Monthly Archives: September 2011

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus will be appearing at the United Nations in New York on September 22nd during the Clinton Global Initiative to present the new documentary Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus by award-winning filmmaker Holly Mosher. The screening is being held the day after the International Day of Peace to highlight how issues of economic disparity remain one of the biggest threats to peace.

Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank, which started out by offering small loans to Bangladesh’s poor women to help encourage self-enterprise and foster community development. As the practice of micro-lending has spread worldwide, Yunus and the Grameen Bank have deflected criticism as other predatory lenders have moved in to the small loan business. In Bangladesh, Yunus and Grameen’s work in upending societal norms have not gone unchallenged, as Grameen Board members face harassment, and Yunus is being threatened for removal from the bank he founded for working beyond the government retirement age.

It is a timely opportunity, then, for Holly Mosher’s new film to help the international community observe the breadth of Muhammad Yunus’s work and recognize that Microcredit is just the tip of the iceberg. Read More »