Two Approaches to Relieving Poverty - Essay Example

Introduction Poverty can be defined as a condition in which a person lack basic human needs such as food, clothing and shelter because of inability to afford these basic needs. Poverty falls in two major groups, absolute poverty and relative poverty. In absolute poverty a person cannot afford even the basic needs and the relative poverty is the one in which a person have low income or fewer resources as compared to others within a society. The main cause of poverty is inflation on goods which the people consume.

Many people in the word are so poor that they cannot afford even a single meal a day. Grameen Bank and poverty Alleviation There are many kinds of solutions for alleviating poverty. The important thing is that we should know the basics and we should seek reasons behind why the gap between rich and poor is ever increasing. To eliminate poverty Grameen Bank has bought a solution which they call banking for the poor. Grameen Bank is founded by Muhammad Younus who won the Noble Peace prize for his Bank.

It is a community development bank which is based on microfinance credits. The idea behind the system of this bank is that the poor people have many skills which are not being utilized. The bank gives small loans without the requirement of collateral. It also accepts deposits and runs many businesses including telephone and fabric business. The most remarkable point about the credit program of this bank is that the majority of the loan takers are women. Grameen Bank has changed the behavior towards women in an orthodox Muslim society where women are subjugated to many social vices.

(Younus, 80) In Bangladesh the total women labor force is only 9%. But Grameen Bank is the most successful in engaging women in economic activities. Women participation in Bank's activities is constantly on the rise. If this continues to happen the bank will become exclusive for women. There are many success stories of women like Ammajan Amina and sufiya begum who started bamboo business successfully. Grameen Bank and IMF The Grameen bank model has proven to be beneficial to the poor there are other financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund which was founded in early 40s with the primary objective of handling global financial systems, IMF also have many poverty alleviating programs and have been working hard to alleviate poverty from the society.

In many countries IMF have restructure the power sectors therefore helping in improving economies of these countries. But the IMF also has many disadvantages like it gives loans to countries on harsh conditions. Some conditions are so hard they are pressing people more under the burden of poverty. (Younus, 133) For example, one of its conditions is that energy prices should be increased in order to generate revenues so that the countries can payback the loan and its interest, therefore in many developing countries IMF policies are under criticism.

Its policies are beneficial for the developed world. Muhammad Younus criticizes IMF of giving loan on high rates of interest to the developing countries. Muhammad Younus also criticizes the World Bank which is one of the world's largest funding sources of its member countries of doing the same which the IMF does. Conclusion In order to alleviate poverty from the world Grameen Bank project can be very helpful. The bank has helped in great reduction of poverty level in Bangladesh. Many developed countries are now thinking about implementing micro-credit system like Grameen Bank.

Works Cited:Younus, Muhammad. Banker to the Poor. 1st. New York: PublicAffairs, 2003. Print