Professor Yunus at the opening session of the Dialogue
Grameen Trust and Grameen Bank jointly organized the 54th Grameen International Dialogue Program from August 9 - 20, 2008. 24 participants from 11 countries, including Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and USA, participated in the 54th International Dialogue program. The participants included senior government officials, representatives from central bank, top managers of NGOs and microfinance practitioners.
A participant sharing his field experience
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad inaugurated the 54th Grameen International Dialogue Program. He welcomed the participants to Bangladesh and the Grameen Dialogue program. He gave a brief overview of what the participants can expect when they go to the field to observe Grameen Bank operations at the center, branch, area and zonal levels. He then exchanged views at length with the participants about various issues related to microcredit, Grameen, poverty alleviation and roles of government, central bank, NGOs and microfinance practitioners.
The participants of the 54th International Dialogue Program were very keen to share their field experience at the review sessions and exchanged their views on branch-level sustainability, training and capacity building measures for borrowers, Grameen's emphasis on female borrowers, and how the borrowers of Grameen became the owners of Grameen Bank.
The main aim of the Dialogue Program is to provide a platform for individuals, NGOs and government officials to gain exposure to the Grameen model. The program also provides networking opportunity among the participants and Grameen. The program is designed to act as a prolonged dialogue on poverty alleviation through microcredit following the Grameen methodology
Dialogue participants at group discussion
and the practical issues related to implementing a Grameen microcredit program. The dialogue participants spend considerable amount of time in the field gaining hands-on exposure on Grameen methodologies and practices.
In the closing ceremony Professor Latifee thanked the participants for their engaging participation. He welcomed the participants to stay connected through the Grameen Global Network (GGN) to take forward the microcredit movement to reach the unreached to help them overcome poverty.
Report by Md. Jahangir Hossain
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