CARE Congratulates Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank on the Nobel Peace Prize

ATLANTA (October 13, 2006) - CARE extends its congratulations to Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank on the receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. The award brings deserved recognition to Dr. Yunus's visionary work in bringing social and economic opportunity to the poorest of the poor, especially poor women.

Dr. Yunus and Grameen pioneered the field of microcredit, a development strategy in which people from poor communities gain economic opportunities through access to small loans — sometimes as little as $15. Such an amount may not seem like much, but for a poor woman struggling make ends meet for her family, $15 can mean seeds or fertilizer for a small plot of land, an initial investment for a small business, or the ability to take a sick child to hospital. Microcredit methodologies, such as the formation of village savings and loans groups in which members pool their savings and take loans from a common pool, allow poor people access to credit that no traditional bank would be willing to provide.

The idea that poor people, given resources and opportunity, have the power to lift themselves out of poverty is a visionary concept. It is this vision that Dr. Yunus and Grameen Bank have put into action over the last twenty years. Their success has been vital in creating the global microcredit movement, which today has helped tens of millions out of poverty.

CARE and other organizations have built on the foundations laid by Grameen Bank. We share Dr. Yunus's commitment to bringing financial success to the poorest of the poor, and his emphasis on the vital role that women and girls play in the development of their families and communities.

CARE salutes Dr. Yunus and Grameen Bank on their remarkable accomplishments and well-deserved award, and we join with them in their unwavering commitment to the fight against global poverty.

CARE has been working in the field of microcredit for almost 20 years. We are the originator of the village savings and loan method, which we began using in Niger in 1991; today we use this model in over 20 countries. CARE-supported savings groups have saved over $11 million and have made over $33 million in loans to their members. We support the formation of new groups in rural communities, provide training and support for local non-profits and microfinance institutions and help connect such organizations with federations and for-profit banks.