On 22 March, Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Novel Peace Prize for 2006, will give an address in Lisbon on “micro-credit and its contribution to peace”, at a conference being held jointly by the AESE (Business Studies School) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Yunus, in his report, will elaborate on some remarks already made during his acceptance speech at the Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm, at which the creator of the Grameen Bank, or “Bank of the Poor”, had declared that “the frustrations, hostility and anger generated by poverty, and the degradation to which it may lead, can secure peace in no type of society”. The Lisbon conference is also being promoted by the organization that provides access to micro-credit in Portual (the National Association for the Right to Credit (ANDC), which has granted 621 loans since 1999 for a value of 2,709,253 euros, thus contributing to the creation of 720 new jobs. A recent preliminary study conducted by the Economic Studies Centre (CEGEA) at the Portuguese Catholic University confirmed “the effectiveness of this system of aid as a means for reducing poverty and unemployment”. “The impact of micro-credit on the wages of its beneficiaries varies upwards of 312 euros” – pointed out Américo Mendes, coordinator of research at the centre -; “the creation of stable employment also prevents the exclusion of individuals, with visible improvements in family situation, productivity and social integration”. “With a view to identifying and giving greater support to the beneficiaries of this innovative financial support”, the ANDC is proposing to “reinforce its cooperation with the institutions of solidarity rooted in the territory”. “There’s a need for a real cultural revolution – says its president Manuel Brandão Alves – since there’s still a lack of awareness that poverty can be combated with means other than the existing ones. Particular situations can be solved with micro-credit, because this mechanism is not only more dignified for people but more economic for society”.
