British/Norwegian Electronic Pop duo The Green Children are teaming up in a music video released today with the current Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus, to support the idea of microcredit loans for the poor.
The musicians are supporting the work of Professor Muhammad Yunus, who is the pioneer responsible for lifting millions of people out of poverty with the use of small loans. He saw that the poor had great ability but were unable to use it through lack of opportunity and finance.
The Green Children are donating proceeds from fund raising sales and activities to further the positive contribution Microcredit (the idea for which Professor Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize) is making to poor people around the world.
“Microcredit is such a simple and effective idea, when we have introduced people to it they have been so positive. It gives help directly, instills pride and secures a future for the poor that doesn’t rely on annual donations.”
Their approach is fairly novel, and The Green Children are pretty sure that this is the first music video to ever feature a Nobel Laureate, from any discipline.
“We’ve supported Grameen bank and the work of Professor Yunus for years, and after our first trip to Bangladesh were inspired to write the song ‘Hear Me Now’.
“But to truly capture the impact micro-loans have had for the poor of Bangladesh we knew we had to shoot a video to accompany the words. A few weeks after the video had been completed, Yunus went and won the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean…you could have knocked us over with a feather. We had always intended for the video to highlight the amazing impact Microcredit is having around the globe, we now hope we can shine even greater light on a really, really good idea.”
Professor Yunus came up with the idea for Microcredit during a visit to his home country in 1974, while a graduate student at Vanderbilt University. He realized while lending a sum of $42.00 to a group of 27 people he could change their lives dramatically, giving something they had never had before, credit. He’s never looked back.
Since that time, Microcredit loans have lifted almost 100 million people in over 70 countries out of poverty, with a repayment rate close to 100%. The poor have proven to be an minimal credit risk. Yunus saw this before anyone else.