The story is extraordinary and springs from a brilliant idea — or rather, from a nagging thought that, having lodged itself in the mind of a small but great man, slowly began to shake his faith in the economic doctrines he had learned at university. If it were to be summed up in a few words, the idea might be expressed as follows: defeat poverty by creating a bank that would grant loans solely to the poorest people in rural areas, in exchange for a minimal project. Loans backed by no collateral whatsoever, charging interest only to the minimum extent necessary for the bank to be self-sustaining. The protagonist of this story, Muhammad Yunus, recounts that one day he lent 27 dollars to some extremely poor farmers in a village. To Western eyes the sum may seem laughably small, but it was enough to free 42 families from the grip of moneylenders. And then came the encouraging, unexpected outcome: the borrowers not only repaid the amount they had received with remarkable punctuality, but went on to build a small commercial enterprise that guaranteed them a livelihood and dignity. An exciting result that gave the last people on Earth a chance to set up tiny profitable ventures of the most varied kinds. The concept of microcredit had been born.

Who is Muhammad Yunus

The man of miracles, the benevolent genius, is named Muhammad Yunus and was born in 1940 in Chittagong, Bangladesh. After graduating in Economics from the University of Chittagong and completing a PhD at a university in Nashville, Tennessee, he served from 1969 to 1972 as a professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University (USA), before returning to his home city as head of the Department of Economics at the University of Chittagong, a post he held until 1989.

His idea was formally named on 2 October 1983 as the Grameen Bank (village bank, in Bengali), but it had already begun operating informally in 1977, when, encouraged by that first loan, Muhammad Yunus and his colleagues started walking through hundreds of Bengali villages, engaging with their communities and lending, each time, the few dollars needed to start up micro-enterprises.

The Grameen Bank today

Today this banking model is the world's most important institution in the field of microcredit. It operates in 81,393 villages across Bangladesh through 2,568 branches, all computerised, serving more than 8.8 million customers: 96.5 per cent of whom are women. It is a model that has gained momentum in economically disadvantaged areas — predominantly rural, but also in the outskirts and ghettos of major cities on all five continents.

According to the latest monthly report, published on 6 October 2016, a total of 19.9 billion dollars has been disbursed since the day of its founding: 18.2 billion has been repaid. Micro-loans granted in the most recent month reached a volume of over 261 million dollars. Overall, the average recovery rate stands at 98.96 per cent. Thanks to microcredit, more than 700,000 homes have been built and over 53,000 people have been able to access higher education programmes.

The voices and faces of the Grameen Bank

Behind these figures lie just as many stories. Such as that of Rokeya Akhter Bristy, a young woman born in a rural area who, thanks to a loan, was able to study and become a nurse. Or that of Fahmida Zaman, born in the small village of Bahadurpur. Her parents had always instilled in her the importance and value of education, but the financial situation was far from easy, with a family of ten people to support. With a loan from the Grameen Bank, Fahmida's mother managed to start a small poultry farm and buy her husband a phone, which he used in his work selling fertilisers. Thanks to this economic stability, Fahmida was able to pursue her studies in Economics, Politics and Philosophy at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, where she came into contact with an international environment that would have been entirely out of reach from her small home village.

The accusations against Muhammad Yunus

When you live a story as significant and well-known as this, it is difficult — almost impossible, in fact — never to encounter criticism and controversy. Muhammad Yunus is no exception. The spark that ignited the scandal was the investigation "Caught in Microcredit", broadcast by Norwegian television at the end of 2010. According to the investigation, Muhammad Yunus had diverted just under 100 million dollars donated to the Grameen Bank to fund other banks within the group — all without the knowledge of those who had given the money. A few months later, Muhammad Yunus was removed from his Grameen Bank on the orders of Bangladesh's central bank. Officially, because he had reached the mandatory retirement age; in his own account, however, for political reasons.

In spring 2011, the main formal charge against Yunus was officially dropped. The Bangladeshi finance minister followed the lead of the Norwegian government, which had already cleared him, stating that no evidence had been found of any alleged diversion of funds.

Why believe in microcredit

But what drove Muhammad Yunus to embark on such an ambitious and risky humanitarian project? His answer is "the hope of a world founded on understanding, empathy and cooperation, where dignity is not merely a concept but a right. Faith in the creative and working potential and in the goodwill of the poor, by offering them the tools to escape from misery — and not least by demonstrating that the sense of responsibility among the poor is far greater and more deeply felt than that of the 'normal' customers of traditional banks."

A philosophy that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, which he accepted with these words:

Poverty is a threat to peace. The distribution of income on a global scale tells us a truly revealing story. Ninety-four per cent of global income goes to 40 per cent of the population, while the other 60 per cent of the population must make do with just 6 per cent of resources. Half the world's population lives on two dollars a day. More than a billion people on less than one dollar a day. This is not a recipe for peace.

The new millennium had begun with a great global dream. In 2000, world leaders had gathered at the United Nations and had adopted, among others, a historic goal: to halve poverty by 2015. Never before in human history had the entire planet, speaking with a single voice, committed itself to such a bold objective, with such precise timelines and dimensions.

But then came 11 September and the war in Iraq, and suddenly the world was diverted from this dream, as leaders' attention shifted from the war on poverty to the war on terror. So far, the US alone has spent 530 billion dollars on the war in Iraq. I believe that terrorism cannot be defeated through military intervention alone. […] We must target the roots of terrorism if we want to stop it once and for all. What I mean is that deploying resources to improve the lives of the poorest people is a better strategy than spending them on weapons.

Peace should be understood from a human perspective – in a broad, social, political and economic sense. Peace is threatened by an unjust economic, social and political order, by the absence of democracy, by environmental degradation and by the absence of human rights.

Poverty amounts to the absence of every human right. The frustration, hostility and anger generated by degrading misery cannot sustain peace in any society.