There are many people and many ideas aimed towards ending poverty in countries across the world. Two men have come up with, and implemented their ideas in primarily African villages in the past 30 years, and in both cases there have been positive effects. Economist Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute in New York has created an idea called the Millennium Village’s Project. 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner Mohammed Yunus has come up with an idea known as the Grameen Bank. Both men’s ideas have shown positive changes in the communities in which these solutions have been implemented. After researching both of these topics extensively the Grameen Bank solution seems to be the least complex, most sustainable and most rewarding solution. This essay will expand into why the Grameen Bank solution is superior to the Millennium Village’s Project.
Jeffery Sachs Millennium Villages Project focuses on a holistic approach to elimination poverty. Some of the things that the Millennium Villages Project focuses on is community health workers, diversified local food production, commercial farming, malaria control, piped water, solar electricity, and connectivity to name a few. These multiple tools are synergistic—while each has been proven to support its main target, each also contributes to progress on several or all of the goals. (Millennium Villages, 2012) Sachs believes that if you focus on these key topics that the quality of life in these countries will improve. The cost of this program is rather efficient as it is believed that it would cost the average citizen 60-80$ per year. The Millennium Villages Project has created much success, for example 1500 households in Malawi supply tomatoes for the local market (Millennium Villages,2012) and enrollment rates in school for children has increased from 56% in 1999 to 73% in 2007 (Millennium Villages,2012). Jeffrey Sachs has created a viable solution to poverty but if the 60-80$ fees from the citizens each year were to stop coming in the project would fall apart. This solution has flaws that the Grameen Bank solution does not have.
The Grameen Bank solution was created by Mohammed Yunus in the African country of Bangladesh in 1983. In an article written by Dr. Yunus he begins with the story of a women Amena Begum who joined the Grameen Bank center in 1993 and took out a 60$ loan in an effort to start a business raising chickens and ducks, once she paid that loan back she applied for a loan of 110$. After 6 years Amena’s business continued to grow and allowed her to provide for her family. (Yunus, 1999) The Grameen bank allows people with no means of making money to take out small loans without collateral. People are required to join the bank in groups of 5 and are allowed to help one another out in paying back loans. If one person fails to pay back alone the other group member’s credit is reduced. As of 1999 39,000 Bangladeshian villages use the Grameen Bank and it lends to 2.4 million people, 94 percent of the borrowers are women (Yunus, 1999). Concerns about loans not being paid back have been put to rest as 99% of loans are paid back. This solution has made over 5 billion dollars in profit since its start (Hockfield, 2008) and became economically self-sufficient since 1995 (Yunus, 1999). The Grameen Bank idea is superior to the Millennium Villages Project because it is a simpler concept, has a longer history of success, and helps people support their family without the annual fee of the Millennium Village’s Project.
Although I believe that the Grameen Bank solution is the best method of eradicating poverty there are challenges that need to be overcome in order to spread this solution across Africa. When Yunus was trying to start the bank he faced issues with the universities bank as the manager said that the bank could not give loans to the needy: the villagers, he argued, were not creditworthy (Yunus, 1999). This could be a challenge that founding Grameen bankers may face in other African countries. The only reason the bank began was because Yunus himself created the bank without help from any other banks. Unless someone was willing to go through this process the Grameen bank may have a hard time getting off the ground. Another challenge that the Grameen bank may face is the possibility that people may not pay back there loans. Although the repayment rate in Bangladesh has been 99% it does not mean it would be like that everywhere else. The rule of having people joining the banks as groups of 5, with each person’s actions affecting the other member’s, increases the likelihood of loan repayment. As well the 16 resolutions each member must memorize helps ensure that the loans are going to things that will help them make money and allow them to repay the loan. The final challenge that the Grameen Bank could face is the potential for theft. In these poor countries, so of which are war ravaged, there is not much stopping a group of rebels from entering the bank and stealing all the money in the bank. A method of combating this would be raising security, or keeping the money in an undisclosed off site location. Although there are clearly challenges that this solution would face, there are simple measures that can and are taken to avoid them from ruining this great idea. The success that the bank has seen in Bangladesh cannot be ignored. This simple model could be replicated and could eradicate poverty quicker than some may believe.

Millennium villages. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.millenniumvillages.org/sector-strategy
Copyright 1999 Scientific American, inc.