seen the positive impact that Grameen has had on their lives. As a result of Grameen's successes similar programmes have been established in Pakistan, including the organization that we represent, Kashf Foundation and Kashf Microfinance Bank.
We write to you on behalf of the millions of women across the globe, and in particular, the women of Bangladesh who work with Dr. Yunus and his team at the Grameen Bank and to ensure that Dr. Yunus continues at the helm of Grameen Bank.We would urge the Bangladeshi government to resolve this issue so that the work of Grameen, Dr. Yunus and that of millions of women across Bangladesh continues to go from strenght to strenght.
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
On behalf of Kashf board, management and clients
Roshaneh Zafar
Kamran Azim
Shahla Sattar
Faisal Saeed
Ghazanfar Azzam
Khalid Kabeer
A number of Clients of Kashf Foundation
A number of Clients of Kashf Microfinance Bank
The original letter can be downloaded here.
