Well-Being For All

World Accord Salutes the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee for choosing to award their prize this year to Muhammad Yunus.

Mr. Yunus was a professor of economics from Bangladesh. He established the Grameen Bank, now famous for being a commercial enterprise that makes loans to people without collateral, a very non-banking thing to do. Despite his successful example to the financial world, financial institutions and governments around the world in general have failed to sieze the opportunity. The profile provided by the Nobel Committee may help to shake up a system that fails to allow most of the global citizens through the "locked iron gates" of economic power to participate in the global economy on a more equal footing.

Our salute to the Nobel Committee also adds to the respect and accolades earned by Mr. Yunus for vision and leadership. Mr. Sverre Lodgaard, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and also first deputy member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee has stated, "More people die each year from poverty than from war, so a fight against the violence which is perpetrated through the extreme division in our world's resources is very welcome. This year's prize was spot on. That they (Nobel Committee) now include development is great."

World Accord has long believed in and supported credit initiatives among the "un-bankable" poor in Asia and Central America. Micro Credit loaning systems championed by Mr. Yunus and his Grameen Bank contribute dramatically to global peace and stability. Access to credit can allow people the opportunity to participate in civil society, democratic advancement and stability. If so-called 'first world' leaders, even those who verbally champion democracy, would consider their own national stability and prosperity should the majority of their citizens be denied access to credit and all the opportunity it affords their people, there would be wholesale change in policies governing foreign aid. Official development assistance and the draconian rules and policies currently employed by governments, the G-8 and the World Bank would change radically.

World Accord agrees with Ole Danbolt Mjoes, of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who said, "Today there are few things peace researchers and other scholars are readier to agree on than precisely that democracy and human rights advance peace".

In the community of nations making up the "Peaceful World", Mr. Muhammad Yunus should not stand out as "alone" among his banking peers, but he does. Indeed, Bangladesh is a world leader with citizens like Mr. Muhammad Yunus and Mr. Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC, an agency that works shoulder-to-shoulder with Grameen Bank to equip those born into poverty to participate as equals with those born into wealth.

Thank you Mr. Yunus for your vision and willingness to take action. Thank you to the Nobel Committee for your insight and leadership. You make the world a better place.