The Poor Always Pay Back - Book Report/Review Example

The Poor Always Pay Back Synopsis The Poor Always Pay Back is a thought-provoking book written by Asif Dowla and Dipal Barua about micro-financing, an initiative started by Bangladesh based Grameen Bank, with a view to empower the lives of the poor. The book gives an in-depth description about how the bank has created a profound change in the lives of millions of people in the country. The transformation of the Grameen methodology from the Grameen Classic bank, into an improved model of Grameen II, focusing on the new concept of individual lending and saving is vividly elaborated all over the book. Also the book revolves around various other issues of the society including health care, women’s empowerment, and children education which are all a part of the bank’s initiatives. The book shows its readers how a financial institution like Grameen Bank responds to the needs of its borrowers and had adopted changes in its system for making its loan programs and care giving services more effective to the poor. The Book is about The commencement of Grameen Bank, its working, challenges and the changes incorporated by the concern in the past twenty five years are clearly described by the authors. The origins of this institution heads back to 1976, when Muhammad Yunus started his project in Bangladesh’s rural area of Jobra, by designing a credit system to provide banking services to the rural people, focusing particularly on the poor. The project continued to run successfully and was introduced among the other rural areas of Bangladesh too, with the support of the government. By 1983, the project attained the name of Grameen Bank with the formal approval. Initially, it held objectives to extend opportunities of credit to everyone by facilitating banking services to poor families and also women. In the book, the authors speak about the challenges faced by the bank in the times of catastrophes, especially the floods in 1998 which created a massive repayment crisis to it. Actually, this was the period that pushed forward the members of the bank to focus on making major changes to its system. The bank was at a very tight situation, so much so that ‘evolving’ was a necessity for it to survive the crisis as well as to meet the needs of its borrowers. This led to the development of the Grameen II, making considerable changes in its system. “Through Grameen II, the bank is addressing microfinance frontier issues: open access savings, flexible loan products, self reliance, absence of donor dependency for funds, and product development to cater to the needs of the retirees (Grameen Pension Scheme) and their adult children (Higher Education Loans).” (Dowla & Barua, 2006, p.8). Geographically and temporally Geographically speaking, the book takes place in South Asian country of Bangladesh, with the focus on how Grameen Bank played a key role in transforming the financial and social statuses of the poor Bangladeshis, particularly in rural parts. With Bangladesh being one of the under-developed countries, having sizable people below the poverty line, Yunus’ ideas for the extirpation of poverty was discussed throughout the book. One of the key aspects of the book, which brings out the temporal perspective, is how there had been an ambiguous belief that the poor in Bangladesh are not worthy of getting loans, as they will not pay back. However, Yunus’ vision through Grameen Bank has changed this basic assumption with a notion that ‘poor always pay back’. In his view, “one can benefit enormously by having trust in them, admiring their struggle for and commitment to have decent lives for themselves.” (Dowla & Barua, 2006, p.6). In this book, the authors present lots of facts and success stories that are highly inspirational. The personal experiences and relevant data from the bank members are presented with clean-cut information and narration. Relation to Nursing As Grameen Bank was started with an intention to serve the poor, the book describes their lives in an elaborate manner which would help the social workers as well as the nursing students to gain more information about them. From this book, individuals in nursing profession would get a vivid knowledge about the social structures, cultural differences and most importantly the everyday life of a poor in Third World Countries, who strive hard to gain even the basic requirements of food, clothing and shelter. It also helps in knowing about the health conditions in the rural areas along with the cultures and practices, which could hinder in treating those health conditions. Additionally, the book provides sizable information regarding how the social conditions in Third World Countries like Bangladesh could deteriorate the health conditions of the people, leading to faster aging and even quicker mortalities. “Evidence suggests that people age faster in the rural areas from excessive labor during through working life, malnutrition, inadequate health care, frequent childbirths for women, and the hardships of dealing with recurrent natural disasters.” (Dowla & Barua, 2006, p.113). “Take Home Message” On knowing such facts, it would be beneficial for the nursing professionals to operate in foreign countries or Third World countries, and also in their home turf, when similar situations arise. However, at the same time, nursing roles and the related care-giving services to the poor could differ considerably in relation to geographic and cultural zones, which could make a huge difference regarding the success of this initiative. For instance, this scheme would be greatly successful in under developed regions while the same concept might not benefit the people as expected in developed regions. The demand for credit, as well as the attitudes and behaviors of the people is highly impacted based on the choice of the location. In the case of Bangladesh, being a developing nation with a culture which is patriarchal, this model of micro-credit has greatly benefited the women to break their social barriers. More than 90% of the Grameen’s borrowers are women; and because of it, they have become not only independent, but the women are also improving the financial and social status of their families. So, this book can kind of give them a good and emotional outlook about the society and the struggle of the needy in low income territories. By understanding these aspects, a nursing individual would get a clear perspective about the rural cultures as well as health conditions that may arise in those rural cultures. Culture, politics/environment, education On the whole, reading this book would provide key insights about the social, cultural and political aspects of Third World Countries, which could be relevant to people of other territories as well. The central message of the book relies on alleviation of poverty by creating opportunities for the poor, thereby improving their social as well as physical or health condition. In addition to this, the book focuses on how relevant health education has to be provided to the people along with adequate medical services to facilitate societal improvement. The book also presents various cultural aspects prevailing in the Third World Countries, especially the gender bias due to the patriarchal nature of the society. Though women are motivated to contribute to the family as well as the society, they need to get approval from the male members of the family to carry out constructive works. Speaking of the women population, as discussed in the book, the Grameen program has been found to have a positive impact on the women’s health as well. The reluctance and even ignorance of women towards their personal health due to financial and social reasons is a key issue in under-developed regions. However, due to the credit program of Grameen, the women in the rural society have started to seek for formal health care to themselves as well as their family. According to a study, it was observed that “increased control over resources by the women, made possible through participation in credit programs, created higher demand for formal health care.” (Dowla & Barua, 2006, p.46). Politically, Grameen Bank has ‘bypassed’ and also diminished the militants and the trade unions with its unique structure of labor management. Unlike the commercial and state-owned banks which are influenced by the trade unions, this bank has its staff association to resolve conflicts without any political intervention or corruption. The Grameen bank is indeed a trend setting institution which has brought about positive changes, by alleviating poverty and increasing awareness of health and education. It has positively affected lots of families as well as the greater community through its activities. Practice Change From the nursing perspective, bringing awareness about health among the individuals or patients is the first step which has to be taken by the nurses in the rural societies or for that matter any under-developed societies. The book, The Poor Always Pay Back particularly suggests that lack of opportunities for the poor is the major reason for their poverty, and how local banks like Grameen Bank can be the harbinger of those opportunities. In a related way, the book shows how empowerment of the poor particularly the poor rural women would raise the status of the family and the society on the whole. When a family is positively exposed to education, health awareness and financial support, it lifts them up in the society. Reference: Dowla, Asif & Barua, Dipal. (2006). The Poor Always Pay Back: The Grameen II Story. Kumarian Press. Read More