Sunday morning I rushed from my hotel room, eager to get a good seat for the opportunity of a lifetime: A live speech from Muhammad Yunus. News of his and the Grameen Bank's award of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize came just in time for the 2006 Global Microcredit Summit, a gathering of 2,000 delegates from the field of microfinance representing over 100 countries. The opening ceremony began with a music video produced in honor of microfinance, followed by a fantastic live performance of African music and dance. The audience rose as a procession of distinguished guests, including Yunus and several foreign dignitaries, filed into the arena. As they took their seats, photographers swarmed Professor Yunus. I had become acquainted with a woman named Amy sitting beside me, who told me how her airline had lost her luggage. She was on the same flight as Yunus and she met him personally when they were filling out forms. Sure enough, he stood apart from the rest of the honored guests with his casual blue shirt and khaki pants.
Indeed he stood apart in his speaking style as well. He reminded all of us that he "got only half the peace prize -- not the full one." The other half goes to the seven million poor women in Bangladesh.
He noted how the award has served to increase the confidence of all those working in microfinance, and this is so important as we strive to achieve the new goals set forth by the microcredit Summit Campaign: Ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest, especially women, are receiving credit, and ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest move above $1/day by the end of 2015. He urged us all to keep poverty alleviation as the primary goal in our microfinance practices, and "Make poverty history." He challenged everyone to increase the availability of microfinance services worldwide in order to accomplish this.
I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to hear his words of encouragement, and be involved in an organization that is instrumental in this powerful movement. I hope every WCCN member and NICA Fund investor share this renewed sense of confidence, and realizes how important they are in making poverty history.
